Haiti
Context
Haiti was once referred to as “the pearl of the Antilles” by the French, who generated wealth by importing African slaves to work plantation agriculture. In 1804 those slaves rebelled to create an independent republic, yet in over 200 years since then, global economic and political forces as well as frequently changing Haitian governments have continued to marginalize rural, small-farmer families and communities.
The past 30 years have been characterized by coups, the ouster, return and ouster again of President Aristide, international and domestic political pressure, political and social instability, and intense environmental degradation. Economic and development policies during this period have been defined by structural adjustment programs and a neo-liberal agenda pushed by the United States and international financial institutions. These policies have exposed Haitian agriculture to subsidized imports and further undermined domestic food production and rural livelihoods, while increasing pressure on rural communities to draw their sustenance from severely depleted soils and forests. The mounting pressures have forced more rural people to migrate to poorly built and unhealthy urban areas that lacked services and infrastructure, making them vulnerable to natural disasters, of which there have been many.
In 2004, Hurricane Jeanne destroyed much of the Artibonite department and flooded the city of Gonaives. Rural families were devastated by soil erosion, landslides, the loss of animals and crops and other agricultural and economic infrastructure. In 2008, amid a global crisis in food and fuel prices felt keenly by Haitians, the country was battered by four tropical storms and hurricanes in the period of a month, further damaging key watersheds and washing away soils, crops and infrastructure. Landslides from those storms still visibly mark Haiti’s mountainsides, a reminder that much of the infrastructure has not been repaired. It is worth mentioning that climate change is altering rainfall patterns and contributing to the frequency of extreme weather events – resulting in more hurricanes, flooding and droughts.
Even as Haitians were struggling to recover from these disasters, on January 12th 2010, an earthquake destroyed much of the cities of Port-au-Prince, Leogane, Petit Goave, Grand Goave and Jacmel. In one of the worst natural disasters in the history of the world, an estimated 300,000 people were killed, and 2.1 million became internally displaced, with some 600,000 of these fleeing to rural areas. Port-au-Prince and other cities have long been overcrowded far beyond their functional capacity, and unable to generate jobs or a decent standard of living for most residents. Now they are rubble, damaged buildings and tent cities – and plans for coherent urban development have yet to be articulated. And, while the direct damage and deaths from the earthquake occurred in these urban areas, Haitians are interdependent and all were victimized by the earthquake. Moreover, most Haitians living in Port-au-Prince, including those killed and injured, originated from rural areas and maintain ties there. Some estimate that 200,000 of the approximately 300,000 killed were from rural areas.
Groundswell’s Response
Developing effective responses to help Haiti recover from the earthquake and build a viable future should be understood within the context of the historical patterns described above. Both the short and long-term solutions for Haiti must include a major focus on supporting rural communities to strengthen their resilience and overcome rural poverty and environmental degradation. While this has long been a needed strategy, it is even more vital after the earthquake’s destruction of urban centers and their questionable prospects for the future. The most effective way to create this resilience and sustainable rural development is by strengthening peasant organizations’ capacity to lead it themselves.
Groundswell’s Haitian partner Partenariat pour le Développement Local (PDL) enables communities and peasant organizations to become the lead actors in improving their own lives – not to depend on external projects that come and go. Specifically, PDL works to build the capacity of communities and peasant organizations in Haiti to sustainably improve their agricultural production, income generation, food security, health and natural resources management. Haiti’s future must be built on a foundation of strong, productive and healthy rural communities. Organized rural communities can grow enough food for the country, allow all citizens to participate in decentralized development, generate employment for Haiti’s majority that depends on agriculture, and restore the environment while building resilience to disasters. Together Groundswell and PDL are currently strengthening nine farmers’ organizations, representing over 148,000 people, and will expand this to 11 more farmers’ organizations and another 120,000 people by 2016.