Shifting towards a more immediate response to the needs of the most vulnerable within the context of the food crisis and recurring natural disasters

In September 2004, ACTED began its intervention in Haiti with the emergency response to tropical storm Jeanne, which claimed over 3,000 lives and disrupted the already fragile socio-economic stability. Low level of education and health access, repeated disease outbreaks and recurrent storms increased Haiti’s level of vulnerability.

In 2008, after the storm, ACTED in Haiti focused its intervention on WATSAN projects (latrine construction and rehabilitation), anti-malaria measures, hygiene and health promotion, and food security with distributions of emergency kits. ACTED Haiti also contributed to the decentralisation process through community mobilisation and dialogue initiatives. Since then, ACTED has expanded its intervention with offices in Port-au-Prince and in Saint-Marc.

To enable a rapid recovery of the agricultural sector, ACTED has launched several activities: irrigation canal construction and repair, river bank protection, distribution of seeds and tools, and water storage/transport infrastructure construction. ACTED also works to develop local disaster response mechanisms, enabling communities to better prepare for and recover from Haiti’s violent tropical storm cycles. In 2008, in Grande Saline, St Marc and Desdunes, rehabilitation/construction programmes were conducted in accordance with HILF standards (High Intensity Labour Force).

ACTED in Haiti includes a strong advocacy and protection initiative component in its interventions with the information of migrants about the risks of human trafficking for instance. ACTED also supports the capacity of civil society actors, consolidating the fruit processing sector (ANATRAF) and developing with the GARR (Support Group to Repatriated and Refugee Populations) targeted activities aiming at facilitating the reinsertion of refugees into the economy and the education system.

ACTED will continue its integrated approached, mainly focused on food security, and will act to revitalize certain sectors of the local economy through vocational trainings and income-generating activities (IGA).

ACTED intervention following the 2008 hurricanes Gustav and Ike

In the summer 2008, all of Haiti’s departments were ravaged by hurricanes Gustav and Ike and tropical storms Fay and Hannah, causing numerous deaths and directly affecting nearly 170,000 families. The Haitian Ministry of Planning estimates that the country lost the equivalent of 3 to 4 years of growth within the span of three weeks. Following the four natural disasters, ACTED immediately mobilized its teams to respond to the emergency situation and began distributions of essential items in the departments of Centre and Bas-Artibonite. In Bas-Artibonite alone, more than 74 tons of food, primarily rice and enriched oil, were distributed to 15,000 beneficiaries. In close coordination with the emergency relief strategy put in place by the government and the international community, ACTED continued its efforts to ensure the link between emergency response, post-emergency and recovery through the quick revival of the local economy.