Fostering Community Resilience to Food and Nutrition Crises in Haiti
After the devastating earthquake of 2010, the international community rallied around Haiti. In 2013, three and a half years later, international donors have begun to phase out earthquake-related assistance, despite the country’s extreme vulnerability to food and nutrition inse- curity. Although the latest data show a positive trend,1
as recently as
2012 droughts and storms led once more to increased food and nutri- tion insecurity. In an environment that is not only highly exposed to natural hazards, but also vulnerable to recurrent economic and socio- political shocks and stresses, analyzing long-term programming using a “resilience lens” adds value.
Sources of Haiti’s Resilience Deficit WIDESPREAD POVERTY AND CONTINUOUS FOOD INSECURITY. Haiti has suffered from widespread poverty and chronic food and nutrition inse- curity for decades. Between 1990 and 2000, its GHI improved only a little, falling from a value of 33.8 to 25.7. Despite recent improve- ments, Haiti remains in the group of countries categorized in the GHI as “alarming” (2013 GHI score of 23.3), mainly because of wide- spread poverty that severely limits households’ access to sufficient nutritious food. More than half of Haiti’s households are trapped in absolute poverty and live on less than a dollar a day (Glaeser, Horjus, and Strother 2011).
Northwest North and Northeast HAITI
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
PORT-AU-PRINCE
West and Southwest
NATURAL SHOCKS AND SOCIOPOLITICAL STRESSES. In 2012, Haiti was ranked the country most at risk from climate change (Maplecroft Glob- al Risk Analytics 2011). By 2011, Haiti had experienced 34 major shocks in just one decade (Glaeser, Horjus, and Strother 2011). In addi- tion to these larger-scale events, localized droughts, floods, landslides, and other smaller shocks also regularly undermine community and household resilience. More than half of all households affected by the 2010 earthquake were already in debt, with 95 percent of this debt related to food purchases (Haiti 2010). Haiti’s present risks are as much political as environmental. Weak governance can be observed across the four criteria commonly used for identifying fragile states: security, welfare, constitutional laws, and promotion of economic development (Radtke 2010).
WELTHUNGERHILFE’S PROGRAM AREAS IN HAITI
Capital and Regional Office Program Areas
Area of 2000–2011 Impact Analysis Source: Welthungerhilfe based on official maps.
AN EMERGENCY ECONOMY. The international community has arguably missed opportunities to contribute to a more robust public sector that could play a more prominent role in creating a resilience-enhancing policy framework. While evidence from Haiti and other countries, along with aid effectiveness and human rights principles, suggests that aid is most effective at strengthening public institutions when it is chan- neled through them, only 1 percent of post-earthquake relief aid and 12 percent of recovery aid went directly to the government using nation- al systems (United Nations 2013a). Given the availability of substan- tial funding after each disaster and the seeming absence of a Haitian alternative, international NGOs and development consultants continue to be willing to take over public service delivery and job creation. Instead of strengthening the government and Haitian civil society, they have contributed to undermining their legitimacy and locked the coun- try into a “humanitarian approach” and a dependency on aid (Haiti Grassroots Watch 2010).
1
Findings from the 2012 Haiti Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) were not considered in Hai- ti's 2013 GHI score, because the report became available after data compilation for the GHI end- ed. Compared to the 2005–2006 Haiti DHS, the 2012 Haiti DHS indicates tangible improvements in child malnutrition (Cayemittes et al. 2007, 2013). FAO's data on undernourishment and dietary energy supply per capita also show a positive trend for recent years (FAO 2013a).
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Building Community Resilience to Undernutrition | Chapter 04 | 2013 Global Hunger Index
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