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Ady Jean-Gardy

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Jean-Gardy Ady
Jean-Gardy Ady
Born(1957-09-15)15 September 1957 (age 64)
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
NationalityHaitian
Alma materUniversities of Journalism and Social Communication, Institute of Political Sciences and Economical Sciences
Main interests
Social Communication, Ethics, Freedom of Speech, Civil Rights
Notable ideas
Liberalist, Transcendental idealism
Signature

Ady Jean-Gardy (born September 15, 1957) is a Haitian historian, career journalist, and former Minister for Communication (2012-2013). As Chief of Staff of the Haitian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he developed reforms for public communication to avoid propaganda and respect human rights organizations. He also sought to position Haiti as an influential member of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Jean-Gardy worked to end the civil wars in Africa and promote a new image of Haiti as an international leader for peace. He is also the founder of the Haitian Press Federation, an umbrella organization for various Haitian press associations, and the Haitian University of Journalism and Social Communication, also known as the Haitian Center for Teaching Journalists.

He participated in training missions in West Africa and helped to establish the African Press Federation (Fédération de la Presse Africaine), working with press leaders from Mali, Togo, Benin, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Congo, Madagascar, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. According to one source, the Conference of Ouagadougou in 2004 advanced the wishes of the federation's founder through support from Daniel Whitman of the State Department.

Early life and education

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After elementary schooling at the Catholic School of the Salésiens Fathers, Ady Jean-Gardy attended Alexander Pétion High School. He began his career in journalism at age 12 as a caricaturist for the Creole newspaper Bon Nouvel, directed by Jorris Ceuppens. At age 14, he wrote a novel, Deblozay,, in Creole, which won the Prize of National Creole Media. He became the Cultural Affairs Director of the Haitian intellectual magazine Petit Samedi Soir and editor of a libertarian review, Inter Jeunes.

After high school, he received a scholarship from President Léopold Sédar Senghor of Senegal and studied Communications and journalism in Dakar, Senegal. Upon returning to Haiti at the age of 20, he was appointed manager of Haiti TV (cable television) under the supervision of Edward B. Hatton.

He pursued higher learning in Haiti at the Institute of Applied Linguistics, studied architecture at the Civil Engineering Institute of Richard Leconte, and obtained a bachelor's degree in economics at the Institute of Economic Science and Politics in Haiti. Classified among the first-class honors, he won a USAID scholarship to study Economy, Finance, and Administrative Management at the University of Pittsburgh.

He participated in the International Movie Prize and obtained the Caribbean's prize for a documentary film, Christmas in Voodoo Colors.

Career

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Jean-Gardy, who signs his name as Adyjeangardy on all professional documents, was a civil servant of the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) and an operations manager of the United Nations Programs (1989–1992). He was also an associate of the Environmental Programs at the Ministry of Agriculture of Haiti (1992–1993), operations manager at the Office of UNESCO (1993–1994), representative of Haiti at the Center for Strategic Studies and Diplomacy of Paris (1994–1997), and operations manager at the Center for Communication Studies of Deutsche Welle in Germany (1998).

In 1999, he was invited by the American State Department as an international representative of Haiti to the Assembly of Democracy organized by the United Nations in Poland.

At the start of 2000, he fought the Haitian Government internationally following the assassinations of Haitian journalists, such as Brignol Lindor in the town of Petit-Goave and Jean Dominique, Director of Haiti Radio-Inter, alerting the International Press Federation, the Committee for the Protection of Journalists, the Inter-American Press Company and the International Court of the Human Rights at The Hague.

In 2003, Jean-Gardy went to Amsterdam to meet with members of the International Court of The Hague about the trafficking of Haitian children under the guise of adoption. He discussed the subject with Dutch government officials, calling for better control on international adoptions to avoid a new form of slave trade from Haiti. These steps led to a systematic inspection of adoption records between Haiti, the Dominican Republic, the United States, and Europe.

In 2004, Jean-Gardy led missions to the Governor of Florida Jeb Bush and his officials to advocate for a plan of assistance to Haiti focused on public health, education, and donations of equipment for rubbish collection and fire control. In Florida, he created a television network called Haiti World TV (HWT) which broadcasts information programs about Haiti and Haitian history for the education of Haitian communities.

Since 2004, he has been contracted to the International Center of Journalists in Washington, D.C., consulting for two years with the Africa Section of the American State Department, and since 2005 he has been an advisor to the Office Haiti-Freedoms France.

As the representative of Haiti to the International Conference of the Inter-American Press Association on Strategies to Communicate, he expressed his desire to see the Haitian State Media (radio and television) become a community media organisation with scrutiny by Parliament and press organizations in the country. As president of the International Media Foundation (IMF), by 2006 he produced reports and recommendations for professional development in the media.

As Dean of the University Center for the Training of Journalists, in 1985 he was asked by the Military Academy of Haiti to deliver courses on communication techniques, and then by the Police Academy of Haiti in 1995.

Fall of Duvalier

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Following the fall of the Haitian President Jean-Claude Duvalier, the National Council of Government of Haiti (CNG) appointed Jean-Gardy director of the daily newspaper Haiti Released. He resigned six months later, stating he did "not want to guarantee useless massacres of the civilian population." Jean Gardy reorganized the Association of the Haitian Journalists (AJH), which he directed for four years, establishing the presence of this institution in the new Haitian Constitution of 1987.

He was Director General of the Investigation Group Press (1987) and was called by President Ertha Pascal-Trouillot to head the national radio of Haiti (1990–1991) and to help organize the presidential elections, which led to the presidential election of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Named by Aristide Ambassador of Haiti to Japan in 1991, Jean-Gardy resigned following the arrest of President Ertha Pascal-Trouillot. He then joined the United Nations system where he was hired by Reinhart Helmcke (Germany), as Coordinator of Programs (Hai89018 project) and Consulting National at the World Health Organization (WHO). He also became the Representative in Haiti of the International Union of the French Press for Freedom of Expression and a Permanent Correspondent of Voice of America (USA) in Haiti.

Awards

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Ady Jean-Gardy has received international decorations from Mali, Benin, Togo, Guinea, the Ivory Coast, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, the United States, and Latin America. He received an Award in Florida after inspiring American authorities to introduce Haitian History to Floridian schools. Following his recommendations, the Mayor of Miami-Dade County, Carlos Alvarez, published an official decree recognizing January as the month of Haiti's Independence.

References

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