Father Joseph B. Philippe, CSSp, has been a visionary leader in the struggle to eradicate poverty in Haiti for nearly forty years. His vision of peace, justice, transformation, and collaboration is one of hope for all of Haiti and those who work for its advancement.
Two documentaries were made about his work : Father Joseph and the Road to Fondwa.
He founded the four ground-breaking organizations : the Peasant Association of Fondwa (APF), the micro-credit bank Fondasyon Kole Zepòl (Fonkoze), the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Antoine of Fondwa (CSSAF), and University of Fondwa (UNIF).
Father Joseph was born in the village of Fondwa, high in the mountains south of Port-au-Prince. He became a member of the Spiritan Catholic Holy Order (Holy Ghost Fathers) and was ordained in 1988. From 1993 he served in the administration of the Spiritan Order, and was the Provincial Superior for the Haiti province of the Spiritan Fathers until 2007.
In 2009, he received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of San Francisco for his work aiding the poor. In 2010, he was named Social Entrepreneur for Latin America by the Schwab Foundation. In 2024 he received the Martin Luther King Award for Social Justice from the First United Methodist Church of Germantown, in Philadelphia.
Fr. Joseph holds an undergraduate degree in commercial accounting from the Ecole de Commerce André Laroche, Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He holds the Master of Divinity degree with special studies in liturgy and politics from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, Illinois.
Dr. Anne Petrov taught in five different universities, in the USA and France. She holds Masters degrees in physics, history and renewable energies. She holds a PhD from the Sorbonne in the history of mathematics and religion in 17th-century England.
After training in nuclear physics in the USA and France she sought sustainable ways for science to serve humanity. She co-founded a wind-energy company in rural France, ran a green building engineering group in Paris, and volunteered for NGOs in India, France and Nepal.
Dr. Anne Petrov is inspired to participate in the sustainable development of rural Haiti, as Executive Director of Father Joseph Network USA. In rural France, she learned first-hand that strong local governance and the active participation of farmers could catalyse rural communities towards sustainable development by working together to construct wind and solar farms, green buildings and sustainable communities.
Having grown up in a family of 9 children, Dr. Anne Petrov learned the importance of making decisions by getting everybody around the table, and helping the "little" ones be heard by the "bigger" ones. She naturally applies this skill in directing FJN USA.
Agr Lesly Joseph, MSc, serves as the General Director of Father Joseph Network (FJN), in Haiti. Lesly is an agronomist and statistician, specializing in biostatistics. He was born in the Limonade district of Haiti and obtained his degree in Agronomy at the State University of Haiti, in 2014. In 2017, he received a full scholarship to complete his Masters of Science in Agro-Environmental Sciences at the University of Ghent, one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Belgium. The institution is regularly ranked among the top 100 universities in the world and among the best research universities in continental Europe.
After obtaining his MSc, Agr Joseph returned to Haiti in 2019 to join the team of the University of Fondwa (UNIF) as professor of Research Methodology. In 2021, he was named Dean of Agronomy at UNIF. He conducts research and publishes internationally with collaborators including: with the University of Arkansas (2022) in Food Security, the article “A Broken Market: Can Increased Access to Broken Rice Decrease Food Insecurity in Haiti? »; with Virginia Tech (2023) in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, section Social Movements, Institutions and Governance, the article “Sustainable agriculture and food sovereignty in Haiti: Sharing knowledge and shaping understanding of food systems at the University of Fondwa.”
Frank Chism grew up in Springfield, MO, and comes from a long line of farmers in rural Mississippi. As one of the first people in his family to attend and finish college, Frank has always been aware of the disparity of opportunities available to people in this country, as well as throughout the world.
Frank is interested in anything related to providing more opportunities for those who have traditionally been disadvantaged. In addition to income inequality, financial education, and microfinance. Haiti has been an interest of Frank's since the first time he met Father Joseph.A few years after graduating from college, Frank settled in Philadelphia with his wife and began a career in financial services. He has spent time at Merrill Lynch, Fiserv Securities, and currently works for Vanguard.
Frank is a graduate of Yale University and holds the CFA and CAIA designations.
I am Kendia MOISE. I obtained my bachelor degree of Business Administration. Now I render my services to the Father Joseph Network NGO in Haiti. I am Executive Secretary since July 2022. Accepting to work for Father Joseph Network, an organization that focuses on aiding the poor and contributing to the country's reconstruction resonates deeply with my core values. And now, seeing how passionate people in this network are about making the country a better place, I feel that I have made the best decision ever.
The opportunity to directly impact the lives of those in need, to help rebuild communities, and to promote lasting positive change in Haiti aligns perfectly with my mission to contribute in the reconstruction of Haiti. This role not only allows me to apply my skills and experience in meaningful ways but also fulfills indirectly my lifelong dream of being a catalyst for hope and progress in underserved regions.
I’m Ray Torres. My church, First United Methodist Church of Germantown in Philadelphia, has been twinning with the Peasant Association of Fondwa since 1994. That year, Fr. Joseph asked our church for a grant to charter a bank for the organized poor. This became the Fonkoze foundation.
I was also with Witness for Peace Haiti, and before that was President of the Board of Directors of a local, community, credit union created to give housing loans to black home-owners in our mixed-race neighborhood of Philadelphia.
Fonkoze and the work of the Father Joseph Network has inspired me to build a more just and beloved community. I also have believed for a long time that from the work achieved by FJN a servant leader will arise to lead Haiti.
LeMar Clifford is a native of Louisiana and a servant leader. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and Political Science from Louisiana State University. After graduating he began working in the education field with students and teachers to transform society.
His work with Father Joseph and Haiti began in 2018 when he sojourned to the nation with the Fr. Albert McKnight Delegation. Since then he’s continued to work with the Father Joseph Network by laying the groundwork for Asosyasyon Peyizan Fondwa Global - Louisiana, an organization based in Opelousas, Louisiana that seeks to enact the mission “to empower the local grassroots organizations to create wealth in their communities.”
LeMar is extremely passionate about the work that he does with APF Global - LA as he believes Haiti is the blueprint for economic empowerment for African Diasporan people worldwide. In his spare time, LeMar enjoys reading, writing, running, and practicing Haitian Creole.
Tim served as Father Joseph Networks’s first CEO-convenor. He has been committed to developing innovations to address the needs of our brothers and sisters, in Haiti and globally, including through fulfilling the tenets of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN; Laudato Si of Pope Frances; C.K. Prahalad’s strategy, “Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty through Profits,” and Matthew 25.
Tim has been blessed by God with an incredible career of experiences that he seeks to harness to bless God’s Church and His children.
Tim’s strategic planning and innovations have been tapped by the White House National Economic Council, the U. S. Chamber of Commerce, the US SBA, the International Franchise Association, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution and top corporations.
He once led a refugee resettlement organization; initiated, researched and led a U.S. National Women & Minority Business Symposium; served on the TryUs/Diversity Information Resources Inc. Board of Directors; and served on the Board of World Relief Chicago.
Tim’s innovation and spiritual work has been published by the Vatican Laudato Si Action Platform; covered twice on Catholic TV; profiled twice by Catholic Profiles; and endorsed by Archbishop Elden Curtiss as “sorely needed;” endorsed by www.catholicmom.com; harnessed by Archdiocese Of Hartford’s Youth Spectacular.
Tim and his wife Roberta live in Connecticut and have four children and three grandchildren. Tim received a BA from Seton Hall University.