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Worldwide missions

Haiti

General data

ACF France's Mission

Launch date: 1985
Local staff: 600
Expatriates: 52

Places of intervention:

Department : North West (Bombardopolis)
Department: Artibonite (Gonaïves)
Departement: West (Port-au-Prince)

Types of intervention:

Detection and treatment of acute malnutrition
Support to mother-children care
Psychological support
Improving access to clean water, to basic sanitary installations and to knowledge and practices related to hygiene
Prevention and management of risks and disasters
Food security (farming-forestry-grazing programmes, monetary action)
Response to the epidemic of cholera

Country key figures

Population: 10 million inhabitants (2010)
Life expectancy: 60 (2010)
Beneficiaries: about 800 000 people
Human Development Indicators: 145/169 (2010)
GDP/inhabitant: unknown for 2010

Sources: World Bank, UNDP, WHO

Context

Haiti knows a chronic political instability since its independence in 1804, between dictatorships, coups and foreign interventions. More than a dozen Presidents succeeded one another since the end of Duvalier’s regime in 1986.
The political instability and its multiple consequences (bad governance, insecurity, migrations, drift from the land) as well as recurrent natural disasters (storm Jeanne in 2004, cyclones in 2008, earthquake in 2010) made Haiti sink into a dangerous spiral of impoverishment.

On an economic point of view, the country suffers from a low agricultural productivity all the more limited by the bad road network, the limited secondary and tertiary sectors especially in matters of creation of added value. This brings Haiti 80 % dependant from external imports, in particular for food.
According to the report on human development by the UNDP in 2009, 72 % of the population lives with less than 2 dollars per day. The access to services (health, education, water) is extremely problematic. For example, only 51 % of the population has access to drinking water.

Besides, the very strong environmental degradation of the country (deforestation, erosion, management of waste) brings the Haitian population particularly vulnerable to natural disasters.

In this background, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake occurred in Haiti on Tuesday, 12 January 2010, and specifically struck the area of Port-au-Prince. It was reported that an estimated 230 000 people had died and 1,5 million were left homeless, including 1,17 million people gathered in spontaneous sites of grouping only fort Port-au-prince conglomeration (according to a report from the UN in April 2010).

Almost half of the town of Port-au-Prince has been destroyed, with inequalities from one neighbourhood to another. 40 million cubic meters of rubbles were still to be evacuated before any possibility of reconstruction. Dwellings as well as public infrastructures have been affected: the presidential palace, the Parliament and almost every ministry have collapsed.

Beyond physical destruction of infrastructures, the earthquake had repercussions on the institutions of the country, because of its impact on the capital.
Indeed, numerous statesmen and important personalities for the functioning of the government and public services such as deputies, professors, doctors, etc have died in the collapse of official buildings or in their own personal dwellings.
With the earthquake the situation has worsened, lots of people affected have lost their professional activities and therefore their income. Poverty, as a result, has increased and the economical situation is alarming, with a break of demand on markets. The population has developed survival mechanisms, which are now close to their limits. Malnutrition has become a huge threat for the country.

ACF in Haiti

ACF has conducted emergency activities in response to recurrent crises

since 1985 in the fields of health, nutrition, mental health,

healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene. It aims at providing

immediate aid during crises and natural disasters, but also at helping

regain good living conditions and anticipating eventual new disasters.

After the 12th January earthquake, ACF teams have immediately set up wide emergency operations in the center of Port-au-Prince, in Leogane and Gressier to provide supply to immediate needs of the population affected, with a coverage of malnutrition, mental health care, clean water access, sanitation, and an access to essential products.

ACF projects in Haiti, whether they regard emergency contexts (politic crises, natural disasters) or structural problems, revolve around a dynamic of support to local authorities and local initiatives.

North-West Region

Disasters and Risks management

Disasters and Risks management (reduce vulnerability and the impact of disasters)
Intensification of the actors’ skills in management of risk and answer to urgency
Campaign of information and sensitisation of the population
Protection of populations against disasters

Water, sanitation and hygiene

Program of reduction of prevalence of diarrheic diseases, with the improvement of access to drinking water around 3 priority axes:

Restoration of water networks
Intensification of local authorities’ capacities in management / maintenance of networks
Promotion of hygiene: improvement of knowledge and practices connected to hygiene
Construction of latrines for families and communities

Artibonite Region

ACF Interventions in the region of Artibonite respond to the consequences of cyclones and floods of 2008 and to displaced persons' influx in this zone due to the earthquake of January 12th, 2010. In a transverse way, ACF particularly emphasizes the integration of problems of risks and disasters management by trying to reduce the vulnerability of the population to these disasters.

Nutrition and Health.

In-service training and support to infrastructures of the Ministry of Health for the coverage of severe acute malnutrition by children: six points of outpatient treatment of malnutrition in the structures of health of the region and one unit of nutritional stabilization for the heaviest cases in the Hospital of Gonaïves.
Organization of consultations with the people in great psychological difficulty to allow them to start their process of resilience.
Accompaniment in the community mobilization for the implementation of prevention activities, screening, and referencing of children suffering from malnutrition.
Integration and implementation of reference system between HIV programs and nutrition programs

Care Practices and psychosocial support

Support to breast feeding and psychosocial activities for pregnant and breast-feeding women having children between 0 and 2 years in eight regional “mom-baby” tents in rural and urban zones.
Psychological and social Accompaniment for young mothers in 3 reception centers of Gonaives.

Food security and livelihood.

Activities of Cash for Work benefiting to more than 5000 families for the evacuation of mud and waste in the city of Gonaïves before the cyclonic season, and for the rehabilitation of road and agricultural infrastructures in the rural zones
Support for the reintegration of vulnerable families and young mothers through the re-launching of remunerated activities and intensification of associative activities in the districts.

Water, sanitation and hygiene

Prevention and reduction of infantile mortality and malnutrition due to hydric diseases linked to the quality of water, hygiene and sanitation:
implementation of workshops for chlorine manufacturing ( 3 ) and pumps ( 1 ); rehabilitation of manual pumps, drillings and water sources at the top Artibonite;
personalized accompaniment for 800 families in their practices of hygiene (sanitary assessment, sensitization, distribution of hygiene kits).

West Region (Port-au-Prince)

Nutrition and Health care practices

Coverage and treatment of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition in 10 outpatient Nutrition Centres

Daily Screening of malnutrition by ACF teams and\or community workers and volunteers
Activities of sensitization to breastfeeding, food diversification and psychosocial problems in the community (in districts and\or sites of grouping) and in outpatient nutritional centres.
Continuity of distribution of Ready to use Artificial Milk to children from 0 to 12 months, in two tents, until February 28th, 2011 for the infants who can not benefit from breast-feeding (motherless orphans, etc.)
Individualized Accompaniment for the most vulnerable families within the framework of house consultations, to help them join a dynamics of change of behavior and to provide adapted care to their young children, favouring their good development and their nutritional state.
Training of health agents from the Ministry of health of the city of Port-au-Prince, women's associations in good practices of breast-feeding and practices of care

Psychological support

Psychosocial Evaluation of 2000 vulnerable people
Individual or group psychological Support for 500 people
Supervision and technical training of 10 national psychologists
Evaluation of the psychosocial situation and mental health
Contribution to the definition of the national plan in mental health in association with the other national and international actors in the field of mental health
Sensitization and plea for the consideration of psychosocial aspects and mental health in emergencies.

Food security and livelihood

"cash for work " Activities
Identification of 37 intervention sites in coordination with the National Direction of Drinking water and Sanitation (DINEPA) and identification of priority works to be led with the committees of targeted sites
Distribution of tools kits given to committees at the end of the program
Selection, recruitment and training of 1200 different workers for every rotation of 15 days (all in all 17 000 workers).
Implementation of works of rubbles clearing and gullies cleaning out
Direct Distributions of money: grants
Implementation of Activities for people who can not benefit from Cash for work activities because of an important vulnerability (handicap, age)
Identification of local partners specialized in the support for people with specific vulnerabilities: organ of State for the Integration of Disabled People and diverse local associations of support to old people, HIV-positive people, disabled or deaf-mutes
Selection of beneficiaries and partnership with a financial institution
Sensitization of beneficiaries to the progress of the program and advice on the use of grants
Donation of 330 000-euros to 5000 targeted people, which is about 70 euros per person.

Surveillance of the situation

Participation in inquiries and studies to estimate the food security of households.

Water, Hygiene and Sanitation

Drinking water supply by truck for more than 250 000 people every day, which represents more than 3 million liters of water distributed every day

Management of 224 points of water distribution
Implementation of latrines (more than 800) with maintenance and drain away everyday
Implementation of 146 wash points for hands hygiene near latrines.
Construction and implementation of showers
Rehabilitation and construction of sustainable water sources
Accompaniment of committees for the management of water and sanitation: process of election, trainings regarding the maintenance of water sources and structures of sanitation, cost recovery, donations of equipment, etc. to pass on to them little by little the management of drinking water supply and sanitation in their district.
Identification of 5 local associations and training for the use of antenna Wata for the production of chlorine.
Organization of community cleanings on all sites with supply of 1000 trash cans and 30 incinerators.
Regular Sessions of sensitization to hygiene with 23100 families and 500 sessions of sensitization targeted towards women and children in schools, markets and health centers.