Title II Food Assistance Program

Objective

This USAID/Haiti program aims to increase household level food security in seven of the 10 departments in the country from 2002-2006. All four implementing partners – CARE, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Save the Children/US, and World Vision International (WVI) – focus on women and children most vulnerable to malnutrition, poor farmers in food-insecure areas, primary school children, chronically food-insecure orphans, and institutionalized elderly and sick.

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Activities

The total value of this five-year program is $157,581,686. Over the past four decades, the food aid program has been one of the most consistent humanitarian responses to socio-economic and political upheavals in Haiti. To achieve program objectives, food commodities are provided for direct distribution or are monetized to generate required local currency for activities. Program components are divided as follows:

•  Health and Nutrition (53%): implemented through public and private health institutions, targets nutritionally vulnerable women and children through pre-and post-natal care, nutrition, education and growth monitoring services; food supplementation is also provided to malnourished participants;

•  Agriculture (23%): works to increase agricultural productivity through improved agricultural and soil conservation practices and increased access to markets;

•  Food for Education (15%): aimed to increase school attendance and improve performance by providing a daily hot meal to students in targeted schools; and

•  Social safety net to the neediest (9%): targets food supplements to orphans and abandoned children throughout the country, as well as the elderly and sick living in institutions, including families affected by HIV/AIDS.

• Currently, more than 350,000 beneficiaries receive food rations, and approximately 680,000 Haitians in seven departments benefit from the program through agriculture, health and education activities.

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Emergency Response : The program responded to four disasters in 2004. USAID mobilized implementing partners for civil disturbance, drought, and two separate flash floods. As part of the response, USAID is providing CRS $16.5 million dollars for infrastructure improvement activities nationwide over a three-year period. CRS will provide sub-grants to community-based organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to rehabilitate infrastructure, as well as establish erosion control, watershed management, and potable water actions.

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FEWSNET (Famine Early Warning System) will strengthen the institutional capacity of the National Coordinator for Food Security, as well as other government offices, NGOs, and community-based groups to provide decision makers timely and regular information on food security conditions.

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FY 2004 Results

•  Partners weighed over 110,000 children in vulnerable age group.

•  Nearly 52,000 pregnant and lactating mothers and almost 37,000 malnourished children under five received Title II food.

•  Mothers' clubs developed vegetable gardens in their homes to supplement household income and food availability, benefiting from expansion of fruit tree grafting and forming groups to make and market value-added products.

•  Parent-Teacher Associations organized to manage school feeding and undertook 45 potable water and sanitation projects for their schools, including latrines, garbage disposal, water filters, and cisterns.

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PL-480 Title III/Food for Development Program

Objective

The PL-480 Title III Food for Development Program plays an important role in Haiti 's economic and social development. The program consists of grants to the Interim Government of Haiti (IGOH) of basic U.S. agricultural commodities (primarily wheat) that would otherwise be scarce and imported at considerable foreign exchange cost. The program provides economic development and food security in rural areas through the use of local currency generated by the sale of Title III commodities to finance community development projects. Cumulative commodity grants to Haiti since 1993 have amounted to $85 million. The program was scheduled to end in September 2004, but in order to complete ongoing activities it has been extended to January 31, 2005.

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Activities

Title III-funded projects focus on supporting IGOH policy reforms that aim to increase food security, reduce poverty, and stem population growth in rural and peri-urban areas. Title III activities are designed to be complementary to other USAID projects in health, education, agriculture, natural resource management, income generation, and regional economic development. Remaining ongoing key activities include:

•  Construction of irrigation system in Jean Rabel, and the northeast region; and

• Purchase of schools materials for Tropical Storm Jeanne-affected populations in the Gonaives area.

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FY 2004 Results

•  The paving of the streets in Milot has improved health and sanitation conditions for city residents.

•  The rehabilitation of the 53-kilometer road between Marigot and Belle Anse has improved the transportation of agricultural goods to the nearby public markets.

•  The construction of eight Agricultural Communal Offices throughout the country improved the outreach capacity of the Ministry of Agriculture in those areas.

•  The rehabilitation of a portion of the Haut du Cap watershed contributed to the diminution of the flooding in the town of Cap Haitian during the rainy season.

•  The construction of a sediment-retaining structure on the Belle Hotesse ravine in Cap Haïtien contributed to an improvement of sanitary conditions in the town during the rainy season.

• The construction of two irrigation systems in the Northeast region has improved the production of agricultural goods.

• The construction of about 25 water reservoirs on the island of La Gonave has improved the availability of drinking water in this remote area.

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