(2021) Haïti : Appel urgent de financement (septembre 2021-mai 2022) - Réponse d'urgence aux ménages touchés par le séisme et la tempête tropicale Grace

On 14 August 2021, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake hit the southern regions of Haiti, in particular Grand’Anse, Nippes and Sud departments, affecting some 800 000 people (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs [OCHA], 31 August 2021). Preliminary reports from the Departmental Directorates of Agriculture and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ (FAO’s) partners indicate widespread damages to the agriculture sector. In addition to residential houses and public buildings, such as hospitals, churches and schools, the earthquake destroyed markets and agricultural infrastructure, including stores and processing facilities, dairies, irrigation canals and rural roads. Two days later, Tropical Storm Grace’s torrential rains caused floods and landslides in the same departments affected by the earthquake, as well as in Sud-Est. The storm damaged summer season crops and domestic livestock rearing, obstructed roads, destroyed bridges on critical supply lines and disrupted private-sector food and agricultural input supply. The two natural disasters have exacerbated the existing complex humanitarian crisis the country has been facing due to back-to-back emergencies, growing political and socio-economic unrest, the negative impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and increased violence by armed gangs triggering significant population displacements. In addition, cases of African swine fever have been recently reported in the Dominican Republic. The possible spread of the disease, accelerated by the movement of population and goods due to the earthquake and floods, could have catastrophic effects on households’ livelihoods and Haiti’s already weak economy. Indeed, vulnerable populations in rural, peri-urban and urban areas rely on pork farming, commercialization and consumption for their livelihoods and food security. Finally, the COVID‑19 Delta variant, water-prone disease outbreaks and possible tropical cyclones until the end of the hurricane season in October 2021, pose additional threats to the country. Assessment of damages and losses While assessments are still in their early stages, health, water, sanitation and hygiene, shelter and food security have been identified as priority sectors for humanitarian intervention. Indeed, about 40 percent of the population of the affected departments is in need of emergency assistance. An Emergency Food Security Assessment coordinated by the Food Security National Coordination is underway, with FAO’s technical and financial support, to assess the damages to the agriculture sector and the impact on food security and livelihoods. © FAO Situation overview Haiti Urgent call for funding September 2021–June 2022 Emergency response to households affected by the earthquake and Tropical Storm Grace to assist 32 000 households (160 000 people) FAO requires USD 30 million, including USD 20 million by October 2021 period September 2021– June 2022 (9 months) targeted regions Grand’Anse, Nippes, Sud and Sud-Est Urgent call for funding Haiti FAO is also participating as a key sectorial member in the post-disaster needs assessment, which is coordinated by the Government of Haiti and supported by the international community, including the European Union, the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. Strategic approach and objectives FAO’s previous experience in responding to the 2010 earthquake and 2016 Hurricane Matthew demonstrated that ensuring an effective humanitarian response to sustainably improve the food security of vulnerable affected households requires a combination of life-saving food assistance and emergency agricultural support to restore production capacity and livelihoods. This two-fold approach allows to assist people in a more dignified and efficient manner. In the framework of OCHA’s Flash Appeal (USD 187.3 million required to assist 500 000 people), FAO is urgently requesting USD 20 million to assist households during the winter agricultural season (October 2021– February 2022), in order to rehabilitate crop irrigation infrastructure and provide veterinary services. An additional USD 10 million are required to rehabilitate other community agricultural infrastructure and to assist vulnerable households in time for the main spring agricultural season (March–June 2022). If no emergency livelihoods support is provided to affected populations, dependency on food aid will dramatically increase, as well as financial needs, and the resilience of vulnerable households will significantly deteriorate. ©FAO FAO’s response strategy aims at protecting and restoring the livelihoods of rural households affected by the earthquake and Tropical Storm Grace, as well as rehabilitating community agricultural infrastructures, while mitigating the negative impact of COVID-19 and preventing the possible spread of African swine fever in the departments of Grand’Anse, Nippes, Sud and Sud-Est. Without adequate and timely assistance to affected households, their food security, resilience and livelihoods will continue to significantly deteriorate. Current acute food insecurity situation (September 2021–February 2022) in four departments of southern Haiti Atl a n ti c Ocean Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Nord-Ouest 1 – Minimal Nord Nord-Est 980 000 people in high acute food insecurity, expected to increase 2 – Stressed 3 – Crisis 4 – Emergency Artibonite 5 – Famine to 991 000 people in March–June 2022 Areas not analysed Urban settlement Centre At least 25% of households meet 25–50% of caloric needs from humanitarian food assistance Grand’Anse Ouest Nippes Sud Sud-Est C a r ibb ea n S ea 0 25 km D O M INICA N R E P UBL IC Source: IPC. 2021. Haiti: IPC Acute Food Insecurity Analysis | September 2021–June 2022 [online]. Rome, Italy. [Cited 7 September 2021]. http://www.ipcinfo.org/ ipc-country-analysis/details-map/en/c/1155096/?iso3=HTI Planned interventions 1. Emergency livelihood assistance Agricultural support for the 2021 winter season Starting in September and accounting for over 20 percent of national production, the winter season is a crucial opportunity to restore the productive capacity of 15 000 affected households (75 000 people) in rural and peri-urban areas through the following main activities: • Provision of vegetable and pulse seeds, along with agricultural tools. • Distribution of cash transfers (USD 200/household) to cover basic needs until crops are harvested. • Provision of agricultural technical assistance. targeted beneficiaries 30 000 households budget USD 20 million period September 2021– February 2022 Livelihoods recovery The income of 10 000 vulnerable affected households (50 000 people) in urban and rural areas are improved by restocking and protecting livestock, as well as recovering fishing activities, through the following activities: • Distribution of small livestock (poultry and goats). • Provision of emergency fodder and support to the establishment of fodder banks, through the provision of inputs and technical support. • Support to local veterinary services and deployment of veterinary support teams, as well as the provision of mobile veterinary kits and services for 25 000 domestic animals. • Provision of fishing equipment and technical support for sea fishing and fish farming. Rehabilitation of agricultural infrastructure A total of 5 000 households (25 000 people) to benefit from the rehabilitation of agricultural infrastructure, especially of irrigation systems damaged by the landslides and the earthquake, contributing to protecting their assets and restoring their food production capacity, while ensuring access to locally produced food. The main planned activities are the following: • Rehabilitation of irrigation canals through cash-for-work interventions. • Provision of technical and material support for the rehabilitation of post-harvest storage facilities (community granaries), and of equipment for packaging and storage of seeds and food. • Rehabilitation and supply of: (i) fruit, cassava, groundnut and maize processing equipment; (ii) community infrastructure for milk collection and processing; and (iii) community infrastructure for fish processing and marketing. • Provision of technical support to members of rural associations for food processing and marketing. Risk communication and community engagement A communication and social mobilization strategy to be developed, providing rural communities who have been displaced by the earthquake with information to better cope with risks linked to COVID-19 and African swine fever, as well as to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse and gender-based violence (GBV). Planned activities are the following: ©FAO Urgent call for funding Haiti against the spread of COVID-19 and promotion of social engagement thanks to the transmission of messages through rural community radios located in the three departments. • Training and awareness-raising sessions of community actors (civil and religious leaders) on prevention against the spread of COVID-19 and distribution of hygiene and COVID-19 protection kits to displaced rural communities. • Dissemination of awareness-raising materials on GBV and protection from sexual exploitation and abuse. • Awareness-raising campaign on the African swine fever for people living in bordering municipalities. Humanitarian coordination and partnerships Successful implementation of agricultural livelihood-related activities will be based on strong operational partnerships between food security partners and the Government of Haiti, other United Nations programmes and specialized agencies, local and international non-governmental organizations and other national and international partners. ©FAO/Addly Célestin • Dissemination of information on preventive and hygiene measures Strengthening the coordination of interventions within the Food Security Sector, including the new actors arriving in the country to assist the affected populations, is a priority guiding FAO’s intervention. Furthermore, FAO will support the Food Security National Committee in planning and coordinating of food security and nutrition assessments, IPC analysis and dissemination of results to stakeholders. 2. Support to the 2022 spring agricultural season To improve the food security of rural households, it is crucial to enable them to resume their production activities during the main spring season, which accounts for more than 50 percent of the country’s annual production. The following activities will be implemented: • Distribution of seeds (cereals, tubers, pulses) for spring crops to the 15 000 households who will have also benefited from agricultural support during the winter season. • Rehabilitation of an additional number of agricultural infrastructure such as storage facilities, food processing infrastructure and dairies, benefiting 2 000 additional households. targeted beneficiaries 17 000 households budget USD 10 million period March–June 2022 Contact FAO Representation in Haiti FAO-HT@fao.org Port-au-Prince, Haiti Office of Emergencies and Resilience OER-Director@fao.org | fao.org/emergencies Rome, Italy Some rights reserved. This work is available under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO licence Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations ©FAO, 2021 CB6680EN/1/09.21 The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on the map(s) in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of FAO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers and boundaries. Dashed lines on maps represent approximate border lines for which there may not yet be full agreement.