SOIL's employees are the heart and soul of SOIL's success in Haiti. The SOIL offices in Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitien open at dawn with a resonating"Bon jou!" ("Good morning!)" as our staff report to work, and our employees can still be found there working late into the evening. Day in and day out, through political upheaval, public transportation strikes, and natural disasters. SOIL staff come from the communities we serve and they see first hand the impact of SOIL's work in their communities.
There is a story behind each SOIL team member - a family member touched by the sanitation crisis, direct experience with the failure of the agricultural sector, deep awareness of the immediate need for economic recovery. These stories brought our team together, and they drive our team to make SOIL successful and long-lasting. Over the next year we've set some ambitious goals to keep moving SOIL towards our goal of truly sustainable sanitation, and we're excited to continue sharing our stories and updates with you throughout the year.
Recently, SOIL was recognized as an official Haitian NGO after a long legalization process, and we're incredibly excited to have reached that important milestone. However, SOIL's new legal status means we now have to start paying an additional payroll tax for our Haitian employees. While we had budgeted for this and let our staff know it was coming, this new tax is hitting us during a period of steep currency devaluation. The 30% inflation of the Haitian Gourde in recent months has had an enormous impact on our staff, as prices continue to rise and monthly salaries are not able to cover as much as they were once able to do.
SOIL is fully committed to respecting the rules and regulations that apply to all Haitian NGOs, but we are reluctant to implement a tax that decreases our staff’s monthly take-home pay during this period of economic struggle. For now, the SOIL leadership team has decided to pay income tax on behalf of our staff rather than deducting it from their salaries, as the happiness and health of our team and their families is our highest priority. We therefore ask your support to cover this tax for our employees through July 31st so that we do not need to add this additional deduction to their paychecks.
Help us say "mèsi" / ("thank you") to our wonderful employees, who have become family to us, by supporting them through this period of financial uncertainty in Haiti.
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