Jo-Ann Garnier
Program Officer, Haiti
Jo-Ann Garnier, Program Officer, Haiti, has over a decade of experience supporting civil society in Haiti to promote the rights of children, including children with disabilities and to provide technical support to the government on rights and inclusion of marginalized groups.
Jo-Ann has built strong relationships with civil society actors in Haiti, including leading DPOs, as well as with government stakeholders, donors and international development agencies. She is on several national platforms for rights and development issues in Haiti and traveled extensively throughout the country meeting with grassroots organizations.
Jo-Ann serves as Executive Director for enpaK, a Haitian NGO promoting the rights of children in Haiti, including children with disabilities. At enpaK, Jo-Ann worked with government and international agencies on strategies for realizing the rights enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to ensure all children are included in education and social development programs. Jo-Ann worked with the office of the Secretary of the State for the Integration of Persons with Disabilities to develop a communication strategy to popularize the Law on the Integration of Persons with Disabilities including the development of an easy-to-read version of the law in Creole. Prior to this, she worked for Plan International in Haiti for over eight years working on child rights issues and promoting the rights and inclusion of persons with disabilities as well as other marginalized groups. At Plan International, she held various strategic leadership roles including: Technical Advisor on the Rights of the Child, Director of Programs, Country Director and Director of Politics, Strategy and Advocacy. Jo-Ann has a law degree from the Faculty of Law and Economic Sciences of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Creole is her native language and she speaks English and French fluently.