Haiti
A demonstration project implemented by the Haitian government in Gonaïves (from March 2006 to June 2007), financed by UNDP and WFP, and for which technical assistance was exceptionally provided and financed by the ILO, showed that “contractual arrangements” with local community organizations were relevant for environmental protection and further deterioration of eroded catchments.
This EIIP approach shows a good example of strengthening local technical capacity, organization, negotiation and management of local organizations. The project thus contributed to set up a model combining at the same time the concern of employment creation and income generation for local population, and environmental protection and prevention of natural disasters. This model can now be easily reproduced at broad scale or in other areas supported by the government or other development partners.
In addition, these types of employment-intensive investments, not only facilitate the transition from the emergency phase to the development phase, but also respond to the government strategy related to local infrastructure reconstruction and reinforcement of capacities for actors from the public and private sectors and local communities.
With a large scale program, it is possible to create more sustainable jobs and to reach social organizations responsible for maintaining investments made in soil and water conservation as part of environmental protection. A second important phase, for two years, is now financed by the Bureau of Crisis Prevention and Recovery of the UNDP and WFP from July 2007, executed by the Haitian Government with the ILO technical support.
Following the tropical storm in the northeast region of Haiti in 2004, ILO, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and World Food Programme (WFP) have been working closely with the Government of Haiti within the framework of a job creation programme in Gonaives. This programme focuses on the prevention of natural disasters through employment-intensive approaches, executing projects to maximize income for the local population. After a successful initial phase funded by ILO and UNDP, a second project was launched in June 2007, focusing some of its work on environmental conservation and disaster risk mitigation. The second phase is financed by UNDP and WFP and executed by the Haitian Government with technical support from EIIP.
Haiti Success Story
In the last two years, UNDP, ILO and the WFP have joined forces to assist the Haitian Government in the implementation of a programme to prevent natural disasters by environmental protection and employment creation in the Gona�ves Region.
Different soil and water conservation techniques were applied promoting at the same time a participatory and contractual approach. As such, more than 500 ha of slopes were protected on one of the watersheds located near Gonaives by a network of ditches, small dam & weir construction and planting of trees creating 360,000 workdays.
The above watershed management measures that have been demonstrated withstood recent hurricanes. In fact, four hurricanes (Fay, Gustav, Hanna, and Ike) within a span of a month have struck Haiti leaving as many as 600,000 people in need of help because of the storms, which have killed more than 200 people. Unfortunately Gonaives was again the most affected town.
To have a significant and lasting effect on the living and working conditions in Gona�ves region, current practices on watershed management should be scaled-up significantly together with drainage works in Gona�ves city. The EIIP through its partnerships with the Government and others, are now seeking funding for such large scale application of the successful initial works.
Further reading
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