Plan's focus is on the impact on Haiti's children
A message from Haiti's Country Director
Jo-Ann Garnier-Lafontant
Acting Country Director, Plan Haiti
Dear Friends,
It has been an extraordinary six months since the January 12 earthquake struck in Haiti, a time that has been full of challenges but also of hope for the future. The difficulties faced by the international community – and Plan Haiti – have been enormous and have made this response much more difficult than previous ones, as staff at all levels were directly impacted and offices and equipment destroyed.
However, the team in Haiti – with support from across the global organization – is working very hard, and I must commend all my colleagues here for the incredible effort they have put in to respond to the massive needs in the aftermath of the disaster. Of course, we also could not continue to assist children, families, and communities without the dedicated support of our sponsors and donors, and we are grateful for your continued encouragement.
Our primary focus has been, and will continue to be, the impact of the earthquake on children – those who have lost their homes and/or family members, those who are unable to go to school, those suffering displacement to areas far away, those who are now in need of additional protection measures – and our emergency response programming since January has centered on ensuring children and youth voices are part of the reconstruction efforts. Children and youth represent more than half of the population affected by the earthquake and are among the most vulnerable groups affected by the disaster.
At Plan, we are committed to involving these young people in fulfilling their rights – right to development, right to education, right to health services – and supporting them in rebuilding their own country. We conducted a country-wide consultation with close to 1,000 children and youth throughout Haiti, to hear their ideas and priorities for the country’s reconstruction. Their views were gathered with the purpose of feeding into the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment, the roadmap by which the country will be rebuilt. One of our primary goals in the post-earthquake response is to consult with children and youth regarding their interests, priorities and visions for the rebuilding of their country and feed their opinions into broader assessments.
While many challenges remain – damaged infrastructure, lack of adequate and sufficient shelter, destruction of schools, diminished livelihood opportunities, and environmental vulnerabilities – children and youth are surprisingly resilient, and many of them have already mobilized to support their communities in the response and taken on strong leadership roles. Youth involvement has been integral to our Back-to-School campaigns, for which we trained 400 young facilitators in Croix-des-Bouquets and Jacmel to raise awareness with families and communities, with the emphasis that children need the structure and social support that schools can provide in order to attain a sense of normalcy in the aftermath of the earthquake.
As one of the biggest priorities children have identified thus far is the restoration of schools and the importance of resuming their education, we are committed to rehabilitation and/or construction of new school buildings, to allow children to go back to school as soon as possible. Our school classroom design has already been approved by the Ministry of Education and begun construction in Jacmel, and we hope to quickly build many others in identified sites in the South East and West Regions of the country.
It is a dynamic time to be in Haiti, with many difficulties but also tremendous opportunity to rebuild a country that will take care of its most vulnerable and productive resource – the children and youth who will move the country forward and harness its full potential. As a new Country Director comes in to Plan Haiti, I want to say a personal thank-you for all you have done to support my country and my compatriots, particularly the children. I am excited to have been a part of this remarkable effort and urge you to continue the journey with us!
With warm regards from Port-au-Prince,
Jo-Ann Garnier-Lafontant.
Acting Country Director Plan Haiti
