Haiti is the poorest country in the Western
Hemisphere. While only two hours from Miami the majority of the population
live below the poverty line (less than one dollar per day) and life expectancy
is a mere 50 years. A history of political instability has compounded the
effects of poverty and the recent sequence of events in the country has
the potential to push many areas into a humanitarian crisis.
In January 2004 Haiti celebrated
200 years of independence from colonial rule, the first black nation to
achieve independence. Haitians are very proud of this.
Concern has been operating in Haiti since 1994 when it established an emergency response and rehabilitation programme in response to hurricane Mitch. Since then the programme has become more development focussed through building the capacity of local communities and government to tackle the root causes of poverty on the island.
Concern currently operates in two rural Areas (the island of La Go nave, and Saut D'Eau in Central Plateau) and in one urban slum area (Saint Martin). Concerns programmes cover the areas of primary health, water and sanitation, food security, microfinance, HIV Aids, emergency response. We have 65 local employees and 10 International staff.
Current situation
The country is approaching the climax of the latest chapter in a political crisis, which took a turn for the worse two weeks ago with the seizing of Gonaives by armed insurgents. Since then 11 further towns including the countries second major city, Cap Haitian have come under the control of armed groups opposing the government and more than fifty people have died as a result of the accompanying violence. At the moment it's not clear whether efforts by an International delegation to broker a deal between the recognised opposition group and the government will succeed.
As a result this crisis and recent insurgency by armed groups we are now facing a situation where the complete Northern part of the country has been cut off both to government, and International Aid Agencies. CONCERN together with its partners, is concerned about an impending Humanitarian crisis particularly amongst the most vulnerable communities in the North.
Concerns response to the crisis
CONCERN has an operational team on the ground who are currently planning a potential response to the situation. This will likely involve the refocusing of our development programme to accelerate and expand those aspects that can directly tackle the effects of an unfolding humanitarian crisis -
- Provision of safe drinking water, through
protection of wells, construction of rainwater cisterns
- Ensuring food security through support
to farmers by providing seed, tools, construction of grain silos,
- Strengthening primary health care by
restocking local clinics with drugs and equipment.
- Stemming any associated increase in
maternal mortality by giving additional support to TBAs and Health clinics
- Together with all NGOs trying to ensure
that hospitals and clinics are able to maintain a secure humanitarian space
in which to treat people.
- In collaboration with UNICEF, pre-positioning
ourselves to deal with internally displaced people
In addition and in collaboration with our International Aid Agency Partners, we are also prepared to facilitate the direct delivery of humanitarian aid such as food and medicine if the situation demands.