Haiti

Overview

Haiti is highly vulnerable to natural disasters as well as economic and political shocks. Its urban areas, where the vast majority of the population lives, lack sufficient physical infrastructure and disaster preparedness planning. Resilience activities that strengthen social safety nets, increase urban resilience, and increase off-farm opportunities for the rural population are all part of building Haiti’s resilience.

Risk Environment

Haiti is vulnerable to shocks such as hurricanes and tropical storms, droughts, floods, and earthquakes, as well as shocks resulting from economic and political instability and environmental degradation. Its population is highly urbanized, and these dense populations combined with poor infrastructure and a lack of disaster preparedness leaves Haiti’s population highly vulnerable to the effects of shocks.

Resilience Approach

Given the frequency of natural disasters, building resilient infrastructure and disaster management systems are critical. In addition, strengthening social safety nets, creating off-farm economic opportunities, and empowering women are important to building the country’s resilience.

Haiti has become highly urbanized, so increasing the resilience of its cities are a key part to strengthening its overall resilience. Improved transportation infrastructure would improve access to economic opportunities; improved physical infrastructure would reduce the impact of earthquakes and hurricanes; and stronger municipal capacity and more equitable use of resources would help address the challenges of urban growth.

Opportunities for Strengthening Resilience

Numerous religious and charitable organizations operate in villages across the country. Efforts are underway to organize these in each village to begin the path toward achieving collective impact as a foundation for layering, sequencing, and integrating other humanitarian and development programs to address vulnerabilities resulting in recurrent crises.