The Republic of Haiti is located in the is made up of the western three-eighths of the island of Hispaniola which it shares with the Dominican Republic.
It is the most populous country in the Caribbean Community, with a population estimated at 10.8 million. Despite having a viable tourist industry, Haiti is one of the world’s poorest countries and the poorest in the Americas region, with poverty, corruption, poor infrastructure, lack of health care and lack of education cited as the main causes. The most important exports are derived from the textile industry, with T-shirts, sweaters and men’s suits making up almost 80% of exports.
What are the development challenges in Haiti?:
In 2018, the country suffered a period of severe drought, floods and an earthquake, at a time the country is still facing epidemics of cholera, diphtheria and malaria, a migration crisis with the voluntary or forced displacement of Haitian populations from the Dominican Republic or other countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region, and recurrent protection problems.
The UN Humanitarian Needs Overview for 2019 identified the most crucial areas for intervention as support to re-establish basic services (most prominently to secure a safe and consistent water supply to fight waterborne disease), strengthening preparedness for natural disasters, improve medical care for those affected by epidemics, and mitigating against the ongoing human rights violations which fall disproportionately upon the shoulders of the most vulnerable.
How does Alliance2015 help?:
Alliance 2015’s approach in Haiti is centred around prevention. The Grand’Anse department, in which Alliance2015 partners are active, is especially vulnerable to natural disasters, and has suffered severe damages after the passage of hurricane Matthew. It is estimated that 100% of the population has been affected, and the catastrophe has long lasting effects: more than a year after the event, the needs in terms of shelter are still enormous and rebuilding is expensive: only 4% of households who needed help for rebuilding their homes received shelter support in 2017.
Alliance2015 members are active in the following areas:
- Emergency,
- protection,
- rural development.,
- inclusive and sustainable growth,
- natural resources management,
- income generation
Promoting disaster risk preparedness among local volunteers
Firstly partners ACTED and CESVI are establishing a consortium intended to implement a disaster risk reduction project in the communes of Les Irois, Corail, Pestel and Beaumont. The project aims at reinforcing local capacities in the shelter sector, both in terms of prevention and in terms of emergency shelter skills. This action will directly benefit hundreds of community members, mostly Red Cross volunteers and members of the DPC brigades (Komite Pwoteksyon Sivil Lokal) in Corail, Pestel, Beaumont and Les Irois, who will be trained on the correct use of tarpaulin right after a disaster, in order to be able to help themselves and other members of their localities to make the best use of the material provided during the first emergency distributions after disaster strikes. It will also provide local construction workers (bosses) with quality theoretical and practical training on the Build Back Safer and improved local building construction techniques. The bosses will practice on chantiers écoles, the output of which will be attributed to vulnerable households in need of a shelter.
