What Oxfam is doing
On January 12, 2010, a devastating earthquake hit Haiti near the capital of Port-au-Prince killing more than 220,000 people, injuring more than 300,000 others, and leaving more than a million homeless as it destroyed great swaths of the city. Oxfam's water, sanitation, and shelter programs helped save countless lives. Our work has now entered a transitional phase as we help Haitians take steps toward longer-term recovery.
Last updated December 23, 2011
Haitians are still recovering from the massive earthquake that hit their country on January 12, 2010, killing more than 220,000 people, injuring 300,000 more, and destroying great swaths of their capital, Port-au-Prince. With more than half a million people still living in temporary camps at the close of 2012, the hard, slow work of rebuilding continues—and Oxfam remains committed to the challenge. We are beginning to shift our focus from emergency needs to working on initiatives aimed at boosting the country’s reconstruction.
Water, sanitation, and health
Since mid-February 2011, Oxfam has been withdrawing gradually from about 120 camps for displaced people where we have been providing clean water and sanitation services and public health education. We have been handing over the water and sanitation programs to water committees, linking them to water sellers and providing the committees with training on how to manage water sales, chlorination, and solid wastes in the camps. In addition, we have been drilling wells and extending existing water networks.
Where possible, Oxfam has built long-term latrines and in other cases has handed over the maintenance of latrine facilities to other aid groups and DINEPA (Direction Nationale de l’Eau Potable et de l’Assainissement). We have also launched a mobile response and monitoring team that visits the camps to guarantee continued maintenance and operation of the facilities and to ensure the committees are receiving the support they need.
Responding to cholera
The main cause of cholera is lack of access to clean water and adequate sanitation. Since the outbreak first began in October 2010, Oxfam has been educating people about good hygiene practices—first in camps for displaced people and now through community-based organizations. But to avoid future public health crises, the Haitian government, with support from the international community, needs to invest in affordable, safe water and sanitation infrastructure across the country---improvements sorely needed even before the quake. At that time, only 49 percent of urban residents and 83 percent rural residents had access to sanitation services.
Following a spike in cholera cases after heavy seasonal rains in 2011, Oxfam scaled up its prevention work around Cap Haitian and Port-au-Prince. We distributed hygiene kits (which include soap and water purification tablets), built latrines, improved drainage, and mobilized local people to go house-to-house sharing information on good hygiene. We have also worked with the World Health Organization to construct cholera isolation rooms in five health centers.
And in rural Nippes, a province where many people must rely on contaminated rivers for water and medical care is difficult to access, Oxfam installed 60 chlorine dispensers in 30 villages, providing communities with the means to disinfect their drinking water. Oxfam also rehabilitated the water systems of four towns, adding a simple chlorinator to each to ensure that piped water was safe to drink.
Livelihoods
Unemployment remains one of Haiti’s biggest challenges, with more than two-thirds of the population not in salaried employment and facing a daily challenge to buy food and pay rent and school fees. Oxfam has been working with entrepreneurs and small businesses to help provide financial security and rebuild local economies. We have carried out some of these activities in camps, but our main focus has been on helping businesses to start or expand in the broader community. Cash grants and training are key parts of our programs.
For example, in the greater Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Carrefour Feuilles, we have provided 92 small businesses—handicraft producers, street traders, hairdressers, pharmacists—with grants of between $1,000 and $10,000 to expand their operations with a goal of providing more employment opportunities for people.
Agriculture once represented a significant portion of Haiti’s economy—about 50 percent of the gross domestic product in the 1960s. Today, that figure has plunged to about 28 percent, forcing countless people to migrate to the capital. Oxfam has joined local partners in advocating for substantial increases in government investment in agriculture to ensure that farming remains viable. And we are working with small-scale farmers to help them find sustainable new markets for their vegetables, rice, fruit, and livestock.
