On September 28, 2016, tropical storm Matthew developed from a moving tropical wave passing through the southern Lesser Antilles. It made landfall on the Tiburon Peninsula, in the southwest of Haiti, as a Category 4 hurricane. The hurricane caused the deaths of nearly a thousand people and damage to agriculture (gardens), livestock (cows, pigs, goats, chickens, mules), and property (houses and chapel), which accounted for 95% of the material damage.
The project takes place in the community of Ranja in Jeremie, the capital of Grand'Anse, one of the ten departments of Haiti severely affected by Hurricane Matthew. Grand'Anse is remote and lacks adequate road infrastructure. Insecurity along the main roads is a serious problem. Grand'Anse suffers from food insecurity. It is estimated that 46% of the Grand'Anse department was moderately food insecure and 35% marginally insecure. Technically, Ranja was isolated as it was on the other side of the river. Access to the main highway leading to the city center is seriously compromised due to rising river waters, making it impassable.
CADIS International aimed to build and strengthen the resilience of the Ranja community by improving their ability to adapt to natural events, rehabilitating the forest, and training people in climate-resilient agriculture. These activities helped mitigate the negative impact of natural disasters and quickly restore normal conditions. Seventy-three families (346 individuals) directly benefited from this project and more than a thousand people were indirect beneficiaries.
The project had three expected outcomes: (1) empowered partner families improved their knowledge and skills in sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture; (2) family production and income increased; (3) disaster risks decreased.
To achieve the expected results, by the end of the project five (5) outputs or results were achieved:
Output 1: Partner families are trained in sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture
A series of training courses on sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture (SCRA) was provided to 69 farmers on the following topics: agroforestry, ecology, forestry, soil erosion management, and food processing. Participants also received various agricultural inputs such as seeds (black beans, corn, peas, vegetable varieties) and farming tools (hoe, machete, pliers, rake, etc.). A total of 125 agricultural tools were distributed. The training greatly helped farmers to cultivate the land in a more scientific way. It produced a good harvest and quality production. In this way, it increased family income. Furthermore, it strengthened the community's spirit of service and solidarity. Therefore, after Hurricane Matthew, community life was revitalized.
Output 2: Women leaders of the community cooperative were trained in community cooperative management
A total of 127 cooperative members attended four (4) training sessions on cooperative management. The total capital of the cooperative is 125,000 HTG. The cooperative invested part of the funds to create a community store.
Output 3: Partner farmer families are linked to the market for value chain management
Agricultural activities have brought a significant change to the economic life of the community residents, so much so that a local market was started in Ranja with their agricultural products. In addition to bringing their products to the main market in Jeremie, they began to organize their own local market within their community. This allows other members from different communities to access fresh and affordable products such as fruit, vegetables, processed foods, and local wine. Sometimes they organized community sports festivals to encourage more people to visit their communities and see the transformation taking place among the population, which has gradually recovered from the losses suffered due to the hurricane.
However, since the pandemic broke out, all group activities have been temporarily canceled due to containment measures, but they continue their efforts at home. Some of the people who attended the training courses started processing activities for agricultural products and occasional fruit. Nevertheless, Ranja families have access to food (food security) and can start saving to cope with unforeseen needs, such as health needs.
Output 4: Construction of a climate-resilient multifunctional community center for training/capacity building and as a community evacuation center in case of disaster.
A multifunctional center (MPC) was built that will serve as a center for training, worship, socialization, and evacuation in case of natural disasters. The construction of the multifunctional center cost 60% of the total project budget. The center is a key infrastructure for building community resilience. To support and maintain this infrastructure, the building is rented out to other organizations wishing to conduct training courses on weekends. On weekdays, the building is used as a day school, allowing children to access a more accessible and safer place of education. In addition, in the event of another natural disaster, the building is offered to displaced people living along the river whose homes are not robust enough to survive strong winds. Regarding the project, the following activities take place at the MPC: regular group processing and evaluations, agricultural training, Cooperative assembly, agricultural entrepreneurship school, weekly community meetings, and community Eucharistic celebration.
Output 5: Endemic trees are planted and grow in the watershed areas.
The plots of land to be planted were identified. As part of the planning and implementation of the endemic tree planting activity, eight plots of land were selected for a total area of 156,000 square meters. The total number of trees planted over an area of about 59,840 square meters is 9,750. Fruit trees (papaya, palm, cherry, orange, soursop, almond, tamarind, coconut, quenepier, mango) were planted in the area near their settlement, for a total area of 4,000 square meters. It also became a source of income for the family. To protect the newly planted endemic trees, based on their technical assessment, about 80,000 hedge trimmings were carried out. An activity that rehabilitated and protected their drinking water source, preventing waterborne diseases such as diarrhea and cholera. Previously, water was taken for all uses directly from the river. With the rehabilitation of the original spring from the mountain, they were able to bring water right in front of their village. In this way, the travel time to access water was greatly reduced.
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