The $20 million (over two fiscal years) Resettling Haitian Families initiative will target the closure of sixty camps identified as the most vulnerable to natural disasters or that are located in critical areas, such as school yards. Approximately 16,000 families, or 53,000 internally displaced people will be resettled into new homes.
The project will also clean the vacated camps and enable, for example, those schools that were still used being as temporary camps to return to teaching.
Canada's work in Haiti is focused on improving the lives of those most in need, and is achieving important results.
Fully 1.5 million people – approximately the population in the city of Montreal – were residing in camps following the earthquake in January 2010. Today estimates place this figure at just under 146,600 people. Canada was one of the first donors to step forward to help the Haitian people find adequate lodging and/or repair damaged homes.
Canada is working to demonstrate accountability to Canadian taxpayers, while delivering tangible results for the people of Haiti. Surveys of displaced individuals one year after they were relocated, as well as independent evaluations, have shown that the housing subsidy approach supported by Canadian Investments has been effective in helping families regain a normal life.
Canada is a global leader on aid transparency and accountability, which has been validated by independent organizations like Publish What You Fund. Canada achieved the best record among donor countries under the International Aid Transparency Initiative. Detailed information about Canadian development projects is readily available online, including project descriptions, current status, timelines for completion, and exact breakdowns of Canada’s financial contributions to the executing agencies. These include experienced and trusted partners from civil society, the private sector and multilateral institutions, all of whom have shown their capacity to deliver results.
In addition to the exceptional funds that were committed following the earthquake, Canada continues to provide assistance in the areas of food security and sustainable economic growth. For example, more than 440,000 Haitians now have access to credit, as members of a network of 47 credit unions, thereby stimulating Haiti’s small and medium-sized business sector. Promoting new economic opportunities and jobs for Haitians is essential to alleviating poverty, economic growth and poverty reduction are two sides of the same coin. The private sector can, and must, play a defining role in this process.
Canada pays what it pledges, and remains committed to working with Haiti. Our long-term engagement strategy is currently being reviewed, a process that includes convening other international donors along with the Government of Haiti to enable the effective coordination of aid investments that deliver sustainable results. Canada will keep playing a key role in Haiti and keep building on the deep and long-standing ties that have existed between Canadians and Haitians for more than a half-century.
