In Haiti, AVSI reaches 70,000 people suffering from food insecurity

In the toughest neighborhoods of Haiti, during one of the most difficult periods in the country's history with a political and institutional vacuum AVSI was able to complete the project “FAES3 - Protection de la population vulnérable grâce aux transferts pour améliorer la sécurité alimentaire à Cité Soleil et Martissant guaranteeing urgent food assistance through cash transfer.

The context in Haiti is increasingly difficult and a series of very serious episodes have progressively worsened the situation over the last 18 months. Many international organizations have left the country, others have suspended their activities. Internationally, Haiti is regarded as a country where it is impossible to work.

AVSI has been working in Haiti since 1999 and has chosen to stay, to try once again and stand close to the most vulnerable people. We are very proud to have completed this project, funded by Faes, a Haitian government agency supported by the Inter-American Development Bank.

"In a situation of severe crisis and progressive disengagement by many actors, AVSI has confirmed and consolidated its presence alongside the population - states Flavia Maurello AVSI country representative in Haiti -  despite the difficult context, we have implemented a large-scale Monetary Transfer project (14,000 families / 70,000 people beneficiaries), managing a very high exposure in a difficult context such as the conflicted neighborhoods of the capital despite the institutional and policy vacuum, we continued to work with a public entity, thus also supporting one of the few remaining forms of legitimate governance in the country"

This means that 70,000 people in extreme poverty were supported to meet their basic food needs for four months.The project in brief

The project was implemented by AVSI in Cité Soleil and Martissant (two of the most difficult neighborhoods in Port-Au-Prince) throughout 2023, with a queue on 2024 for the last distribution and reporting.

This is a social protection project to respond to food insecurity: the AVSI staff identified 14,000 households in extreme poverty by interviewing thousands of people using a form online. A vulnerability score was then calculated through the donor-designated Commcare platform. Each month for four months, these families received a “paper voucher” that they could convert into cash through a local AVSI partner.

In this type of projects, a high percentage of project funds can be transferred to the beneficiaries: of the US$7,250,000 allocated, US$5,600,000 were distributed to people.