New funding from the United States Agency for International
Development (USAID) will allow IOM to rehabilitate some 60 schools
in areas severely damaged by the four tropical storms and
hurricanes that struck the country in 2008.

The new Haiti Integrated Growth through Emergency Recovery
Programme (HIGHER) adds an additional US$12.5 million towards
post-hurricane recovery needs.

HIGHER activities will focus on the rehabilitation of destroyed
infrastructure that impedes early recovery and subsequent community
development and growth.  Projects will focus on three vital
areas: restoration of public services; rebuilding infrastructure
and mitigation.

The restoration of public services will focus on school
rehabilitation and reconstruction. IOM will target some 60 schools,
identified in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, in areas
that were affected by hurricanes and tropical storms.  Schools
will be built or rehabilitated throughout the country, including in
Gonaives, which was hardest hit by the storms, as well as St.Marc,
Port-au-Prince, Petit Goave and Les Cayes. This work is expected to
benefit nearly 20,000 vulnerable students.

"Immediate rehabilitation of classrooms or the construction of
new ones will allow students to return to a safer and more stable
learning environment," explains Rodney Babe, IOM Community
Stabilization Programme Manager.  "Sanitation and potable
water are also a vital part of a positive learning environment, and
so the project has earmarked US$4.5 million for the rehabilitation
of these systems in selected areas."

IOM's Programme de Revitalisation et de Promotion de
l‘Entente et de la Paix (PREPEP), which began in 2004, has
carried out some 150 education-related projects worth US$3.5
million.  These projects have included the rehabilitation or
construction of additional classrooms, school perimeter security,
sanitation facilities, providing desks, chairs and benches, and the
construction of sports and recreation facilities. 

"These school projects have been some of the most successful of
all PREPEP projects and have gone a long way in improving the
relationship between target communities and the Haitian Government
through the Ministry of Education," adds Babe. 

The IOM-PREPEP and HIGHER programs create immediate jobs for the
population.  It is estimated that in Haiti more than
two-thirds of the labour force do not have formal jobs.

Since May 2004, IOM's PREPEP and Haiti Stabilization Initiative
(HSI) programmes have been working with vulnerable communities and
the Haitian national and municipal authorities to help stabilize
volatile neighbourhoods by rehabilitating key infrastructure. This
includes the building or rehabilitation of irrigation and drainage
canals, street paving as well as carrying out social/cultural
activities.

To date, more than 1,900 PREPEP and HSI grants have been awarded
totaling more than US$38 million.

For more information on IOM activities in Haiti, please visit:
"http://www.iomhaiti.org/" target="_blank" title=
"">http://www.iomhaiti.org/

For more information, please contact:

Frislain Isidor

IOM Port-au-Prince

Tel: +509.245-5153, Ext 118

E-mail: "mailto:fisidor@iom.int">fisidor@iom.int