Moving to the country…….

One big problem facing Haiti is that for generations people have moved from the countryside to Port au Prince in search of jobs for themselves and education for their children. It has rarely worked, the public schools are massively underfunded and there are few jobs, leaving many still enmeshed in poverty. It’s still worse in many rural areas and in the few towns of any size outside Port au Prince.

All of which makes the government’s hope of persuading the Haitians who fled the capital to remain in their new temporary homes a challenging task. The key to this has to be providing a combination of the well paid work they desire for themselves, decent housing and access to a level of education and medical services not often experienced in Haiti.

Mercy Corps is working with the Prime Minister of Haiti, Jean-Max Bellerive, to try and address this conundrum. Our vision is to provide sustainable and affordable housing for the people of Haiti, and to help develop opportunities for work and education in the vicinity of these new communities. We are looking into design utilising the containers which brought in aid recently, with good sanitation, cooking facilities etc, as well as on site medical centres and schools within easy distance. To go alongside this Mercy Corps is developing programmes to stimulate economic growth, creating jobs and opportunity. This would be a huge step for Haiti.

But I would like to see this go further. If we can resolve the issue of land titles and give Haitians ownership of their own homes, they can then in turn use them as collateral to raise credit from banks, to develop small businesses and invest further in the economy of their own country. I’ve no idea as yet how to solve the conundrum but the vision is compelling to me.  And if we can find the right answers to the questions raised then one day soon Haiti may have some new towns…….