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After the largest emergency relief operation in its history, the SDC is now involved in several reconstruction projects.
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Haiti
Website of the SDC in Haiti: www.cooperation-suisse.admin.ch/haiti
Even before the earthquake of 12 January 2010, Haiti was the poorest country in Latin America. Nearly 80% of the population live in extreme poverty (less than 2 USD per day). The high population density, the over-exploitation of natural resources, deforestation, unsuitable farming methods and soil erosion have led to an increasingly precarious food situation, making the country dependent on food aid. In 2010, Haiti ranked 145th out of 169 countries according to the Human Development Index (HDI), which measures a country's level of health, education and income. In addition, it is one of the four countries most affected by corruption in the world. Haiti is regularly hit by hurricanes and tropical storms, which often reduce years of developmental progress to nothing. In addition, public hazard-prevention and civil-protection measures are rare and the population is by and large defenceless against natural hazards. The earthquake of 12 January 2010, which struck the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince and the coastal region of Gressier, Léogane, Grand-Goâve et Petit-Goâve caused untold suffering and unprecedented devastation. In its aftermath, the Swiss Confederation launched the largest relief operation in its history. For additional information on this subject, click on the following link: |
| The Swiss Government's bilateral commitment | 2010 |
2011 |
2012* |
|---|---|---|---|
| SDC | |||
| Bilateral development cooperation | 2.91 | 5.00 | 6.00 |
| Humanitarian aid | 14.75 | 8.00 | 7.00 |
| State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) | |||
| Economic Cooperation and Development | – | – | – |
| Total SDC/SECO commitment | 17.66 | 13.00 | 13.00 |
| Other Federal Offices | |||
| FDFA Human Security Division and Directorate of International Law | 0.17 | 0.23 | – |
| Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS) | 0.14 | – | – |
| Total other Federal Offices | 0.31 | 0.23 | – |
| Total | 17.97 | 13.23 | 13.00 |
Bilateral development cooperation excluding programme contributions to NGOs
.. = figures not available | – = nil or amount < 5'000 CHF
Medium-term programme 2011-2013
The SDC's Humanitarian Aid and Regional Cooperation have jointly developed a medium-term cooperation programme for Haiti 2011-2013 (MTP). The strategy provides for the implementation of a "Comprehensive Aid" approach that will include complementary and parallel humanitarian aid and regional cooperation instruments. The MTP aims to make a quantifiable contribution to improving the socio-economic condition of the Haitian population through investments in the sustainable development of public infrastructures, income generation, and sustainable management of natural resources, coupled with systematic strengthening of state institutions. The Programme Office has been incorporated in the Swiss Embassy in Port-au-Prince since July 2011.
Development Cooperation
Since the end of the 1990s, the SDC's bilateral development cooperation efforts have focused on two projects in Haiti: one for drinking water and sanitation and one for the protection of forests. The Swiss NGO Helvetas has been mandated to carry out these projects. Regional Cooperation now faces the challenge of developing a new, longer-term programme based on the experiences garnered from these two mandates. In line with the institutional decision to increase SDC commitments in fragile States, Haiti is set to become a new priority country for the SDC in 2013. After the earthquake in January 2010 the Federal Council decided, in March 2010, to expand development cooperation as a complement to humanitarian aid.
For additional information on this subject, click on the following link: Projects
Humanitarian Aid
Swiss Humanitarian Aid has provided humanitarian aid to Haiti since 2000. Its response to the earthquake of January 2010 and the cholera epidemic that has ravaged Haiti since October 2010 has been rapid, targeted and appropriate. Since the earthquake, Haiti has been the largest recipient of SDC Humanitarian Aid. Now that the emergency and immediate post-crisis situation is over, Humanitarian Aid is focusing on rebuilding activities in Haiti:
- Programme to support the reconstruction/refurbishment of school infrastructures (PARIS)
- Competence Centre for Reconstruction (CCR)
For additional information:
Earthquake in
Haiti
Factsheet cholera epidemic (de)
Multilateral Development Cooperation
Switzerland has taken concrete steps to participate in the international financial institutions’ permanent debt relief plans for Haiti. In this context Switzerland has already reduced Haiti’s debt to the World Bank by USD 3.65 million. Furthermore Switzerland has contributed CHF 1 million towards cancellation of Haiti’s debt with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a UN Specialised Agency. Finally the Confederation will help to replenish the concessional window of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which in turn will cancel the debts of Haiti and other countries.
Background information Haiti
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| Source: World Bank's World Development Indicators 2011 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Background information provided by the BBC
Local SDC contact address:
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Haiti (Port-au-Prince) |
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Ambassade de Suisse |
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| Phone | +509 3701 58 31 |
| Fax | +41 31 322 18 47 |
| portauprince@sdc.net | |
| Website | www.cooperation-suisse.admin.ch/haiti |
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Additional Information and Documents Here, you will find more publications, links, documents and articles about Swiss development cooperation and humanitarian aid in this country. |