Last week, the Directorate of Civil Protection (DPC), the National Centre for Geo Spatial Information (CNIGS) and the international organizations Oxfam and Welthungerhilfe (German Agro Action) launched a project in the department of North East, targeting rural populations of municipalities of Ouanaminthe, Ferrier, Mont Organisé and Capotille.

This project aims to increase the capacity of rural communities to protect themselves and cope with natural hazards and the effects of climate change, by strengthening organizational and institutional capacities of civil protection structures, promoting greater participation of women, increasing their knowledge and practices of vulnerable rural populations, by reducing certain levels of physical and social vulnerabilities.

The project also aims to strengthen the capacity to respond to emergencies through better knowledge of hazards and vulnerability, to provide tools to facilitate members of civil protection in their decision "We want to reduce the risk linked to natural phenomena that have negative impacts on agriculture and other ways of life of the people. Oxfam calls on the Haitian government with the support of international donors to strengthen adaptive capacity and of risk reduction of vulnerable populations at risk [...]" declared Damien Berrendorf, Associate Director of Oxfam in Haiti.

Major natural phenomenon of recent years have been bad for the economy of the residents of these towns, due to an obvious lack of resources and knowledge about methods of protection and risk prevention. "After the passage [...] of Isaac and Sandy, food insecurity in Haiti has affected approximately 59% of the population and caused the loss of 25% of the crop", recalled Damien Berrendorf.

"We made consultations with rural populations to identify key issues in each of the towns [...] We want to make born a risk culture through outreach activities, particularly in rural communities and also expand grassroots structures of civil protection," explained Christelle Marguerite, Head risk Management at Oxfam.

Territorial management by local authorities, requires a precise knowledge of sensitive areas to major natural events and provision of real time information to stakeholders to help in decision making. "It is necessary to put at the disposition of stakeholders the instruments and decision tools to reduce the vulnerability of communities and territories, face to this type of events and climate change," concluded Mr. Berrendorf.

S/ HaitiLibre