Research on Democracy in Haiti

Open research, in Kreyòl, on democracy and civic engagement in Haiti

Ayiti Sitwayen is a research and action project. We do not only share information — we study, with scientific methods, how Haitian citizens think, feel, and act about democracy. All our research uses hypotheses specified in advance, published methods, plainly stated limitations, and results shared free in Kreyòl. When the data contradicts what we expected, we say so.

Research Notes

Note #1 · July 3, 2026

Civic Attitudes by Demographic Group

Analysis of LAPOP 2021-2023 data: only 24% of Haitians trust elections, but 52% support democracy. Insecurity is concentrated in the metro area, and youth show a pattern no one expected: more trust in elections, but less intention to vote.

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Note #2 · July 3, 2026

20 Years of Civic Attitudes (2006-2023)

Eight LAPOP waves: the confidence collapse began after 2012, trust in elections never exceeded 27%, and vote intention fell from 61% to 41%.

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The Questions We Study

  1. What kinds of content encourage civic engagement among Haitian youth?
  2. Which influencers have the most impact on civic attitudes and behaviors?
  3. How does sentiment on civic topics vary across demographic groups? (Note #1 begins answering this question.)
  4. Can youth who trust elections but do not intend to vote be mobilized? (Registered hypothesis for our next study.)

Our Methods and Commitments

We register our hypotheses before collecting data (pre-registration); we use sample weights, confidence intervals, and corrections for multiple testing; we publish our methods and limitations; and we respect the licenses of the data we use — for example, we cannot republish LAPOP's raw data, but all our aggregate results are public. Our analysis code is available on request.

Collaborate With Us

Are you a researcher, student, Kreyòl annotator, or an organization working on democracy in Haiti? We are looking for university partners, annotators for our next study, and funding for a national survey. Write to us: research@ayitisitwayen.org.