On August 14th, Haiti was hit hard by a powerful 7.2 earthquake, devastating the southwestern peninsula. So far 1,900 people are dead, 6,000 are injured, many are missing, and many more are homeless. The search and rescue emergency continues.

You may recall that EWI had already been working in Haiti when the 2010 earthquake devastated our own region. We responded within hours and provided emergency food and water to the Bernard Mevs Hospital where we moved in for several months. We renovated a wing of the hospital to provide the country’s first in-hospital physical therapy center to help the recovery of new amputee, brought in a team of Israeli physical rehabilitation specialists to train the local medical staff, brought rolling medical teams from the US, donated an ambulance, and assured the steady flow of medical supplies.

We also took care of hundreds of internal refugees who found safety in the Lake Azuei region; helped small merchant women to rebuild their inventory, purchase basic necessities, and start their economic recovery. We helped strengthen their local women’s organization through training and entrusting them with managing microloans. We participated in the government-requested urban reconstruction plan for the redevelopment of Port-au-Prince and its port, delivered by the Miami-based international DPZ firm and the UK-based Prince Charles Foundation.

Before working in Haiti, our senior executive had carried out not only long-term programs globally, but also disaster responses in Rwanda, Somalia, Armenia, and the former Yugoslavia, bringing to EWI a singular expertise in planning and executing disaster responses.

Today, we respond to the August 14 earthquake, as we did twelve years ago.

No matter what other relief projects we undertake, we always give special attention to the needs of women and children. Disasters impact women differently due to gender inequality, gender norms, and gender-based division of labor. This is why we focus on helping women regain their emotional balance and the economic capacity, so they can feed and care for their children. We ask the women what they need, and then we deliver.

As Haitians say: women are the ‘poteau mitan’** of life and family structure.

You have very generously supported us when we responded to the 2010 earthquake, we hope you will also support us today. Despite the many challenges we face in the United States, most of us still live in relative comfort and abundance. Please donate today to help those who are in great and urgent need.

Below, are main points such a development plan needs to address to achieve food sufficiency.  First and foremost, It must empower Haitian smallholder farmers who represent more than 90% of the country’s food producers.

1. To have a single national agricultural development plan, approved by all Haitian stakeholders, including smallholder farmers, serving the entire country, with clear goals, objectives, and time-specific, verifiable, and transparent results, and related expenditures. Ensure that smallholder farmers’ input is gathered and included in the plan. The report on the plan’s progress and related expenditures should be published quarterly and submitted to the press. The plan must focus on smallholder farmers’ needs, as they represent 90% of all agricultural producers. The report should be succinct, based on facts and results.

2. Report on the plan’s progress and expenditures quarterly to donors, stakeholders, and the media. 

3. Establish a national, permanent extension program to support farmers on a pre-determined annual schedule corresponding to planting and harvesting.

4. Create a national registry of all smallholder farmers so no one is left behind.

5. Promote organic, sustainable farming that remediates the soil and reforests the country.

6. Catalogue innovative local practices and disseminate them all over the country through extension training.

7. Build the necessary infrastructure: access to water, roads for timely deliveries, and storage facilities, placed strategically.

8. Support existing and create new agricultural cooperatives to promote farmers’ autonomy and self-reliance.

Provide sustainable support to Haitian farmers will enable them to feed Haiti in all circumstances, and lift rural communities out of poverty. To continue sporadically dump large quantities of food from abroad, undermines Haitian farmers and accelerates their and the country’s downward spiral into deeper poverty.

Ecoworks International’s Talia Farms is a regional program based on these goals and objectives. It aims to improve smallholder farmers’ productivity, earnings, and quality of life. It supports farmers’ autonomy and self-determination by organizing them into agricultural cooperatives they own and manage.

Let’s do it right, do it now, and be impactful.