Haiti SitRep (12)
SITUATION REPORT | UPDATED: April 6, 2010
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND — General situation (OCHA Sitrep, 31 March 2010)
• According to a survey carried out by Oxfam in Haiti, over 60% of respondents thought the quality and efficiency of aid distribution by international NGOs was positive. Priority needs are seen as being first jobs, followed by schools and then homes.
• Emergency Shelter cluster members have reached over 81% of the known caseload (1.5 million people) with emergency shelter materials.
• WFP is currently feeding an estimated 401,000 children nationwide, out of a targeted 800,000 children for 2010. Schools in Port-au-Prince are due to re-open on 5 April.
• In Petit Goave and Grand Goave, it was reported that of the 115 pre-primary, basic and secondary schools operational before the earthquake, 102 are now damaged or destroyed (almost 90%).
• On 19 March, President René Préval signed a decree assigning 7,450Ha of land to the north of Port-au-Prince for Temporary Relocation Sites. Preparation work is underway.
• The WASH cluster emergency needs planning figure is for approximately 1,100,000 people hosted in about 651 spontaneous settlements in Port-au-Prince, Jacmel, Gressier, Leogane, Grand Goave and Petit Goave. So far, about 4,981 latrines have been installed.
• The use of an approved broker for Haitian custom clearance has become compulsory in the Dominican Republic for all organizations sending cargo to Haiti. The logistics cluster is facilitating the cross-border customs clearance accordingly.
International Donors’ Conference - New York - March 31, 2010
Donor states pledged nearly USD 10 billion at the New York donor conference on 31 March, half of it for the next 18 months. This amount is close to the USD 11.5b estimated reconstruction cost.
The UN General Assembly stated that “the International Donors’ Conference “Towards a New Future for Haiti” raised almost $9.9 billion in immediate and long-term assistance for the earthquake-devastated nation’s reconstruction, with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urging “full and generous support” for the Haitian Government’s plan of action for recovery and development.
Of the $9.9 billion pledged by 59 donors, $5.26 billion was for the financing of specific projects of the national action plan, a figure exceeding the estimated $4 billion needed over the next 18 months. The funds would be managed by a multi-donor reconstruction fund for Haiti and an interim commission over which Bill Clinton, United Nations Special Envoy for Haiti, would preside alongside Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive.
However aid agencies warned on 30 March that Haiti needed fresh money rather than recycled pledges to fund its reconstruction.
Funds should be centrally managed with UN or World Bank assistance in order to ensure accountability and transparency of aid distribution and for easier funding of large scale projects. Most important needs for the next 18 months are the rebuilding of the destroyed infrastructure, which includes government buildings, hospitals and schools. A decentralisation strategy is to be followed in order to reduce the population concentration in the natural disaster-prone area of Port-au-Prince.
NGOs from Europe, Haiti, North and South America participated to the preparation meetings in Haiti, Brussels and New York. They have issued a number of position papers which highlight the need to coordinate with the government and engage with civil society for a community based, participative, transparent and efficient reconstruction work. According to InterAction press release, NGOs contributions worldwide amount to $ 2.2 billion.
ACT members have been active in participating to the preparation meetings: FCA through APRODEV; CWS, UMCOR and LWR through the American platform InterAction; ACT members’ partner GARR was invited to issue a statement at the 31 March donor conference.
FCA and APRODEV key points raised on 22-23 in Brussels, included:
- Ensuring genuine inclusion of civil society in throughout the reconstruction work in Haiti
- Climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction should be an integral part of all reconstruction work in Haiti
- Paying attention to promoting, not harming, local food security development as a part of reconstruction work and more sustainable development efforts
Information by sectors:
Food and non food large scale distribution: The Government communicated to the World Food Program that large scale food distribution would have to end on March 31, and there are also messages from authorities that free health care services should stop by April 12 (three months after the quake), in order not to create dependency to assistance. However, no alternative is in place to meet the still large needs of the affected population. In addition, no official communication has been issued so far to confirm this decision, in particular to the population. Different instances of UN and NGOs still have ordered stocks of food for distribution. In order to avoid a humanitarian crisis and threat to security, negotiations are currently being held between the UN and the government to extend the emergency assistance period (possibly until the end of June 2010) to allow gradual reduction of the distribution rather than a sudden stop. In the meantime,e alternative measures will be put into place (such as school feeding programs, large scale CfW programs that would help start the markets working again).
Psychosocial: Esther Isaac is now in Haiti and works alongside LWF on occupational projects for children. She will also work with other ACT members during her two months stay depending on their needs. Anna Isacsson, staff care specialist from the Church of Sweden, will arrive around 8 April.
Quality and Accountability: A HAP/Sphere planning meeting took place on March 31 with HAP members to define priorities for the next 6 months. A plan of action for the upcoming months will be available soon. Among the most urgent needs perceived is training, which will include local and national partners, in particular on how to work with communities in information sharing, participation and setting up of complaint mechanisms. Setting up a mechanism to exchange challenges and lessons learned will also be a priority, and should also help assess the impact of accountability based project management.
Communication: Maria Halava will arrive around 15 April to work as Communication/Advocacy advisor.
Specific Reports from ACT Members and Partners
Christian Aid
Partner distributions continued, as did preparations for new distributions or new phases of work.
RNDDH – Has continued preparation for more cash distributions, verifying beneficiary lists, family details and trying to reach more vulnerable people in the camps. Identification cards were distributed for further distribution of cash starting next week (second phase). Two distributions of US$130 each, per family, will take place in April. RNDDH have now reached 2004 families, but for logistic reasons have reduced the number of camps they are working in from 45 to 36.
GARR – Has been preparing the cash for food distributions, selecting beneficiaries and confirming lists. Identification cards have been distributed on a one-time cash transfer of US$130 per family. The distributions will take place over three months, and target 770 families. They continue with daily psychosocial activities for 200 children.
POZ – Has received funds late, but have in the meantime provided extra psychosocial support and medicines for PLHIV and their families. They are in the process of preparing for cash distributions.
APROSIFA - continues to distributing hot meals. It has been invited to give a short presentation at the Cash Working group meeting on tools/methods they use to evaluate small business plans. In particular interest for other agencies was to receive guidance in evaluating business plans in the Haitian context.
Church World Service (CWS)
Partner agency Service Chretien d’Haiti (SCH) has conducted outreach to over 500 people with disabilities, and enrolled the 105 most vulnerable in the PWD program.
These individuals have received orientation and cash vouchers, and will receive case management and cash for a total of six months. An additional 750 individuals with disabilities will be contacted, and 495 enrolled in the program in the next two months. CWS and SCH have developed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Secretary of State for the Inclusion of Disabled Persons. A government representative participated in training for the SCH monitors serving those with disabilities.
With Dominican partner SSID, CWS has shipped and distributed over 23,000 hygiene kits, 1,700 baby kits, 1,000 blankets, and other resources since January 12. Delivery of material resources is expected to wind down in the following months.
The ACT Alliance Guest House has started hosting guests. A video tour is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6xcWAdTeVA
Finn Church Aid/LWF
Seven large 82m2 school tents were installed in Darbonne last week with 10 more awaiting installation in Leogane and Mathieu this week. FCA/LWF will be the first organisation to open tent schools in the Commune of Leogane since the earthquake. These schools will provide emergency education facilities for approximately 4000 students in a region where 95% of schools were destroyed or badly damaged. The psychosocial team has provided counseling and training for the teachers who will be working with the children at these schools to ensure the children’s needs are met as they return to school. Children will be provided clean water, sanitation facilities, school materials, recreation materials and a school feeding programme is being developed in partnership with WFP. The installation of tents and opening of new schools will continue in the coming weeks.
HEKS/EPER
HEKS/EPER is shifting from the early response to the reconstruction and rehabilitation phase, focusing on the mid- and long-term needs of the people in the former areas of intervention, in cooperation with its existing local partner organisations.
Early response – food security and shelter:
• So far, over 180,000 hot meals have been distributed to beneficiaries in 12 camps. As an exit strategy, baskets of uncooked food will be distributed before the end of the project at the beginning of May.
• Plastic sheeting will be distributed in the same camps.
• 100 families from the Place St. Pierre received tents and resettled to their former neighbourhood.
Post crisis – food security, reconstruction and livelihood:
• EPER/HEKS will reconstruct individual houses in Pétit Goâve. A workshop with the local authorities, the Protection Civile as well as partner organisations and other actors (OCHA, NGOs) will be conducted on the 7 April. The project focuses on reconstruction and relocation of approximately 150 houses from the neighbourhood of ‘Pétit Guinée’ to the settlement ‘Meilleur Haut’ and the repair of approximately 500 houses in the intervention zone (incl. from the neighbourhood of ‘Sinistré’). Livelihood activities are to be determined. Local partner: PRR, in collaboration with the municipality of Petit Goâve.
• EPER/HEKS is ensuring food security in the region of Grand-Anse as a response to the massive influx of IDPs in that region. The project aims to enforce and ensure the agricultural production for the upcoming season, as well as the transformation of agricultural products. Local partners are: GRAMIR, CREFI, COHIMRU, FNGA, COD – EMH, EUH (LA COUR DEMOCRATIE), FEPH – GA, BEMHEG – EMH.
Lutheran World Federation (LWF)
The LWF is establishing a new partnership with ITECA, a local organization working closely with grassroots associations at Ti-Boucan (Gressier). A MOU is currently being finalized.
LWF has appointed a temporary Livelihood Coordinator to launch the livelihood project while recruitment is underway to fill this position more permanently. This Livelihood Coordinator is working with the Agronomist, currently carrying out a detailed study of possible intervention sites. The LWF intervention areas in the regular development program have already been visited and assessed.
LWF has started to implement cash for work activities: sites and specific activities have been determined closely with community leaders and authorities as well as partner organizations to ensure appropriate intervention in the areas of operation.
A disaster preparedness plan has been finalized for Nerette and Ste Therese settlements in Port Au Prince. Cash for Work activities started just after the distribution of tools and materials needed. Distributions were also carried out including
• School kits and materials including hardboard, chalk paper and pencils for psychosocial activities with the children.
• Tents for 67 families will be erected.
• The procurement of 11,700 family kits (mattress, blankets, mosquito nets and rice) was finalized in the Dominican Republic with assistance from the SSID (Social Service of Churches in the Dominican Republic), an ACT Alliance partner.
LWF facilitated meetings, sensitization activities, and trainings for Community Committees in Nerette, Ste Therese and Léogâne (Petite Rivière) where 21 localities were represented.
LWF/FCA have together erected seven tents in Darbonne. These will serve 1,500 children to go back to school, tentatively on the 5 April. Furnishings recovered from the ruins are currently being placed in the tents. Water and sanitation structures are anticipated to be installed next week. Six more tents have been distributed and the ground is being prepared for installation in Léogâne. These are the first educational tents to be installed in the commune of Léogâne. A proposal has been finalized and submitted to ERRF to fund further education activities.
The LWF participated in a technical working groups (TWIG) focusing on shelter and advocacy particularly concerning host families who accept IDPs from earthquake areas. We will continue to participate in the discussion to better situate ourselves in our strategic interventions in shelter.
Anticipated activities for next week include:
• Preparation of a plan of response for Macaya and Foret des Pins.
• Follow up with Cash for Work activities at Ste Therese and Nerette.
• Starting Cash for Work activities in Vaudreuil (Cite Soleil), Léogâne and Petit Goave.
• Start the distribution of food and non food items including mattresses, blankets, and mosquito nets for 11,700 families in the two camps in Port au Prince, Léogâne, Grand Goave and Petit Goave.
Finalize a MOU for a partnership with ITECA for the recapitalization of farming groups (around 1,000 families) in Gressier through the distribution of seeds and agricultural inputs.
Norwegian Church Aid (NCA)
NCA has seven working desks in the new ACT office and permanent staff will take over from the emergency staff now working in Haiti. NCA plans to hire six people for at least the next 12 months in Haiti. In addition, emergency staff will be engaged according to need.
Some elements of the work carried out in Haiti:
• NCA’s psychosocial team participated in a two day seminar for the Viva Rio Brigade and conducted training on Protection and Sexual Gender Based Violence. The team also conducted training for the Brigades (24 people - Conflict Mediation Group (6), Protection Group (10) and Security Group (8)). This was a follow-up training concerning SGBV after the weekend training for the brigade in early March.
• Viva Rio works in 48 different locations - 32 sites with the building of latrines, 10 sites with water distribution and six sites with both water distribution and building of latrines. It has completed 248 in total, and is planning for a total of around 500 latrines.
Viva Rio has distributed a total of 86,000 liters of water per day this week.
Its hygiene team is planning training of volunteers as well as a seminar on hygiene promotion, with Viva Rio.
• NCA/MOFECS distribute approximately 25,000 litres of water per day.
NCA wash has done training of trainers in building latrines and has together with MOFECS finished 30 latrines this week. The total finished is 60 latrines in Place Fierté, 32 in Parc Sportif and 30 in Rue Germain. The planned latrine building in Site Soleil is not finished. It now plans to build showers in the three camps.
Hygiene training of 100 children has been carried out in Place Fierté with focus on the use of latrines.
Mofecs has started child activities in Sportif camp.
• NCA has conducted training for 10 trainers in Misseh. The monitors will act later on as trainers in four camps with the target of serving several thousand children.
The Norwegian Minister of Development Mr Erik Solheim will visit Haiti 5-7 April. Included is a visit to Viva Rio/NCA project in Bel Air and NCA is working closely with MFA in the planning of the visit. Anne Kristin Sydnes, Director of International Programs in NCA, will accompany the Minister to Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Cuba.
Please refer to previous sitreps for more information on the entire ACT Response, as well as the ACT Appeal HTI101.
The next sitrep will be issued on 19 April. Updates to be sent by 15 April to Geneviève Cyvoct at act.haiti@yahoo.com
