To address the immediate needs of the transitional Haitian government and the Haitian population following civil disturbances and a change in political leadership in February and March 2004, the U.S. Government (USG) developed the Haiti Response and Reconstruction Program for $425 million. In FY 2004 and 2005, USAID managed approximately $336.3 million of these resources to support the Interim Government of Haiti (IGOH) to help restore and sustain a climate of peace and security, revitalize its tattered economy, provide essential social services and improve conditions for democratic processes to take place, including free and fair elections held in the beginning of 2006.
A USG contribution of $198.8 million is projected to support the newly elected Government of Haiti (GOH) for FY 2006, of which USAID would manage approximately $156.6 million for the following programs: economic growth and employment generation, institutional support for the newly installed GOH, expansion of health, humanitarian, and educational services; and strengthening democratic institutions particularly the newly elected legislative and local government bodies.
Democracy and Governance : USAID continues to promote justice, democracy, and good governance in Haiti . To ensure successful elections, support has been provided to create a National ID system to serve as a voter registry; to conduct voter and civic education; for media training; for capacity building and elections logistical support for political parties; and for international and domestic observation. Support will be provided for municipal elections scheduled for 2006. More transparent and responsive governance is promoted by administration of justice and anti-corruption activities that are improving criminal case management and tracking and reducing pre-trial detention; training judges and prosecutors; rehabilitating court facilities; and implementing a government-wide integrated financial management system to better combat corruption in government. Newly elected local government bodies will be supported to more effectively deliver services with citizen input through training in participatory budgeting and service delivery, development of associations of local government officials, and activities that reinforce linkages between civil society and local government. The newly elected legislators and their staffs will receive orientation and training in legislative processes; a legislative press and communications office will be established and functioning and administrative and management reforms will be undertaken. To ensure that civil society is constructively engaged with the new GOH, public outreach capacities on the part of key government ministries will be strengthened, media will be trained in professional conduct for a constructive role in a democratic society; civil society organizations will be supported to promote judicial reform, access to justice, and human rights; and local civic participation initiatives.
: Following elections and the inauguration of the new GOH, USAID will assist key Ministries (Health, Education, Justice, Finance, Plan and Public Works) to be more transparent and responsive in meeting the needs of its citizens by offering to support technical advisors within these Ministries, continuing to rehabilitate facilities, strengthening anti-corruption measures, enhancing communication and improving administration and management. USAID is supporting long-term improvements to electricity generation capacity by providing $2 million in thermal unit upgrades in the capital and $4.5 million to repair two rural hydro-electric plants. To assist the GOH with public education expenses, USAID will provide $7.0 million in textbooks subsidies for the 2006/07 school year. Funds are also being provided to improve port security, strengthen customs administration, and improve the Government's financial management system, budget processes and procedures and its anti-corruption unit.
: To promote economic growth critical to reinforcing stability, USAID will expand existing job creation activities, continue its successful agriculture, artisan and micro enterprise programs as well as support the new Government in establishing an environment conducive to promoting trade and investment. Job creation activities include providing solid waste collection services in Port au Prince and the slum areas, as well as improving access to the local landfill while simultaneously providing institutional reinforcement to the GOH waste management authority. Other activities include community improvement projects such as opening drains and clearing canals; repairing farm to market roads, and building and repairing bridges and irrigation systems, with the aim of generating employment while strengthening community/local government partnerships. USAID will continue longer-term economic growth programs with hillside farmers to improve marketing and processing of environmentally sound agricultural production, and will continue its work with artisans to expand markets for Haitian handicrafts. It also will continue to support, through guarantees and technical assistance, microfinance and commercial banking institutions which support small, micro and medium-scale enterprises. To assist the GOH to put in place an environment conducive to sustainable economic growth, USAID will improve commercial laws and regulations, establish an investment facilitation center, strengthen private business and trade associations, and support port security and customs strengthening activities.
: USAID has built a network of approximately 30 local service providers to deliver basic primary care and child survival services. Health programs include immunizations for children and pregnant women; respiratory infection detection and treatment; nutrition, food supplementation, and growth monitoring; family planning (natural and modern); maternal health care; prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS (including mother-to-child transmission prevention) and other sexually transmitted diseases; tuberculosis detection and treatment; reinforcement of policy norms and procedures; health information systems; and advocacy. USAID is playing a key role in supporting the MOH plan to decentralize leadership and management capacity in the MOH departmental offices. Haiti is one of the targeted countries under President Bush's Emergency Plan for HIV/AIDS Relief.
Food Security: USAID administers a large P.L. 480 Title II food program, which is critical to meeting humanitarian needs and reducing food insecurity in the economically hardest hit areas of the country. The program works at the household level to improve nutrition and to diversify income and diet. Food is distributed to children under five, nursing and pregnant mothers, children enrolled in primary schools, and to orphans and the elderly. The program also monetizes a portion of the food commodities and uses the proceeds to finance projects in health care, primary education, agriculture, natural resource management, infrastructure improvement and income generation. USAID also works to develop the national capacity to identify food crisis situations and to respond quickly to them.
Education: USAID's assistance in education focuses on three major themes: improving the quality of primary education, improving educational services to out-of-school adolescents, and strengthening the Ministry of Education's governance capacity. In schools, USAID's partners upgrade the skills of teachers and school directors, provide materials and equipment, and strengthen local organizations, schools, and parent/teacher associations. USAID will continue to support primary school scholarships in selected areas to enable parents to afford schooling. Programs for out-of-school youth, estimated at more than 50% of the population aged 15-20, help them obtain basic education and job skills/entrepreneurship training. Activities with the Ministry focus on the accreditation of non-public schools.
Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) : In response to the recent political turmoil in Haiti , OTI initiated the Haiti Transition Initiative (HTI) in June of 2004 with implementing partner International Organization for Migration (IOM). The program emphasizes stability-building measures to reduce political tensions and violence in key crisis spots in urban communities in Port au Prince and selected smaller cities through the implementation of quick, visible, small community projects. The expected results are to: restore citizen confidence and hope in the process of political development and positive change; empower citizens and the government to address priority needs in communities; build cooperative frameworks between government activities and citizens as examples of positive change and progressive political development and create short-term opportunities for income and employment. Unemployed youth, who constitute the majority of gang members, are a major target for the HTI employment activities. At proposed budget levels the program will fund some 300 community-based projects and a thousand person months of temporary employment in FY 2006.
: Working with UNDP and OFDA, USAID is assisting the Government to develop its preparedness capacity. USAID is improving its capability to react quickly by using a combination of OFDA and existing development resources to link relief efforts to longer term reconstruction, mitigation, and prevention efforts on a relief to development continuum.
Tropical Storm Recovery and Reconstruction: In September 2004, Tropical Storm Jeanne flash flooding killed over 3,000 people and affected another 300,000 in the town of Gonaïves and surrounding areas in the Artibonite and Northwest Departments through loss of homes, schools, health posts, crops, and livelihoods. USAID provided immediate emergency assistance in the amount of $11.8 million and followed up with an expanded $34 million Tropical Storm Recovery Program (TSRP). These activities are rehabilitating infrastructure to pre-flood or better conditions (8 schools completed), restoring livelihoods of people in flood-affected communities (2,000 cash grants awarded), returning farm (1700 hectares irrigated land) and hillside lands (2,000 hectares protected) to productivity, and protecting against future flooding (17 communities trained in preparedness). Activities still underway include housing rehabilitation, potable water system for Gonaives , and major road reconstruction. TSRP will be completed in June 2006.
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USAID/Haiti Strategic Plan 
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