KANPE launches its COVID-19 Emergency Fund
Today, KANPE launches its COVID-19 Emergency Fund. This fund will allow us to respond to the effects of the pandemic in Haiti, and particularly in Baille Tourible.
With a hundred cases already detected in Haiti, we must equip the health clinic with the means to protect its population and surrounding communities and work to reduce the effects of economic and food insecurity the pandemic and lockdowns will have on the country’s most vulnerable.
KANPE’S EMERGENCY RESPONSE PLAN FOR COVID-19 IN HAITI
Prevention and Health Care
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, KANPE is scaling up its capacity to help the most vulnerable and save lives in the community where we work. We are diligently working with our local partner Zanmi Lasante (Partners in Health)* to prepare and equip the medical staff in the clinic and increase prevention measures against COVID-19 while ensuring we can continue to fund the annual operational costs of running the health clinic.
Our experience with the cholera outbreak in 2011, where over 1,700 cases were treated in our health clinic between 2011 and 2017, taught us that we must act quickly and decisively.
Food Security
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, KANPE is working with MPP to support vulnerable families as well as the farmers of Baille Tourible in an effort to prevent food insecurity and revenue loss. This includes:
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- Integration of 250 additional families into the seed bank program which loans black bean seeds to local farmers;
- Purchase and redistribution of seeds for millet and corn to reduce dependence on imported cereals for 500 families;
- Development of subsistence gardens (jaden lakou) for 500 families to grow their own food and sell surpluses at local markets;
- Planting of manioc – a highly nutritious and fast growing plant that grows well in semi-arid conditions and naturally insect-resistant;
- Planting and replacement of aging citrus trees in Baille Tourible for reforestation, food and extra revenue when fruits are sold at the local market;
- Stockings and purchase of food supplies to help the most vulnerable in the community;
- Distribution of food supplies for the most vulnerable segments of the population;
- Purchase and distribution of seeds for farmers.
Increased Support for Women
According to UNFPA, given women’s role in providing most of the informal care in families, we can expect most women to look after sick family members and children which will limit their work and economic opportunities and increase their risk of exposure to the virus. Thus, KANPE will support the three women’s associations of Baille Tourible. This includes:
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- Ensuring the women have access to interest-free credit to strengthen income-generating activities in agriculture, livestock, and small business;
- Ensuring access to seeds for subsistence farming;
- Increased nutritional support for the most vulnerable and malnutrition kits for children.
About the Baille Tourible Health Clinic
Opened since 2011, the health clinic offers care and prevention services to over 17,000 people in Baille Tourible and the surrounding communities, and provides approximately 7,000 consultations per year. It treats over 170 children per year for moderate to severe malnutrition. The clinic also provides prenatal and family planning services to over 800 people per year. The health clinic in Baille Tourible was a regional leader in the containment of the cholera epidemic that devastated Haiti in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake. Over 1,700 cases were treated in the clinic and no cases have been detected since January 2018.
Click the following link to learn more about our actions in Health.
About our programs in Agriculture
KANPE and local partner Mouvement Paysan Papaye (MPP) have been working together in Baille Tourible to increase food security for the community. Over the last few years, together we have acquired land for the construction of an experimental farm, distributed seeds to over 250 farmers as well and purchased nearly 3,300 farm animals. Our activities include training in agriculture, and soil and water conservation techniques, and reforestation. Since 2017, KANPE and MPP have produced and planted 18,000 seedlings. Activities have garnered the participation of local youth (including a climate march retweeted by activist Greta Thunberg) and the implementation of monthly waste collection activities.
Click the following link to learn more about our actions in Agriculture.
Photo: @mikaeltheimer
* An organization working to make quality care accessible to the most vulnerable communities.