Haiti

Haiti Earthquake - Emergency Response

Hundreds of thousands of people in Haiti woke up to the devastation of a 7.2 magnitude earthquake on August 14th.

GOAL teams are working on the ground with communities to provide life-saving support. Please give what you can today.

GOAL has been operating in Haiti since the catastrophic earthquake in 2010. Today, millions of people are still rebuilding their lives after both the earthquake and Hurricane Matthew which hit Haiti in 2016. In 2018, our 45-strong team (96% in-country nationals) managed a budget of €880K. Programmes concentrate on basic humanitarian needs, community preparedness and resilience. Recent years have also seen operations grow to include Sustainable Livelihoods.

What we do in Haiti

Emergency Response

Resilient Health

Sustainable Livelihoods

Covid-19 Response

Emergency response and preparedness in Haiti

GOAL launched an Emergency Response programme immediately following the earthquake in 2010. This saw the distribution of food and emergency shelter, followed by the implementation of a $13.5 million shelter, WASH and cash-for-work programme.

Following the earthquake if 2021, GOAL teams continue to meet the humanitarian needs of vulnerable populations in Haiti. As a country prone to natural disasters, we are committed to building community resilience so that people are better equipped to prepare for, and withstand, such shocks. This is done by providing technical assistance within communities and facilitating urban landscaping and planning at neighborhood level. GOAL is also working to strengthen early warning response systems through our Analysis of Resilience of Communities to Disasters (ARC-D) model.

An urgent need to build Resilient Health

GOAL is committed to saving lives during and after acute humanitarian crises. As such, our team in Haiti continue to provide an integrated WASH programme to communities affected by both the 2010 earthquake and Hurricane Matthew. Access to clean water sources in communities has improved the spread of deadly waterborne diseases.

GOAL also launched an EU-funded resilience programme in 2014 - 'Menm Katye', an initiative working to improve living conditions for two informal neighbourhoods of Port-au-Prince. Although significant progress has been made, Haiti remains an extremely vulnerable country. The need to build a Resilient Health program that improves health service access and addresses the threat of new disease outbreaks is vast.

Investing in aquaculture and fisheries

In Haiti, GOAL works towards Sustainable Livelihoods through its 'Resilience of the Blue Economy' programme. This project aims to make fishery markets more inclusive and resilient, to increase access to job opportunities and self-employment. Constraints include: inadequate infrastructures, lack of access to capital/financial services, poor governance of natural resources, market coordination and limited adherence to market demand. GOAL is committed to addressing these challenges and making fishery markets work for crisis affected populations.

We are also looking to support the development of economic incentives for responsible fishing practices around small-scale fisheries.

GOAL's Covid-19 response in Haiti

In Haiti, GOAL has been training community leaders in Port au Prince in Community Led Action (CLA) procedure. This includes how to properly use personal protection equipment (PPE).

Our achievements

Immediate emergency response following the 2010 and 2021 earthquakes, and Hurricane Matthew in 2016.
2,000 transition shelters for 10,000 people built by 2012.
585 families moved to safer homes in 2012 and 385 returned to repaired homes in 2013.
Infrastructural improvements to build community preparedness in Port au Prince, including the construction of evacuation stairs, footbridges, paved evacuation routes, retaining walls, and drainage canals.