Hip-hop artist Wyclef Jean [ tickets ] has launched a humanitarian effort aimed at advancing sustainable development in his homeland of Haiti, a nation long racked by poverty, political strife and natural disasters.

The campaign, dubbed Yele Haiti, is planning to present a free concert in Haiti next spring for up to 1.5 million people, according to a press release. The Port-au-Prince show is also expected to feature Jean's ex-Fugees bandmates Lauryn Hill [ tickets ] and Pras [ tickets ].

Yele Haiti's first fundraiser takes place on Thursday (12/9) at the New York City club GLO, and will feature Jean & the Refugee All-Star Band, Roberta Flack, Bilal, Cassandra Wilson, Nellie McKay, Paul Schaeffer, Nile Rodgers and others.

According to a press release, Yele Haiti will focus on education, entrepreneurship, community development, health and the environment. The initial programs will work toward the rebuilding of schools in slum areas, funding community-development projects, providing micro-loans to poor and low-income people, supporting youth outreach on HIV/AIDS and assisting with job-creating environmental projects.

"Haiti is my native country, one I know as the first black nation to gain independence in 1804," Jean said in a statement. "Most other people seem to know Haiti only by the statistics about how bad things are there. Yele Haiti is about showing Haitians that there is a way out, and that it starts with them. It's also about showing the international community that there is a strong Haitian spirit that can be supported in order to foster creativity and ideas which can prove valuable to the world for both business and culture."

According to Yele Haiti's website, barely half of Haiti's people over age 15 can read and write, the nation's unemployment rate is 80% and almost 99% of the nation's national tree cover is gone. The average life expectancy of a Haitian is 52.