Facing the health crisis caused by the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, UN Women Haiti supports vulnerable women living in rural areas whose main economic activity is agriculture.
Women agricultural producers and small agro-entrepreneurs living in rural areas face more difficulties in accessing public services than in urban areas. It is these women who look after the elderly and the sick at home, which in confinement increases their risk of being infected. Furthermore, their activities being essentially external and in contact with other people, they are therefore exposed to the risks of contagion. At the same time, their already limited and dwindling financial resources due to the impact of the emergency measures on their activities, do not allow them to buy individual projection equipment.
To support national efforts to fight and raise awareness against Covid-19, UN Women Haiti has distributed prevention kits. These kits containing : bucket with tap, chlorine, soap and hydro alcoholic gel, were given to 400 women heads of households or mothers living and working in remote areas of the Southern Department (Port Salut, Saint Jean du Sud, Chantal , Roche-à-Bateau and Torbeck). In the Department of Grand’Anse, the kits were distributed in the communes of Corail and Pestel. On the other hand, the departmental coordination of the Ministry for Women’s Condition (Department of the South as well as of Grand’Anse) received a lot of protection materials and awareness posters.
This support was made possible thanks to the project "Fanm nan Agrikilti se Devlopman Ekonomi Ayiti (FADEKA)", funded by Norway. The FADEKA project provides direct assistance to women members of women's organizations and cooperatives involved in agricultural sectors (corn, peanuts, honey, cashews, cocoa, castor oil, soap production and fishing). Support is provided to strengthen the production, productivity and marketing of women's products while ensuring their resilience to climate change. The fields and areas of action are in a straight line with the sectoral development policies of the Ministry of Agriculture as well as the Ministry for the Status of Women.
In addition to supporting protective measures, UN Women Haiti is actively working with its partners to soon strengthen its interventions with women in agriculture to help them better mitigate the effects of Covid-19 on their activities.
