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Community Recovery
In line with national relief and recovery efforts, in May 2010 CEDDISEC, with support from Episcopal Relief & Development, launched a Cash-For-Work (CFW) economic relief program that creates employment opportunities and increases household economic independence. It also encourages individual Haitians and parishes of the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti to lead and participate in community-based recovery efforts.
Working through the Haitian parish network, CEDDISEC’s program methodology encourages parish priests to mobilize community-based committees that in turn identify and lead recovery projects, thus ensuring that people have a voice and a role in their community’s recovery.
A few examples of community recovery projects supported thus far have been:
- Rubble removal and rehabilitation of local markets, clinics, schools and churches
- Hygiene and sanitation campaigns
- Hurricane preparedness through rebuilding of roads, ditches, and retaining walls
- Reinforcement of hillside walkways to prevent erosion
- Rehabilitation of agricultural fields and irrigation canals
- Building of provisional church and school buildings, perimeter walls, and basketball courts
- Special interventions for vulnerable community members
The typical community recovery project employs 33 individuals (grouped into three teams of 11 people) for a period of 20 days. Each project receives a standard set of safety and work tools, including
- Work gloves, face mask (dust guard), and T-shirt for all 33 workers
- Two wheelbarrows, six shovels, two sledgehammers, six rakes, six pick-axes, and three brooms
In addition, each community recovery project can request up to $600 in supplemental tools and supplies to support the proposed work. Examples of supplemental materials typically requested include:
- Cement for reinforcing walls or repairing drainage canals
- Metal sheeting and rebar for repairing fences and roofs, or constructing provisional buildings
- Machetes for clearing fields
- Additional sledgehammers for large-scale destruction and rubble removal
In Phase II, 22 communities benefited from CEDDISEC’s support of 37 CFW economic relief projects. Thirty-three projects (89%) took place in the heavily impacted quake zone, in collaboration with the Episcopal parishes and institutions of Port-au-Prince, Carrefour, Matthieu, Darbonne, Trouin, Grande Colline, Buteau, l’Acul, and Arcahaie. The remaining four (11%) projects took place in the South, in Les Cayes, Torbeck, Beraud, and Savanette, where families have received an overwhelming number of relatives and friends who were displaced by the quake.
A summary of the accomplishments of Phase II community recovery work includes:
- Over 6,200 cubic meters of rubble has been removed from fallen churches, schools, and other community structures
- More than 20 kilometers of road and drainage canals have been repaired
- More than 1,500 cubic meters of land filled, leveled, and retaining walls reinforced
- An estimated 1,000 cubic meters of garbage has been cleared from public areas
- 300 meters of perimeter fence repaired
- Three public areas (markets and tent camps) cleaned
- Two Provisional homes constructed for community members with physical disabilities
In Phase III, 57 communities benefited from CEDDISEC’s support of 100 CFW economic relief projects. Sixty projects (60%) took place in the heavily impacted quake zone, in collaboration with the Episcopal parishes and institutions of Port-au-Prince, Delmas, Carrefour, Matthieu, Léogâne, Trouin, Buteau, l’Acul, Arcahaie, Croix-des-Bouquets, and Montrouis. The remaining 40 (40%) projects took place in Northern areas (Lascahobas, Mirebalais, Gonaïves, Cange, Cap-Haitian, Limonade, and Cange), and Southern areas (Jeremie, Petit Trou de Nippes, Les Cayes, Torbeck, and Beraud).
A summary of the accomplishments of Phase II community recovery work includes:
- Over 2,300 cubic meters of rubble has been removed from fallen churches, schools, and other community structures
- More than 147 kilometers of road and 24 kilometers of drainage canal repaired
- More than 400 cubic meters of land filled, leveled, and retaining walls reinforced
- An estimated 90 cubic meters of garbage has been cleared from nine hectares of nine public areas (such as schools, markets, and tent camps)
- Four hectares of field cleared and three kilometers of irrigation canals cleaned
- 33 meters of perimeter fence repaired
- One basketball court constructed
- Two provisional buildings constructed and one parish repaired for church services
- Ste. Trinité Cathedral site and 17 other parishes and mission stations cleaned and prepared for celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the Episcopal Church in Haiti (May 2011)
