Haiti (view map)

Haiti faces a massive development challenge. It is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and has, by far, the largest number of poor people in the Caribbean. An estimated 80 per cent of its people live below the poverty line.

A long history of political instability and poor governance has blighted the country. Social unrest, crime, violence, including violence against women and severe deforestation has significantly added to its difficulties.

Haiti's most serious underlying social problem is the huge wealth gap between the impoverished Creole-speaking black majority and the French-speaking minority – 1 per cent of whom own nearly half the country's wealth. In addition the infrastructure has all but collapsed and drug trafficking has corrupted the judicial system and the police.

There are a series of key challenges that Haiti faces, which were identified by SCIAF in their Country Strategy paper 2006-2009. These include poor governance, a lack of a proper judicial system and untrained police personnel, human rights violations, increased drug trafficking, and environmental degradation. Food insecurity, lack of access to basic services, conflicts over land, and the extreme vulnerability of the population due to annual cyclones and floods are also major challenges.

Since starting work in Haiti SCIAF’s main drive has been to improve the living standards of communities targeted by our partner organisations, thus contributing to the achievement of halving the poverty in Haiti by 2015.

Currently SCIAF is supporting five partners in Haiti with grants totalling £72,000, which is used mainly in the areas of food security, advocacy and empowerment of women.