Project presentation
The Terres Sainville neighborhood (2,000 inhabitants), located in the heart of the city of Fort-de-France in Martinique, is home to a low-income migrant population, mostly from neighboring islands (Dominican Republic, Haiti, Dominica, and Saint Lucia). The area suffers from aging and substandard housing, a lack of services and shops, and situations of violence and trafficking (drugs and prostitution). Many women who have fled poverty in the nearby Caribbean islands engage in prostitution to survive. Often single mothers, over-indebted and isolated, these women have a low level of French and are unaware of their rights and the assistance they could access.
In 2019, to address the lack of support programs adapted to this vulnerable population, the Martinique branch of Mouvement du Nid, an association specializing in supporting people in prostitution, assisted 30 women from the Terres Sainville neighborhood through French as a Foreign Language courses and practical workshops on accessing social rights, with the support of the Foundation.
For the second phase of the project, the association aims to offer these women a basic skills learning program (reading, math, and digital literacy) centered around cooking, and to involve them in preparing a public event, the festival “Les saveurs des valeurs,” in partnership with the City Hall of Fort-de-France, where they will run a stand (presenting their stories and recipes).
