The primary mission of The Association of the Peasants of Fondwa, or APF, is to empower, to serve and to transform the living conditions of the poor in rural Haiti. Founded in 1988 by Father Joseph Philippe, APF focused on the development of their own remote community of Fondwa. Fondwa is a small community village in the western province of Haiti, 80 kilometers from Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. This mountainous region has a population of 8,000 people. Fondwa now boasts a primary and secondary school, the only accredited rural university (UNIF), an orphanage, a community radio station, programs in renewable energy, water purification, reforestation and agriculture.

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Today, APF supports local grassroots empowerment combined with a focus of increasing fundamental rural skills through higher education - with local college graduated returning to their home communities - and the creation of economic opportunity through the small business incubators. There are six other rural communities, and about 50,000 individuals total which benefit from the work of APF. Furthermore, Father Joseph has founded three other sister organizations which approach this same mission of empowering and transforming the living conditions of the poor in rural Haiti. They are Fondasyon Kole Zepol, FONKOZE or the Shoulder-to-Shoulder Foundation; The Congregation of the Sisters of St. Anthony of Fondwa (CSSAF), and The University of Fondwa (UNIF).