1
UNICEF Hai Quarterly Report: January
-
March 2012
HEADLINES
Situation Update
Political:
With President Martelly recently hospitalized in the United States for surgery on a pulmonary embolism, Haiti experienced a political void resultingfrom the failure to appoint a new Prime Minister since the resignation of GaryConille in February.
Cholera:
With the rainy season underway, there has been an increase in thenumber of cholera cases. As of early April, the total number of people whocontracted cholera since October 2010 was 534,647, of which 7,091 have died.
Displacement:
According to the IOM, despite a gradual decrease in the camppopulation from 1.5 million in 2010, almost 500,000 Haitians still live in 660displacement camps around Port
-
au
-
Prince.
Emergency preparedness:
A series of evaluations conducted by UNICEF andpartners reveal that there are still high zones of vulnerability in areas with lower access to services.
85 per cent of contingency stock in support of the RRM hasalready been pre
-
positioned.
UNICEF Programme Updates
Education:
Along with other major education actors, UNICEF is working tosupport the free and compulsory education programme (PSUGO) initiated byPresident Martelly. According to the Government, 903,000 children are receivingfree education through this programme.
WASH:
UNICEF continues to promote the Community Led Total Sanitationapproach to end the practice of open defecation and decrease morbidity rates ina total of 121 rural communities since 2011.
Child Protection:
To date, UNICEF has assisted the national child protectionbody IBESR in the registration of 16,000 children in residential care centres aswell as the evaluation of 351 centres, an exercise which will help theGovernment conduct better quality control and regulation.
Week of Intensive Child Health Activities:
UNICEF is making preparations for a Week of Intensive Child Health Activities in April, which will serve as the officiallaunching for the 1st World Vaccination Week and aims to reach 100 per cent of children with polio vaccination.
One Team Against Cholera:
Along with the governments of Haiti and theDominican Republic, UNICEF and other key partners have launched a call toaction to accelerate the elimination of cholera on the island of Hispanola.
Cholera Cases
534,647
Impact on Children
One
in
Eight
patients is a child
under
-
five (12%)
Displacement
490,545
people in camps
(5% decrease)
IDPs/commune
Forced Eviction
94,632
people in campsthreatened with eviction
One in Five
Delmas21%
Port
-
au
-
Prince
21%
Carrefour
13%
Tabarre 9%
Petion
-
Ville 8%Leogane 6%
Other 22%
Source: MSPP, IOM, OCHA
© U N I C E F / H a i t i / 2 0 1 1 / D o r m i n o
2
HUMANITARIAN UPDATE
Slight Change in the Number of IDPs
According to the latest IOM Displacement Tracking Matrix(DTM) report, the total number of vulnerable individualsliving in camps is now less than 500,000. The populationliving in camps decreased from 515,961 in January 2012to 490,545 individuals (or 120,791 IDP households) in 660IDP sites in earthquake affected areas in February, a 5 per cent decrease. Since the beginning of the displacementcrisis, the majority of the displaced population, about 60per cent (72,152 households) has resided in 52 of thelarger sites of over 500 households. These 52 sitesrepresent only 8 per cent of all sites confirming the trendalready observed in previous reports of increasedconcentration in large camps.
Forced evictions
Since the emergence of camps in January 2010, therehave been 396 IDP sites in 12 communes that have facedthreats of eviction. A total of 10 camps were evicted duringthe last two months, affecting 1,395 people. Approximately94,632 individuals are currently living under threat of eviction, representing almost 20 per cent of all peoplecurrently living in the camps in Haiti. The UN continues topromote a voluntary and dignified return for displacedpersons and to coordinate interventions in return areas.
Resurgence of Cholera with the Start of theRainy Season
As of early April, the total number of reported choleracases since October 2010 was 534,647. Overall, data fromhealth facilities indicate that 7,091 people have died (casefatality rate of 1.3 per cent). An increase in the number of new cholera cases was reported in Artibonite, North
-
Westand West Departments, confirming predictions of higher incidence of the disease with the early arrival of the rainyseason in February. Since last June, which saw peaks of more than 1,000 cases on certain days, theepidemiological trend had been steadilydeclining in all ten departments. In March, theMinistry of Health (MSPP) recorded 77 daily new cases for the whole country.
Political Situation
The political situation in Haiti remains volatile. On 24February, Haiti’s Prime Minister, Gary Conille, resignedafter weeks of mounting tension with President MichelMartelly and his cabinet. Gary Conille, who served asPrime Minister for only four months, was Mr. Martelly’sthird choice and the only one who met with approval froma Parliament dominated by political opposition. The PrimeMinister
-
designate, Laurent Lamothe, is currently thesubject of a Senate commission investigating allegationsthat he holds dual nationality. The political environment isalso complicated by recent allegations of corruptionagainst a Dominican senator whose companies wonmillions of dollars in construction contracts in post
-
earthquake Haiti after allegedly making contributions toPresident Martelly’s campaign. The turbulent politicalsituation has the potential to delay programmeimplementation.
Security
UN staff members continue to face a range of securitythreats due to the challenging environment. The overallstatistics for serious crime show an increase. There hasonly been one case of kidnapping affecting internationalUN staff though the threat posed to the families of nationalstaff members remains high. Over the last months, theemergence of paramilitary groups, coupled with an on
-
going campaign to reinstitute the Haitian Armed Forces(FADH) and the unopposed occupation of former militaryfacilities, have been of concern. The total number of theseso
-
called ex
-
FADH members is estimated at about 3,500.
Emergency preparedness
During the reporting period, UNICEF and partnersconducted evaluations in eight departments to assesszones of vulnerability to risks and natural hazards. Resultsindicated high levels of vulnerability in zones with lower access to services, particularly in the South and Grande
-
Anse Departments. This mapping exercise has underlinedthe need to pre
-
position stock to facilitate emergencyresponse and highlighted the importance of workingcollaboratively with local authorities and the community toprepare an emergency response. The pre
-
positioning of essential supplies in the event of an emergency byUNICEF’s Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) partners inthe South, South
-
East, Atribonite and North Departmentsis almost 85 per cent finalised.
UNICEF Hai Quarterly Report: January
-
March 2012
2
As of February:
490,545
people are living in camps
94,632
people are threatened witheviction
660
registered camps
396
camps under threat of forced eviction
3
UNICEF IN HAITI: 15th — 27th MAY 2010
Education
Ensuring quality education
Since the beginning of the academic school year inOctober 2011, the education sector in Haiti has witnessedan unprecedented increase in enrollment through the freeand compulsory education programme (PSUGO) initiatedby President Martelly. According to the Government,903,000 children are currently benefiting from the freeeducation programme, including many children who havebeen out of school for years, or have never been toschool.To support the free and compulsory educationprogramme, UNICEF distributed age
-
appropriate material,including school bags, notebooks and pens, to some750,000 children throughout the country. A nationwidemonitoring exercise undertaken by UNICEF covering 136schools in all departments indicated a high satisfactionrate (above 80 per cent) among teachers, school directorsand children.To address the problem of the high prevalence of over
-
agechildren both in and out of school, on 14 March UNICEFsupported a national workshop involving 60 stakeholdersto engage in a policy dialogue on integration of over
-
age out
-
of
-
school children and improvement of the accelerated programme, provided by theMinistry of Education and Vocational Training (MENFP) tocover the entire primary education curriculum in three tofour years.
Systems and local governance
UNICEF continues to work towards strengtheningdecentralization of the education system and educationofficials at the local level in planning, monitoring, analysisand evaluation through micro
-
planning. On 28
-
29February, 99 inspectors and officials in the South andNorth Departments received training on planning ineducation and statistics and collected data in over 2,300schools.
Early Childhood Development
UNICEF launched the initiative “The Power of Play” withthe support of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF and Disney,which aims to integrate an innovative, soft
-
toy playgroundsin ten schools and provide specialized training for teachersand Ministry of Education officials. The project recognizesthe importance of play in the physical, psychosocial,emotional development of children, particularly in crisisand post
-
crisis settings such as Haiti and will gather evidence for the potential scale up of the project in Haitiand other countries.
Education Cluster
As part of the transition plan for the Education Cluster, adisaster risk management unit was set up in March withinthe Ministry of Education, owing to consistent advocacy byUNICEF. This marks a significant step towardsstrengthening the national capacity to prevent, prepareand respond to emergencies and to coordinate externalactors. The Education Cluster is also working with IOM for advocacy on the exit of displaced or vulnerable personsoccupying 18 national schools.
Challenges and Looking Forward
Despite the strong demand for education and the verypositive impact of the newly
-
launched initiative to abolishschool fees, tremendous challenges such as the poor quality of education, internal inefficiency, the very lownumber of qualified teachers, uneven distribution of education provisions, and the high percentage of over
-
aged children still need to be addressed by the Haitianeducation system. A continuing challenge involves thechildren in camps who are still not attending school twoyears after the earthquake. Although assessments indicatethat approximately 81 per cent of displaced children haveresumed their education, this still means that a significantabsolute number of children in the metropolitan Port
-
au
-
UNICEF Hai Quarterly Report: January
-
March 2012
3
© U N I C E F / H a i t i / 2 0 1 1 / D o r m i n o
11 year old Naika Civil and Lucien Schnaider pose for a photoat the national school in Tabarre, Port au Prince. Both Naikaand Lucien couldn't go to school for two years due to the factthat their parents couldn't afford it. This year they are two of many beneficiaries of the new Haitian Government initiativefor a free education.
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