Help Families Grow their Own Food in Rural Haiti

 Haiti was still timidly on the way to recover from the 2010 earthquake with a fragile infrastructure and unstable administration, the economy was rigged with high inflation, low gross national product, high import and high unemployment creating a highly insecure social political arena.  After a two year drought that nearly crippled the country and highlighted food socereignty and food security issues, Haiti was hit by the most ravaging storm in 35 years.  Hurricane Matthew devasted all but two departments with damages estimated at 2 billion, flatenned the most fertile parts of the country, destroyed the coming harvest and plunged over 1.4 million to a level of fragility and vulnerability unexpected if not unknown. After the earthquake, the southern part of the country received thousands of people among our partners and we assisted thousands to get medical help and survival goods and the Lambi fund expanded food production in the South.  today 27 organizations deemed sustainable are practically devastated by the wind gust and inundation that Huricane Matthew generated.

In the meeting that Lambi Fund organized with representatives from 24 of the 27 organizations. The participants in the meeting were clear about what they wanted: re-start their commerce, cover their houses and plant in their fields in a hurry. Lambi supported this logic because people need to have a place to stay and start to be prepared against the famine (food insecurity) that could come in the next few months if destroyed fields were not repaired and prepared for planting while the rainy season is here.  Our primary focus is to restart the food production and restore the productivity of all 27 organizations serving 11 municipalities.  Our overarching goal is to implement:

The post-Matthew Agricultural revitalization program for 1600 members of Lambi Fund partner organizations

The Lambi Fund staff, the regional monitor for the South and the board members together with the grass root partners develop the strategy to leap into action to not lose the opportunity for this next planting season, which needs to begin by the middle of November, by the very latest the end of November.

The strategy we envision – Phase Two in our post-disaster response – will allow Lambi Fund to have the necessary means to jump start the agricultural economy.  It will also encourage and support collective work where organizational members will use the traditional konbit (collective work groups) for members to work in each other’s fields. This approach empowers them to demonstrate their solidarity for one helping each other in this difficult time but also reduce their expenses they would have during the planting season. 

 Lambi Fund will give 27 organizations, and their membership, the capacity to plant their selective garden products. This strategy will produce food locally, stimulate the local economy, develop work and bring in revenue for the planters.

 In the Restore and Rebuild plan, this revitalization is based on crops that will be ready to harvest quickly, 2 ½ to 3 months such as sweet potatoes, eggplant, tomato, beans, and corn. The planters will decide which crops to plant. Lambi Fund will put in place a monitoring system to see how all members use the funding, which crops they planted most, what impacts the program had on the availability of food in the area. In addition, we will evaluate the organizational reinforcement of all beneficiary organization. This program will last 3 months and in the 4^th month, Lambi Fund will conduct a participatory evaluation with all organizations that participated in the program.

It is you, in your human spirit and will to be part of the change around you,  that will make the agricultural revitalization possible. We thank you for joining us to empower Haitian Rural Farmers, who are courageous amid strives, to take responsability to make a difference.  Thank you for your generosity and being part of the solution!

Links:

• Lambi Fund of Haiti website