FOCUS
Alleviating Hunger
Creating Economic Opportunities
Promoting Health and Fighting Disease

MDGs ADDRESSED
MDG 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
MDG 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
MDG 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
MDG 8: Create a global partnership for development

OVERVIEW
Haiti is one of the most economically challenged countries in the world, with 80% of its population living in poverty. Decades of political unrest have crippled economic and social development. Today, two-thirds of the labor force does not have formal jobs, and the majority of Haitians depend on small-scale subsistence farming and remittances from relatives abroad to survive. Remittances amount to one-quarter of the country’s GDP.

Haiti’s educational and health care system suffers immensely from lack of investment. Just 55% of the country’s children attend primary school, and only 20% go on to secondary school. As a result, half of the adult population is not literate. Sixty percent of Haitians are undernourished, and three-quarters of children under five are underweight or suffer from stunted growth.

Our PARTNERS
Episcopal Relief and Development is partnering with the Diocese of Haiti, which is part of Province II of the Episcopal Church. It is one of the largest dioceses in the Episcopal Church, and serves more than 180,000 congregants through 109 churches and 45 clergy. The diocese also operates 90 schools, a university and technical training schools, several hospitals and rural clinics, along with numerous cultural institutions.

Episcopal Relief and Development is also partnering with CODEP (Comprehensive Development Project) to improve the food supply in the rural mountainous areas in the southern part of the country.

Our CURRENT PROGRAMS
Episcopal Relief and Development is improving the quality of life for people in Haiti, who for generations have lacked opportunities to earn a living, acquire formal education, and provide a safe and healthy lifestyle for their families.

Episcopal Relief and Development is supporting the Diocesan Development Office, which initiates and manages the church’s social and economic development programs throughout the country. Episcopal Relief and Development is providing assistance to help build the capacity of the Development Office to manage all of its programs. Through a network of 23 Diocesan Development Agents, the diocese assists local communities in planning and implementing small, community-based projects that address problems residents themselves identify.

In Les Cayes, Haiti’s third largest city, Episcopal Relief and Development is working to alleviate poverty and ensure long-term economic sustainability by providing educational and vocational skills opportunities through the Bishop Tharp Institute (BTI).

Through our partnership with CODEP, Episcopal Relief and Development is working in the rural Cormier watershed area in the mountains to provide basic agriculture and forestry education, clean water and sanitation systems, protect the fragile watershed area, and increase income through micro-finance opportunities.

Creating Economic Opportunities
Episcopal Relief and Development is helping Haitians gain the skills needed to obtain higher paying professional jobs. In partnership with the diocese, Episcopal Relief and Development opened the Bishop Tharp Business and Technology Institute in 2005, which provides university-level education in the city of Les Cayes.

Each year, a total of 180 students can be enrolled in the Institute—60 are enrolled in the “bridge year” to build their English and technology skills, while another 60 complete their first year of university-level classes. Sixty other students are in the final year of the program, where they pursue a concentration in either business management or computer systems.

• BTI students receive the education and training needed to obtain jobs at existing companies or operate their own small businesses.
• BTI graduates provide a skilled labor force to attract new business development to the Les Cayes area and improve the overall economy of Haiti.
• Small businesses launched by BTI meet community needs and provide operational income. Businesses include a small cafeteria and food area, a paper goods and copier store, and continuing education courses.

Additionally, Episcopal Relief and Development’s partnership with CODEP is assisting communities in the Cormier watershed area achieve economic stability through micro-finance programs.

• Micro-finance and support for small businesses such as bread baking, fish farms and goat farming provide food for families and opportunities to earn income.

Alleviating Hunger
Episcopal Relief and Development is improving the food supply in southern rural mountain communities through agricultural training. These programs include a training-the-trainers component which ensures knowledge is shared throughout the communities.

• Reforestation projects improve the quality of farmland and preserve the environment.
• School canteens provide nutritious lunches to primary school children.

Promoting Health and Fighting Disease
Episcopal Relief and Development is providing health education focused on basic sanitation in rural communities in the Cormier watershed area.

• Health promoters instruct community members in basic sanitation practices.
• New cisterns provide families with a safe supply of water.

Our PAST ACHIEVEMENTS
Episcopal Relief and Development has been in partnership with the Episcopal Church of Haiti for several years. In the aftermath of natural disasters and during times of civil unrest, Episcopal Relief and Development met critical needs throughout the country, including:

• Planting 800,000 trees and 15 miles of hedgerows to improve farm land.
• Establishing four demonstration vegetable gardens to teach families new farming techniques.
• Providing small loans to 150 women to initiate small, locally-based businesses.
• Supplying vulnerable children and families with food such as rice, beans, and cooking oil, as well as medicines and blankets.
• Ensuring families received medicine and emergency health care through the Hospital St. Croix in Leogane.
• Arranging shipments of rice and cooking oil for distribution by parishes to needy communities in western and southern Haiti, specifically in the Leogane and Port-au-Prince areas.
• Supplying building materials to reconstruct homes for families displaced by the violence.
• Reaching vulnerable populations in the cities of Gonaives and Trou du Nord with clothing, emergency food, shelter and education.
• Providing emergency funds to help with food and temporary shelter following the flooding along the Dominican border in 2004.
• Installing water systems and tanks in vulnerable villages along both sides of the border and training locals in their operation, in partnership with Water Missions International.