IOM's Cash for Work (CfW) Programme is providing desperately needed
cash to some 8,000 Haitians each day who are contributing to the
country's rehabilitation.

Rodney Babe, IOM Programme Manager, says the programme is a
vital lifeline for families without jobs and who were severely
affected by the earthquake. 

"It provides these families with much-needed cash for their
work, but it is also helping the country to clean up and
rehabilitate damaged or destroyed infrastructure," explains
Babe.

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on Haiti

Since 2004, IOM's PREPEP Programme (Programme de Revitalisation
et de Promotion de l'Entente et de la Paix), Haiti Stabilization
Initiative (HSI) and "Haiti en Chantier" projects, funded by the
United States Agency for International Development (USAID), have
been providing employment and rehabilitating infrastructure in the
cities of Port-au-Prince, Petit-Goâve, Les Cayes, Saint-Marc,
Gonaives, Cap-Haïitien and Port-de-Paix.

Working with vulnerable and earthquake-affected communities and
local authorities, the labour-intensive CfW programme is focusing
on rubble removal, replacement of water pipes, watershed
management, rehabilitation of irrigation and drainage canals, the
creation of urban gardens, soil conservation, road back filling,
construction of culverts, the rehabilitation of bridges, and
construction of schools.

In Port-au-Prince, major rubble removal operations are underway
in many schools as part of the movement to get schools ready to
reopen.  In three weeks, the workers managed to remove 107,000
cubic metres of rubble. Hans Goertz, IOM Programme Support Officer
says, "Major efforts are focused on the clean-up of school
sites.  The Cash for Work Programme is also providing a
significant number of jobs outside of Port-au-Prince for persons
who were displaced from the capital after the earthquake."

In Les Cayes, residents are recovering from the floods that
swept the area in late February and killed 14 persons.  Eight
CfW projects are focusing on repairing irrigation and drainage
canals, bridges, schools and other damaged infrastructure.

In Saint Marc, the Programme employs more than 1,500 persons
each to work on water and soil conservation projects. 

"The cash for work activities are allowing both Saint Marc
residents hosting family members and direct victims of the
earthquake to earn money," explains Jennifer MacCormack, IOM
Programme Officer in Saint Marc.  "This work has had a
tremendous impact on the community because the Department of
Artibonite has the largest number of displaced people, with over
160,000, and an estimated 27,000 located in the city of Saint
Marc."

In Petit-Goâve, the community identified water security as
a vital step in the recovery process.  A series of water and
soil conservation projects have provided work for more than 1,000
persons.  The day labourers have told IOM that the income is
helping their families cope with soaring food prices and replace
belongings lost to the earthquake.

In Gonaives, a town devastated by hurricanes in 2008, soil
conservation projects are a top priority as hurricane season
approaches. "Row after row of stone ridges ring the hillsides of
Gonaives and break the slope into a series of terraces that will
fill with soil during the rains and provide productive farmland in
the future," says IOM's Rodney Babe.  "The project has also
generated much needed income for the community, and works on a
two-week rotation to ensure that as many community members as
possible have the opportunity to work."

The IOM community stabilization programmes work with vulnerable
communities and the Haitian national and municipal governments to
assist with the stabilization of volatile neighbourhoods through
the rehabilitation of key infrastructure and social/cultural
activities.

For more information, please contact:

Bertrand Martin

IOM Port-au-Prince

Tel: +509 3859 8619

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