CGI Interview: H.E.L.P. Founder Conor Bohan

During the Education Working Group Lunch on Wednesday, I sat down to eat and was pleasantly surprised to discover that I was sitting at Conor Bohan's table, the founder of H.E.L.P., the Haitian Education Leadership Program. I wasn't able to ask him many questions at the time because he was the table facilitator, but after the conference, I had the opportunity to learn more about his personal investment in education and his experience at CGI:

Donate Now to H.E.L.P projects »

Gabrielle Apollon interview with Conor Bohan:

GA: How did you benefit from attending CGI?

CB: I met so many people who are doing such interesting work, a network of like-minded people, and it produced lots of ideas on how to improve what we're doing in Haiti.

GA: Was there something in particular that stood out to you?

CB: I found one of Muhammad Younus' points particularly compelling, about not thinking in terms of business for the rich and charity for the poor but offering the same kind and level of services to the poor.

GA: What was the best experience you had at CGI?

CB: I met two former child soldiers, Valentino Deng, from Sudan, and Grace Akollo, from Northern Uganda. They've been through things that we can't even dream of and probably wouldn't want to. They have survived a living nightmare, and the fact that they've come out and dedicated themselves to preventing others from living through what they did is so inspiring.

GA: Why are you, personally, passionate about education, in the midst of all of the problems that Haiti has?

CB: From my personal experience teaching in Haiti and from research, I've learned that education is the foundation for development. You get the biggest bang for your buck, because it creates so many positive outcomes. There is an enormous correlation between education and health. It also enables economic development, poverty reduction, and there are additional advantages in educating girls, such as lower birth rates. Education is really the most effective way to combat poverty in all its forms.

GA: Why focus on university education, when so many students don't end up finishing secondary school?

CB: One of the aspects of globalization that isn't talked about is that people, in order to participate in the global economy, now need to have the same skills in India or in Haiti as they have in London or New York. In order to be a productive and prosperous member of the agrarian economy, you needed a primary education. In order to be a prosperous industrial worker, you needed to have a secondary education. In the post-industrial economy, that's no longer the case. The middle class is made up of knowledge workers that have a post-secondary education. It doesn't matter if you live in Port-au-Prince, Haiti or Princeton, New Jersey.

We've found out that the returns for an investment of schooling for 4 or 5 more years past secondary school are tremendous. In Haiti, the kids that graduate from secondary school make $1,000/year or less; the average annual salary for college graduates is $9,000/year. That extra 4 years results in ten times the earning power at the minimum. This is truly leveling the playing field. University education is the secondary school education of the 21st century. There needs to be massive investment in post-secondary education, all across the world, in the US as well as Port-au-Prince.