History

The discussions leading to the creation of the Interuniversity Institute for Research and Development in Haiti began in the 1990s, when the country entered a new crisis culminating in the intervention of international forces in 1994. Evaluating this context, a group of Haitian, American and Brazilian researchers became interested in applying the strategies used in other national contexts to respond to similar situations.

In 1999, this pioneering group created the Family and Youth Community Research Center,Inc. (FYCRC) in the United States, dedicated to studying the different problems affecting the living conditions of Haitians in the United States and Haiti itself. This institution – subsequently officially recognized as a non-profit organization in the United States and linked to universities and research centers in Florida, New York and Massachusetts – was the first step toward implementing the project of founding the Institute.

After its creation, FYCRC actively developed an international network of researchers specialized in the study of the Caribbean and Haiti and undertook systematic discussions on planning and organizing a high-level research institute in Haiti. Thanks to the FYCRC’s efforts, the support of American, Brazilian and Haitian universities (the Faculty of Human Sciences, the Ecole Normale Supérieure of Haiti State University, and Lumière University) and the financial support of the Haitian State (the Prime Minister’s Office, the Department of Education, the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Religion, and the Ministry of Tourism), INURED came into being and was officially inaugurated in May 2007.

During the inaugural forum, more than ninety international researchers from seventeen universities and research centers attended from Haiti, Cuba, Brazil, Argentina, France, the United States, Canada, Martinique and the Dominican Republic. The forum’s participants collectively discussed the Institute’s mission and its founding principles. They decided on its different entities, research policies and academic programs and committed themselves to assuming an active role in the different Research Laboratories.

INURED Inauguration Photo Gallery