Trocaire Haiti, Haiti
From the Global Women's Network
| Trocaire Haiti, Haiti | |
|---|---|
| Logo: |  |
| Street address: | Trócaire Head Office, Maynooth, Co. |
| City: | Kildare |
| Country: | Ireland |
| Location: |
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| Location coordinates: | 53° 22' 52" N, 6° 35' 32" WLatitude: 53.3812167 Longitude: -6.5922599 |
| Website: | http://www.trocaire.org/ |
| Twitter: | http://twitter.com/#!/trocaire |
| Facebook: | https://www.facebook.com/trocaireireland |
| Target: | Girls and Women |
| Organization type: | National NGO (operating countrywide or advocating at the national level) |
| Sectors: | Teen Pregnancy/Mothers, Single Mothers, Reproductive Rights, Reproductive Health, Refugees, Poverty Alleviation, Peace and Conflict, Human Rights, HIV/AIDS, Environment, Commercial Sexual Exploitation, Child Marriage |
About
In 2005, Trocaire supported rural development programmes where 100 peasants associations received both technical advice, inputs and small animals in order to sustain their food production. In the North, farmers of Mombin Crochu received small animals, seeds and technical accompaniment to farm in a sustainable and friendly environmental ways. During the political and economical crisis, the Global Gift programme provided schoolbooks and stationery for pupils of deprived families to enable them to pursue their primary education.
Trocaire's partner SOFA fought for the promotion and defence of women's rights. A high number of women and girls are victims of gender violence throughout the country. 50 women victims of domestic violence got legal aid, counselling and medical care. 21 refugee centres were opened throughout the country. Another group of 15 women living with HIV and AIDS received support and were involved in crafts making and embroidery to generate some income. Through advocacy 25 November was institutionalised as a day to remember and fight any discrimination and acts of violence against women. HIV awareness was initiated among Trocaire's partners and it is vital to mainstream HIV in all the programmes.
Haiti is prone to natural disasters and one partner Caritas Haiti started a programme of disaster risk mitigation creating and training local committees in the area of disaster preparedness.
Key Challenges
Haiti's socio-economic problems are clearly related to its particularly unstable political history, which hampers it from taking advantage of its development potential or the financial resources made available through international aid. Approximately 66 per cent of the rural population lives below the poverty threshold and the unemployment rate is around 60 per cent. Almost half the working population is involved in the agricultural sector, which mainly consists of small-scale subsistence farming. Reliance on rudimentary growing techniques, climatic hazards, in particular frequent droughts, and other agrarian problems have led to low agricultural productivity. Moreover, there is large-scale emigration and one Haitian in six lives abroad.
The HIV infection is among the highest in the region with UNAIDS reporting Aids as the leading cause of death at the national level.' The HIV prevalence rate among adults (15-49) is 5.6% and adults living with HIV are around 260,000. In addition, and the society is crippled by aggressive and violent acts against girls and women.
The prospects for economic progress are diminished due to the continuing political problems, weak State institutions, low levels of education among the population and high costs of production (as a result of poor infrastructure and high charges for telecommunications, energy, water and transport).
However, Haiti has a vibrant civil society, social and grassroots movements are numerous, although some have been politicised and demoralised by the corruption and incompetency of state leaders in recent years. The will exists among the vast majority of ordinary Haitians to strengthen their country's institutions, create a more open and equitable economic system and reinforce a truly open, democratic political process. It is therefore vital that the international community finds ways to help the millions of brave and resiliant Haitians who are struggling daily to improve their situation and their livelihoods in creative ways.
Activities
