Father Joseph B. Philippe, CSSp, has been a visionary leader in the struggle to eradicate poverty in Haiti for nearly forty years. His vision of peace, justice, transformation, and collaboration is one of hope for all of Haiti and those who work for its advancement. Two documentaries were made about his work: Father Joseph (2015) and The Road to Fondwa (2008). He founded four groundbreaking organizations: the Peasant Association of Fondwa (APF), the microcredit bank Fondasyon Kole Zepòl (Fonkoze), the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Antoine of Fondwa (CSSAF), and the University of Fondwa (UNIF).

Father Joseph was born in the village of Fondwa, high in the mountains south of Port-au-Prince. He became a member of the Spiritan Catholic Holy Order (Holy Ghost Fathers) and was ordained in 1988. Starting in 1993, he served in the administration of the Spiritan Order, and was the Provincial Superior for the Haiti province of the Spiritan Fathers until 2007.

In 2009, he received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of San Francisco for his work aiding the poor. In 2010, he was named a Regional Social Entrepreneur of the Year in Latin America by the Schwab Foundation. In 2024 he received the Martin Luther King Award for Social Justice from the First United Methodist Church of Germantown in Philadelphia, USA.

Fr. Joseph holds an undergraduate degree in commercial accounting from the École de Commerce André Laroche in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He holds a Master of Divinity degree with special studies in liturgy and politics from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, USA.