Unlock the Power of Partnership
Annual Program Report 2024
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Annual Program Report 2024
In 2024 we saw how joy could transform even the most daunting of challenges into opportunities. Working through another difficult year in Haiti, we focused on deepening and broadening our partnerships and experiencing the joy of working well together with a shared goal. We enjoyed the pleasure of each other’s company and sought shelter in the sense of purpose we feel as a team and through our partnerships.
We also saw how fear could halt our creativity, impede our progress and leave our partners and colleagues feeling paralyzed. I think this is even more important to remember now, as we kick off 2025 with more uncertainty. We must remember to draw our strength and productivity from the joys of working together and the pleasure derived from transforming big obstacles into even bigger opportunities for growth and impact.
If we spark joy in the hearts of others in all our interactions, then together we can replace our fears with hope, transform our hopes into resolve, and build the kind of confidence that opens the door to innovation and bold action. This year we will remember that impact is not limited to just meeting our indicators. Impact is the direct result of how we show up for our colleagues, our partners and our communities and experience the joy that can come from unity of purpose. That impact is much harder to measure but perhaps even more meaningful during times of stress and danger.
Next year we will emerge stronger, better, and more united in our work with all of you. We will maintain a positive attitude, use uplifting words, support one another, be realistic in our planning and undeterred in the pursuit of our objectives. Bring it on!
In 2024, Papyrus expanded its operations in Africa and in Haiti and significantly scaled our impact through partnership. Partnerships are essential to our continued growth and promote innovation beyond the limits of any one project. Our successful partnerships are founded on trust, collaboration, and longevity, and we know we are stronger when we work together whether in a lead role or as a member of a consortium.
This Annual Report highlights some of the most noteworthy of our experiences, learning, and advances in fortifying these partnerships.
This year Papyrus expanded its impact team, hiring an Impact Specialist and a Digital Media and Data Officer. We brought in an external impact firm to review all our programs and together we established a company-wide Theory of Change, and quantified our impact through a consolidated set of audited indicators that describe in numbers the combined impact of all the projects we have implemented over the past 17 years. We set up a centralized monitoring, evaluation, and learning department that now serves all of our programs and projects. In addition to client-centered indicators, we now track our own in-house indicators that provide critical insights into how effectively our initiatives promote justice, reduce inequality, and create tangible opportunities for individuals and communities. By aligning project outcomes with our overall vision, we now feel more confident that we will achieve meaningful and lasting results.
Papyrus has always maintained strong connections with its partners well after projects officially end. This year our new team went back to the communities and participants of our Haiti-based projects, dating back to 2013, to measure post-project impact and seek feedback on participant and partner experiences working with our teams. We discovered that many of the initiatives are ongoing! We highlight two such examples in this report: the PISA projects and Café Luxe activity. We are working on a plan to institutionalize impact-monitoring beyond project completion as a guarantee to our clients that we will design and report on activities that will last well beyond their funding.
We are pleased to share some of our impact numbers achieved through our partnerships with many of you.
strengthening local economies and creating sustainable employment.
through partnerships with
organizations like PISA.
is central to our vision for equitable development.
in sales, reflecting successful commercialization and market integration.
across multiple programs, enabling them to lead, innovate, and apply sustainable practices.
have adopted new management, environmental, and agricultural techniques as a result of this training.
Our partnerships are more than just collaborations. At Papyrus, partnership is our core strategy for achieving sustainable impact and we think they should be flexible and evolve over time. Often lead partners are the larger more well-established organizations that can offer strategic oversight and broad technical knowledge, while smaller and often regional partners bring contextual knowledge and community engagement approaches. As trust deepens and capacity strengthens, these roles can and should shift. The developing and growing organizations can assume greater leadership responsibilities, lead implementation and drive long-term outcomes. At that point larger partners should transition to supporting strategic priorities allowing others to take their place.
Papyrus has had many such evolving partnerships with dozens of partners over the years as has toggled from sub to lead roles as appropriate. Papyrus worked on its first major multi-year program with RTI International in the lead and five years later successfully led a different project with RTI as our subcontractor. Similarly, we began our partnership with PISA as the lead entity and we are now a subcontractor to them on their first prime program, which is twice the size of the one we led!
Good partnerships are those that result in each partner becoming stronger in the process and developing deeper ties of mutual trust and accountability, leading to broader and more lasting impact. We look forward to continuing and deepening all of our partnerships next year and to establishing powerful new ones.
Produits des Iles S.A. (PISA) has shown us how working together can open doors for growth and lasting change. With Papyrus by their side, PISA turned opportunities into real benefits for local farmers and helped boost Haiti’s agricultural and export sectors.
Read moreCafé Lux is a testament to the enduring impact of Papyrus’ work. A decade ago, Papyrus supported Café Lux in laying the foundation for its success. Today, the business thrives independently, exporting internationally and contributing significantly to Haiti’s economy—proof of how strategic partnerships create lasting change long after the collaboration ends.
Read moreSeveral years ago, we decided to base our business on the application of our values. We spent time and money carefully and realistically defining what they are and what they mean, and we disseminated them to the entire staff, reinforced by an operating system that holds everyone accountable to them every day. We also began to realize that the impact we seek in our work can be amplified and results can be significantly scaled through key partnerships.
We nurture the work of our partners, knowing that their successes are more likely to continue beyond the life of our partnership, while inspiring us to scale our initiatives, attract new clients, and grow our firm. We take a long-term view of our client and partner relationships, often providing strategic insights and advice without expectation of compensation.
We are confident in providing strategic advice to our clients because we draw our knowledge and inspiration from the reality of the complex programs we implement. We encourage our teams to offer advice and share knowledge freely as we deliver our projects and programs.
So, what are the results so far of this decidedly radical approach? Well, we have found like-minded clients and grown quickly, we have found excellent new employees who share our views, and we have adopted a values-based management system that has made us more efficient as we grow. We look forward to refining and applying these principles that bring joy to us and to our partners.
