AJWS: On the Ground in Haiti
In response to the earthquake on January 12, 2010, AJWS created the Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund. AJWS's long-standing partnerships in the region make it possible for us to send funding directly to grassroots groups on the ground that have the knowledge and capacity to spend the money most effectively, and where it is most needed.
AJWS is committed to funding long-term recovery efforts as our Haitian grantees work to rebuild their infrastructure and livelihoods long after the immediate crisis has passed. AJWS is supporting the reconstruction of roads, community centers, clinics and schools and will also support the replanting of crops and farms to replenish the local food supply to generate income. Learn more about our grantees’ efforts.
Ian Schwab, AJWS's Associate Director of Advocacy, was on the ground in Haiti at the end of May. Listen to what Ian has to say about the real situation in Port au Prince, the road to recovery for Haiti, and why local food production is the key to rebuilding Haiti's future. Watch what Timi Gerson, AJWS's Director of Advocacy, has to say on the same subject.
AJWS and Haiti: A long-term commitment
AJWS President Ruth W. Messinger discusses AJWS's strategy in Haiti, from the immediate emergency relief to long-term reconstruction for a sustainable future.
President Obama Praises AJWS’s Work in Haiti
In his speech at the national prayer breakfast on February 4, President Obama commended AJWS as an example of the “compassion and decency of the American people” following the earthquake in Haiti. The president’s remarks about AJWS can be heard at 3:20 into the video.
Images in the Aftermath of Disaster
Photojournalist Evan Abramson accompanied AJWS grantees MUDHA and MOSCTHA on an aid transfer operation to Haiti from the Dominican Republic in late January. His images depict AJWS’s relief work on the ground.
Grantees on the Ground
Donations to AJWS's Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund are currently supporting the efforts of 13 extraordinary grassroots organizations. AJWS’s first series of grants focused on immediate rescue and relief efforts; a second wave of funding is now helping these organizations respond to the continuing crisis. AJWS grantees are working to help communities rebuild their infrastructure and livelihoods. Long-term recovery efforts will enable communities to transition from disaster to development.
Community-based Organizations |
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| KONPAY is using its second emergency grant from AJWS to deliver immediate relief to communities in Jacmel and Port-au-Prince, and to provide medical care, equipment and other resources to people displaced from urban areas. The organization is coordinating local volunteers to assess emerging needs and mobilize and transport the necessary resources to meet them. | The Lambi Fund of Haiti is supporting peasant groups to obtain food and essential provisions and to meet needs associated with the massive migration from Port-au-Prince to the countryside. With a second emergency grant from AJWS, Lambi will replenish micro-credit funds and conduct reconstruction initiatives such as repairing rainwater cisterns, rebuilding grain mills and sugar cane mills, and helping farmers obtain agricultural materials in preparation for the spring planting. |
| Movimiento Social-Cultural de los Trabajadores Haitianos (MOSCTHA) a grassroots organization based in the Dominican Republic, traveled across the Haitian-Dominican border by caravan in the days following the earthquake. With two grants from AJWS, it has equipped two mobile clinics and mobilized 85 health professionals and trained volunteers from the Haitian-Dominican community to provide medical assistance and psychosocial support. The organization will continue to transport and distribute water, food and tents, and provide peer-to-peer support for youth and women. | Movimiento de Mujeres Dominico Haitiana (MUDHA) arrived soon after the quake with aid from the neighboring Haitian-Dominican community in the Dominican Republic. With a second grant from AJWS, MUDHA is now working in affected communities in Leogane, Petit Goave and Grand Goave. In addition to providing food and water, MUDHA is focusing primarily on women’s needs normally missed by humanitarian efforts: distributing feminine hygiene products, undergarments and diapers; establishing safe spaces for women; and conducting workshops on sexual and reproductive health. | Mouvman Peyizan Rankit (MPR) is coordinating emergency relief efforts and assisting with emergency replanting to prevent famine following the disaster. | Mouvman Peyzan Bayone 2eme Section Communale des Gonaives is coordinating relief efforts and providing emergency health services including education about hygiene and disease prevention. |
| Oganizasyon Gwoupman Peyizan pou Devlopman 8eme Seksyon Kominal Akaye is coordinating relief efforts and providing emergency health services including education about hygiene and disease prevention. | Red de Encuentro Dominico Haitiano Jacques Viau (REDH-JV) is organizing the Haitian and Haitian-Dominican population in the Dominican Republic to provide humanitarian emergency aid in the communities of Jacmel, Puerto Príncipe, Croix-des-Bouquets and Petionville. The organization will provide medicine, food, material goods and will organize local meetings to coordinate relief efforts. |
| Association of Peasant Farmers (APF) is establishing a redevelopment plan for the village of Fondwa which was completely devastated after the earthquake. In addition to producing a preliminary needs assessment, APF will begin to determine priorities in the rebuilding efforts. | |
Strategic Partners |
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| Direct Relief International (DRI), a humanitarian medical relief organization, is sending essential medical supplies and equipment to its network of local healthcare partners in Haiti, including AJWS grantees PIH and MOSCTHA. A portion of AJWS’s grant will also fund the purchase of medicine and personal hygiene kits that are specific to the needs of women. | Grassroots Organizations Operating Together in Sisterhood International (GROOTS), an international coalition devoted to strengthening women’s communal leadership, will use AJWS funding to hold an exchange for women affected by the earthquake. At this forum, members of the GROOTS network will train and support Haitian women to care for their families and organize themselves to assume leadership in relief and recovery efforts. |
| Groundswell International will support nine community-based organizations, including AJWS grantees, which are responding to the needs of rural communities who are absorbing a large influx of internally displaced earthquake victims. With AJWS’s support, Groundswell will set up a program to provide refugees with income to buy food and other supplies while helping the villages expand food production capacity for the upcoming agricultural season. It will also help organize emergency committees that include local leaders and refugee representatives. | Fonkoze has provided immediate general relief by establishing an emergency operations center, re-opening community banks and providing new loans to borrowers devastated by the earthquake. A second AJWS grant will help the organization rent temporary office space and assist its 30 displaced staff members, thereby enabling the organization to resume its work delivering microfinance services to Haiti’s poor. |
| Partners in Health/Zanmi Lasante has mobilized the more than 120 doctors and nearly 500 nurses who work at Zanmi Lasante's sites. It has set up field hospitals in Port-au-Prince and has readied its facilities in the Central Plateau to receive the flow of patients from the disaster zone. | EarthSpark International is distributing solar lamps via AJWS’s other partners in the region, and promoting post-disaster development through the use of clean energy. It also conducting clean energy capacity building activities with Haitian communities, including education, microfinance and working with partners to develop local businesses and country-wide supply chains for clean, efficient energy technologies. |
| BRAC USA is establishing a limb and brace center in Delmas, Haiti, to serve the needs of approximately 1,500 earthquake survivors in the area who underwent emergency amputations or suffered other debilitating injuries as a result of the earthquake. | |
