The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) presented on Thursday, May 14, 2026, a report titled “The Silent Metamorphosis: How Haitian Youth are Reinventing the Country’s Future.” The presentation of this document, co-authored with Group Croissance and CEDEL Haïti, took place in the CCC hall of Quisqueya University, in the presence of Rector Jacky Lumarque and other university officials.
“The Silent Metamorphosis” report draws an unprecedented portrait of Haitian youth. It highlights the potential of a generation that transforms, innovates, and undertakes, yet remains underutilized.
For Xavier Michon, this is “not just a report, but rather a gesture of recognition and perhaps a passing of the baton.” “You have the production, you are the actors, you have rights but you also have responsibilities. The future is ahead of you, and we are with you,” Mr. Michon declared, addressing the young people present during the report’s launch. He also justified the decision to present this report at a university center, emphasizing that it is a place for reflection and debate. According to data provided in the report, individuals aged 15 to 39 represent 42.8% of the total population, equivalent to over 5 million people—a considerable force. Already, 35% of the country’s businesses belong to owners under the age of 35. Yet, only 9% to 11% of these businesses are formally registered, while 91% of Haitian workers operate within the informal economy. The unemployment rate for youth aged 15 to 24 reached 37.5% in 2025, more than double the Caribbean average.
Faced with the obstacles confronting Haitian youth, the authors of the report reject any defeatist or fatalistic attitude. They choose instead to bet on young people who have launched innovative and successful initiatives, inviting the youth to draw inspiration from these role models who have overcome systemic barriers. To unleash the potential of Haitian youth, the report proposes a structured three-phase roadmap.
In the short term, it recommends laying the foundations. The document advocates for launching a participatory process to co-formulate a national strategic framework for youth, driven by civil society and university networks. In parallel, the report recommends deploying female mentorship programs, aiming for 500 active mentor-mentee pairs within 18 months, as well as establishing 50% parity quotas in all public programs supporting entrepreneurship. Emphasis must also be placed on professional insertion through technological agriculture, with the creation of twenty local ecosystems in secure areas, integrating artificial intelligence tools and digital traceability.
In the medium term, the report calls for developing the entrepreneurial ecosystem. It urges the creation of a unified digital business registration platform, accessible via smartphone, capable of reducing administrative delays to under seven days. The document also recommends setting up a low-cost FabLab in each department to train 2,000 young innovators per year. These FabLabs should foster the development of solutions tailored to local realities. The report also foresees inclusive fintech solutions based on alternative credit scoring, allowing access to financing for young entrepreneurs excluded from the traditional banking system, particularly young women in rural areas, among whom only 3% currently access higher education.
In the long term, the report pleads for the institutionalization of this transformation. It proposes creating a National Council for Youth Innovation, endowed with real consultative powers over public policies, as well as a Diaspora Impact Fund aiming to mobilize between 50 and 100 million dollars over ten years. This fund would target channeling diaspora savings into youth entrepreneurship with enhanced traceability.
Finally, the report notes that 2.2 million citizens aged 18 to 27 have never voted in their lives, which constitutes a major democratic challenge. With the first general elections since 2016 approaching, the document insists that this generation “is not asking to be saved,” but demands “to be recognized, listened to, and respected at the ballot box as well as in public policies.”
Kesner Pharel, CEO of Group Croissance, drew up an assessment of the economic situation and the challenges facing Haitian youth on the sidelines of the report’s presentation. He highlighted the main stakes that policymakers and young people must address to reverse the current trend. The presentation of the report was followed by a discussion moderated by Mr. Pharel, featuring Mario Andrésol, Vijonet Demero, as well as youth speakers Stéphanie Moïse and Tayler Ansy Nhaïléï Tassy Lazarre. At the end of the exchanges, the participants split into two groups to reflect on the commitments needed to accompany this transformation.
