About Cite Soleil

Cite Soleil is a marginalized municipality in Port au Prince, the capital of Haiti. It is the most densely-populated place in the country, and often considered the most dangerous because of decades of gang conflict and political violence. The stigma of this violence is assigned to everyone who lives in the area, including the vast majority of Cite Soleil's residents who are unarmed and just trying to live a normal life. Among these citizens are young people who are putting themselves at great risk to try to improve their communities and make life a little more bearable for their neighbors and families. 

 

On June 25th, 2011, a group of these young change makers from five different neighborhoods in Cite Soleil decided to start to work together and help each other in community activities. They decided to launch a social movement they called Konbit Solèy Leve. The movement was not an organization or foundation, it had no legal papers, it had no president or formal structure, it had no bank account to accept money, and no political affiliations. All it had was a set of principles: collective leadership, community service, interdependence, working with what you have, and others. Everyone and anyone who did positive social work in Cite Soleil was considered a part of Konbit Solèy Leve.