Haiti. The EU Food Security and Nutrition Programme (SAN) to combat malnutrition has been launched

Date 21.02.2019

The project, funded by the 11th European Development Fund and managed by the Haitian government and AVSI, in collaboration with a consortium of no profit organizations, has the objective of intervening to solve the problem of chronic malnutrition in the departments of the North-West and of the Artibonite in Haiti.

In a context where food and nutrition insecurity affects around 30% of the rural population in Haiti, among which 275,000 children under five who suffer from chronic malnutrition, the program is in line with the United Nation 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, focusing on the goal 2 "Zero hunger".

Our Republic has the resources and potential to reach this objective. It will be possible to end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture, through collaboration and a continuity in the State’s actions

Jean Henri Céant, Prime Minister of Haiti

This project has the ambition of reducing malnutrition and ensuring nutrition security to the most vulnerable part of the Haitian population, through a multisectoral approach. Among the specific objectives: an improvement in health services and assistance for the treatment of chronic malnutrition cases, for a more effective prevention of the issue and for a better education on nutrition, also an increase in local production and an improved access to food.

Concretely this program aims to improve the quality of basic services for the regions that suffer from food and nutrition insecurity, and to improve the populations’ livelihoods by supporting the development of local agricultural sectors and by stabilizing their access to food, through the support to local-level production and marketing

Vincent Degert, EU Ambassador in Haiti

The project has a strong educational component, and thanks to the active involvement of the communities, it will result in an increased resilience of the populations. The action is intended to assist 4609 children who suffer from chronic malnutrition, to improve the capacity of 1500 families to respond to the needs of their children and to train 2400 Adults Leaders that will share good food practices in the different communities.

AVSI, Oxfam, CESAL and Caritas Haiti, historical partners of the European Union and of the Haitian government in the sector of food and nutrition security, have collaborated to make this project possible and they are committed to ensure the correct conduct of all the educational activities proposed.

The launch event of the Food Security and Nutrition Programme took place in Port-au-Prince last February, with the Prime Minister of Haiti, Jean Henri Céant, and the EU Delegate in Haiti, Vincent Degert.