Donna Karan promotes Haitian handicrafts value chain

In a matter of months, her Urban Zen Foundation launched the Haitian Artisan Project, with the mission of helping talented craftsmen and women gain access to high-end markets.

Over the past two years Karan invested time and money in the project, providing financial assistance and guidance to artisans in Port-au-Prince, Léogâne and Jacmel, cities ravaged by the quake. Those efforts resulted in a line of remarkable home decoration articles and fashion accessories, some which will be on display at the art gallery of the Inter-American Development Bank’s Cultural Center until June 27. The “Discover Haiti” exhibit, first held at the Urban Zen Center in New York City, will soon travel to London for the Summer Olympics.

At a reception held for the official opening of the exhibition on June 13 in Washington, DC, Karan joined Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe in inviting participants to “look at Haiti through a different lens.” The designer, who is also assisting the Haitian government in showing the Caribbean country as a place brimming with creativity and promise, urged Haiti’s friends to work in partnership: “We just have to get together and make it happen.”

Lamothe thanked Karan and actor Sean Penn, who attended the event, for their work in Haiti and commended the artists and artisans responsible for the prints and objects featured in Discover Haiti for upholding their culture and for promoting their country. “Things are improving. Things are getting better. Things are moving in the right direction,” Lamothe said.

Prior to the reception, former U.S. president Bill Clinton and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) President Luis Alberto Moreno held a public discussion on how the international community, the private sector and non-profits could help Haiti overcome its economic challenges. One of the keys, they agreed, would be to pool efforts and coordinate with the Haitian government, in order to achieve greater impact.

In that spirit, earlier in the day, Karan met with an IDB team led by Executive Vice President Julie T. Katzman and Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) General Manager Nancy Lee. They were joined by representatives from other organizations interested in promoting entrepreneurship in Haiti, including the Clinton Foundation, which has worked with Urban Zen to open foreign markets for Haitian artisans.

The goal of the meeting was to discuss a value-chain approach to the Haitian handicraft sector. The MIF is already funding projects of that nature in Haiti involving mango and coffee production. According to an assessment commissioned by the MIF, tens of thousands of Haitian artisans could benefit from such an approach, which would tackle a range of problems not addressed by more narrowly focused projects that reach fewer people.