Overview:
Haiti’s rising insecurity is crippling Madan Sara, the spine of the casual economic system. These merchants purchase from farmers and provide city markets, navigating harmful roads and gang-controlled areas. Assaults, extortion, and violence limit their mobility, scale back their gross sales, and trigger heavy monetary losses. Disadvantaged of market entry, they wrestle to maintain their companies, destabilizing your complete provide chain and deepening the financial disaster.
PORT-AU-PRINCE – At daybreak, whereas Port-au-Prince remains to be in darkness, Anite Désir, a seasoned Madan Sara – a time period typically used to explain Haiti’s market girls – prepares for her weekly journey to Artibonite, roughly 60 miles from Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. Carrying her items, she navigates crumbling roads and avoids gang-controlled areas the place retailers are extorted and generally subjected to violence. For Haiti’s Madan Sara, insecurity is a every day problem, however they transfer ahead with braveness and dedication.
These merchants purchase straight from farmers to resell within the nation’s main markets. Tireless, they journey lengthy distances, crossing mountains and borders with heavy bundles. Because of their efforts, markets stay stocked, supporting the livelihood of hundreds of households.
The time period Madan Sara comes from a Haitian chook, “Madame Sara,” recognized for its stressed nature and behavior of carrying meals from place to position. By analogy, these ever-moving merchants inherited the title, which has turn into an emblem of resilience and ingenuity within the casual economic system.
Important to commerce, they purchase in bulk, promote at retail, and make sure the circulate of products between rural and concrete areas. The Financial institution of the Republic of Haiti (BRH) highlights their essential position in meals distribution and their influence on the casual economic system, which accounts for over 30% of Haiti’s GDP.
“Simply as banks facilitate finance, the Madan Sara connects rural producers with city customers and helps stabilize costs. Their position is indispensable”, says Haitian economist Thomas Lalime.
The influence of insecurity on their enterprise
Regardless of being a significant hyperlink within the nation’s economic system, Madan Sara are more and more threatened by violence and insecurity within the capital, severely impacting their industrial actions.
A September 2024 research by the Financial institution of the Republic of Haiti (BRH) discovered that insecurity has severely disrupted Madan Sara operations. Weekly commerce journey has dropped, with 80% now making not more than three journeys. In the meantime, 72% have relocated their promoting spots, and 58% have modified provide sources to keep away from unsafe areas like Carrefour, Croix-des-Bossales, Delmas 89, and Pétion-Ville.
“Simply as banks facilitate finance, Madan Sara merchants join rural producers with city customers and assist stabilize costs. Their position is indispensable”
Haitian economist Thomas Lalime
These disruptions have harm gross sales, with 36% of Madan Sara incomes lower than 50,000 gourdes ($390) per week, whereas solely 8% surpass 750,000 gourdes ($5,800
- Diminished journey hurts provide: Earlier than the disaster, Madan Sara made as much as 5 journeys per week to restock items. Now, 80% journey 3 times or much less, limiting market availability and disrupting commerce.
- Pressured relocation disrupts enterprise: Insecurity has pushed 72% of Madan Sara to vary promoting areas and 58% to seek out new suppliers, particularly in high-risk areas like Carrefour and Croix-des-Bossales.
- Gross sales take a significant hit: Greater than a 3rd (36%) of Madan Sara now earn below $390 per week, and solely 8% make over $5,800—highlighting a pointy financial downturn within the casual sector.
Persistent insecurity straight disrupts casual commerce, slows the native economic system and limits Haitian customers’ entry to agricultural merchandise. By hindering the work of Madan Sara, your complete provide chain is destabilized, and the nation’s financial challenges worsen.
Roughly 70% of Haiti’s commerce depends on the casual sector, which is dominated by Madan Sara, in line with a 2022 World Bank report. Nevertheless, rising insecurity has led to a 30% income loss within the sector over 5 years. Between 2018 and 2023, gangs burned down or looted greater than 60 Haitian markets, inflicting losses estimated at a number of million {dollars}.
“I awakened at 5 a.m. to purchase my items. Earlier than, I had some financial savings, however now every part I earn goes into safety and bribes simply to cross harmful areas. That is now not a enterprise—it’s a battle for survival.”
Anite Désir, a Madan Sara
Instances of extortion have additionally surged. Whereas seven retailers reported being extorted in 2023, 12 confronted this situation in January 2024 alone. The worsening safety disaster because the begin of the yr has severely deteriorated the industrial setting, in line with the BRH.
Jocelyne Jean Louis, coordinator of Rassemblement des Madan Sara d’Haïti (RAMSA), states that greater than 13,000 Madan Sara were straight affected by insecurity in 2024, many dropping their capital or struggling violence from armed gangs.
“I awakened at 5 a.m. to purchase my items. Earlier than, I had some financial savings, however now every part I earn goes into safety and bribes simply to cross harmful areas. That is now not a enterprise—it’s a battle for survival,” laments Anite Désir, a Madan-Sara from the Silo Market in Delmas 33, Port-au-Prince.
A central position in Haiti’s industrial historical past
Within the early twentieth century, the Madan Sara have been already extremely lively. Along with buying and selling inside varied Haitian departments and cities, they traveled to purchase wholesale items from Curaçao, Panama, and the Dominican Republic. These journeys have been typically lengthy and dangerous however important to make sure the provision of merchandise.
They transported materials, sneakers, and meals merchandise of their bundles, reselling them in Haiti’s main markets, significantly the Croix-des-Bossales market within the coronary heart of Port-au-Prince. This market—the most important within the West Division—was a real industrial hub the place sellers and consumers from throughout the nation converged. It centralized merchandise from all ten Haitian departments.
At this time, about 75% of the 22,000 retailers who as soon as labored there have been compelled to flee attributable to growing insecurity, in line with Rasanbleman Madan Sara Dayiti (RAMSA), the primary group to focus on the importance of the Madan-Sara.
These journeys have been grueling. The ladies endured lengthy journeys by boat or truck, typically in poor situations. However they all the time returned with sufficient items to feed complete households and stimulate the native economic system.
“My aunt used to journey to Panama by boat. She would keep there for weeks earlier than returning with materials. When she received again, our home was a warehouse, and your complete neighborhood got here to purchase from her. She additionally offered on the Hyppolite market. She was a brave lady, a fighter,” says Katia Labossière, niece of a Madan-Sara.
They confronted huge dangers—theft, market fluctuations, arbitrary taxes, and even scams made their work extremely tough. But, they endured, refusing to desert a career that supported hundreds of individuals.
The Madan Sara right now: adaptation and resilience
At this time, their actions are extra restricted. Outdoors of some accessible Haitian departments, their major vacation spot stays the Dominican Republic. Cross-border commerce has intensified, making markets like Dajabón key facilities of Haiti’s casual commerce.
They buy rice, oil, clothes, and different items in bulk earlier than crossing the border to resell them in Haitian markets. These journeys are sometimes exhausting, marked by limitless strains and generally arbitrary border controls.
The challenges stay. They’re continuously focused by thieves and attackers. Some lose their complete every day earnings immediately, robbed by bandits who know they carry money. Inflation and political instability additional complicate their work. Regardless of their financial significance, they obtain little help—no financial institution loans, no social safety. They need to fend for themselves and not using a security web.
“Individuals name us the poto mitan (pillars of society), but we’re left on our personal. Day-after-day, we threat our lives to purchase our items. If we cease, a whole financial chain collapses.”
Maryse Boyer, a service provider from Port-au-Prince
“Individuals name us the poto mitan (pillars of society), but we’re left on our personal. Day-after-day, we threat our lives to purchase our items. If we cease, a whole financial chain collapses”, says Maryse Boyer, a service provider from Port-au-Prince.
Port-au-Prince’s once-iconic markets, like Croix-des-Bossales, Hyppolite and Tête Bœuf, have been thriving hubs for Madan Sara. At this time, gang violence has modified every part. Many retailers now not dare go there for concern of extortion, assaults, and even loss of life. This insecurity has straight impacted their commerce, limiting buyer entry, driving up costs attributable to provide chain disruptions and forcing many ladies to
An unsure future, however a glimmer of hope
Some initiatives are working to help them. Native organizations like RAMSA advocate for higher monetary help and elevated safety. They push for tailor-made microloans, safe storage areas, and tax reduction.
Younger feminine entrepreneurs are additionally drawing inspiration from the Madan Sara. They’re creating online commerce platforms to facilitate transactions and scale back the dangers related to journey. Whereas these initiatives are nonetheless restricted, they pave the way in which for the modernization of the casual commerce sector.
One such initiative is Madansara Store, launched in July 2024 by Mykel Saint Preux, a pc engineering scholar. This e-commerce platform permits Haitians to purchase and promote varied merchandise, together with electronics, books, clothes, and wonder merchandise. Its title pays tribute to the Madan Sara.
One other notable initiative is HaiCraft, based in November 2022 by Caroline Zéphir. This nonprofit group helps over 180 Haitian artisans, offering them with coaching in crafting strategies, gross sales, and digital advertising and marketing. HaiCraft goals to professionalize artisans and promote Haiti’s cultural and inventive sector.
These platforms function expertise incubators, fostering collaboration, concept alternate, and synergy amongst younger entrepreneurs. They spotlight the power of younger Haitians to leverage digital instruments to spice up the native economic system and help key sectors just like the Madan Sara.
“They [Madan Sara] carry Haiti on their shoulders. It’s time to offer them the means to thrive. Think about an economic system the place the Madan-Sara have entry to credit score, correct infrastructure, and actual social safety. It will be a revolution for your complete nation,” Geisha N. Labossière, a younger Haitian economist, concludes.