The mission of Thamani Foundation is to foster human development and cultural dialogue through the conservation and promotion of the diversity of traditional games and toys, the playful practices of Afro-descendants and minorities, migrants, future-oriented leisure activities, education, sustainable development and to ensure the well-being of all through social, artistic and scientific activities in connection with the different areas of intervention.
ABOUT THAMANI FOUNDATION
Mission
Mandate
The Thamani Foundation’s mandate is to inspire, educate and work with communities to make them more inclusive and sustainable through five main areas of work: Traditional Games, Recreation, Culture, Education, Sustainable Development. This sustainability and inclusiveness will be achieved through the integration of visible minorities, Aboriginal and Black people, people of color, the development of the capacities of young people and French-speaking immigrant women, the appropriation of digital tools in play practices, the intercultural valorization and the sharing of heritage values related to traditional games and sports and play practices, and leisure.
Vision
The vision of Thamani Foundation is to build resilient communities through edutainment in a general way to think about the future.
Our goals
The goals of Thamani Foundation are:
To promote human development through leisure and edutainment;
Promote and support cultural dialogue between communities through games, traditional toys and Afro-descendant play practices in Ontario, Canada and internationally;
To partner, promote, support and conduct research, documentation, research-creation and educational, scientific and social activities on traditional games and toys, Afro-descendant play practices from Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific;
To contribute to the endogenous and inclusive development of communities through play resources and to develop or strengthen recreational infrastructures in the Caribbean and Africa;
To engage in the conservation of traditional games and toys, and the valorization and sharing of Afrodescendant play practices;
To provide psychosocial and therapeutic assistance based on traditional games and play practices;
To develop edutainment devices for people living with intellectual, mental and physical disabilities;
To design and promote access to a bilingual game library listing traditional games and toys and sports from around the world;
To use edutainment as a channel to empower women and promote gender equity and inclusion;
Promote the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to the focus areas.
Commitment
We are committed through our mission to bring meaningful change to communities through play and play practices. We are committed to making an impact on communities by using our axes as pillars of work. Furthermore, the human being will always be at the center of our activities. Furthermore, the human being will always be at the center of our activities.
Théophilo Jabarth
Our founder
Born in Port-au-Prince, explorer, adventurer, documentary photographer. He has traveled in about seven departments in Haiti and has traveled in this country for about ten years in order to carry out explorations, scientific and artistic research. Trained in Haiti and France in Art History, Social Anthropology and Ethnology, Documentary Film and Visual Anthropology. A visual anthropologist, ethnoecologist and artist, he is pursuing a doctorate as a fellow at the University of Ottawa while continuing to conduct research on Haiti from a multi-sited and interdisciplinary perspective on water, hydrosystems and water development projects-programs. His research topics include traditional games and play practices, leisure in the French-speaking Caribbean (Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Saint-Martin) and the environment, stone sculpture, and hydrosystems in Haiti. He runs his own production company Tag Production and is President and CEO of the Board of Directors of the Thamani Foundation in Ottawa.
Reasons for the creation of the Thamani Foundation
After conducting training workshops with many communities, community organizations, and conducting research for many years on traditional games and recreation in Haiti, and in the French-speaking Caribbean, I saw the need to get more involved and to further the dream of valuing, safeguarding the traditional play heritage and leisure activities of our communities that carry our traditions, our values and wants to foster more inclusive and sustainable communities through traditional games and toys, leisure. Living in Canada, I saw the need to create this foundation in order to accompany immigrants, newcomers, temporary residents, minority communities, Francophones and Anglophones in their integration through leisure and traditional games of Canada and their country of origin. And moreover, to participate more actively at the international level to lead to concrete actions in the Caribbean and in Africa where an abundance of traditional play and leisure practices exist and tend to disappear. My commitment to sustainable and inclusive transformations in communities, traditional games and leisure are areas that can generate sustainable actions and promote dialogue, respect for cultures and heritages, to reflect on individual and collective commitments in the framework of some of the 2030 SDGs. It felt right to wish to participate in my own integration by sharing my experiential, artistic and scientific knowledge on traditional leisure and games but also to contribute to the integration and strengthening of communities.
Board of Directors
The board of directors of Thamani Foundation is constituted of five (5) persons: a president, a vice-president, a secretary, a treasurer and a member. This board is made up of people who are qualified in their field. It includes professionals in play practice, administration, program development and others. The synergy of the board and the passion that drives everyone is what makes the Thamani Foundation strong.
Theophilo Jarbath
Chairman of the Board of Directors
Choisy Rostchild
Vice President
Wilouse Charles Sanon
Treasurer
Ange-Claudie
Secretary
Christela Mondésir
Member
Nahomie Franklin
Member
Board of Directors
The Executive Management is the main unit for administering the day-to-day activities of the Thamani Foundation. It is responsible for reviewing all projects, events and interim decisions for reporting to the Board of Directors.
Our Youth Committees
The Foundation oversees many programs. As a result, it wishes to engage the community by using community-based management and decentralization of certain tasks. Youth committees have been created to make the experience of these programs more meaningful and participatory.
These committees will also be responsible for sustaining the values, work and goals of Thamani Foundation. These committees must be able to strengthen social cohesion, i.e., the links between communities in an inclusive and sustainable manner through recreation and games in order to facilitate the involvement of youth in the activities of the foundation and the community.
Our Partners
The noble partnerships that Thamani Foundation maintains include audiovisual needs with TAG Production. We are currently in talks with potential partners. If you are interested in partnering with us, please contact us. We are looking for financial partners, partners who can guarantee access to certain materials, partners in logistics to facilitate our activities and for the acquisition of games. However, we are open to different types of partnerships that can propel the work of the Foundation.