On May 14, 2026, local and international stakeholders gathered for the official launch of the EFOSE project, an ambitious seven-year initiative designed to boost food security, local economic growth and improved nutrition across Haiti’s hard-hit Southeast Department. The program, formally named the Project to Improve Food Security through Sustainable Agriculture, Local Economic Development, and Healthy Diets, is backed by a $23.6 million grant from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), with the funding agreement originally signed between the Haitian government and IFAD in March 2025. The project will run through 2032, targeting 16 communal sections across five municipalities of the Southeast Department, covering more than 1,500 square kilometers and reaching a total of 24,664 vulnerable households. Currently, 45% of the population in the region lives with chronic food insecurity, a crisis exacerbated by recurring climate disasters and economic volatility that have destabilized local livelihoods for years. At its core, EFOSE seeks to lift communities out of poverty while addressing systemic food and nutrition gaps by expanding and diversifying local production of nutrient-dense foods, with a deliberate focus on building long-term resilience to both climate and economic shocks. The initiative is structured into three core components, each designed to address different layers of the food security crisis. The first component focuses on strengthening territorial resilience, local governance, environmental stewardship and critical infrastructure. It works toward two key outcomes: expanding household participation and decision-making power in local development processes, and improving access to reliable drinking water and agricultural irrigation while enhancing local climate resilience. The second component ties production improvements directly to nutrition and economic opportunity, split into two interconnected sub-components. Sub-component 2.1 invests in on-the-ground production support and nutrition education, encouraging smallholder producers to adopt climate-resilient farming techniques and improved nutrition-focused practices to boost output. Sub-component 2.2, by contrast, invests in value chain infrastructure and support services for participating production systems, with the goal of creating new local employment opportunities, expanding consistent food access, and increasing the diversity of nutritious foods available to regional communities. A third, standalone emergency and disaster response component adds critical flexibility to the project, designed to be activated rapidly in the event of a major crisis that threatens the lives and livelihoods of targeted communities. Eligible crises that can trigger this component include large-scale destructive natural events such as hurricanes or major earthquakes, widespread crop or livestock pest and disease outbreaks that threaten livelihoods, acute public health or food insecurity crises requiring immediate intervention, and large-scale civil unrest that destroys productive infrastructure and community assets. To activate the emergency response, a clear causal link must be established between the event and major negative environmental, economic or social impacts to the target population, ensuring the fund is used to address urgent, crisis-related needs. For Haiti, a country that has long grappled with systemic poverty, repeated climate shocks and persistent food insecurity, the launch of EFOSE marks a major coordinated investment in long-term, community-centered development that addresses both immediate nutritional gaps and the root causes of regional food insecurity.
Donation of US$23.6 million for improving food security through sustainable agriculture in Haiti
