Carib Scope

标签： Haiti

海地

  • Politic : Launch of the portfolio review for externally funded programs and projects (2025–2026 / MPCE)

    Politic : Launch of the portfolio review for externally funded programs and projects (2025–2026 / MPCE)

    In a landmark step toward more effective development governance, Haiti’s Ministry of Planning and External Cooperation (MPCE) officially kicked off a national portfolio review of all active externally financed development programs and projects for the 2025–2026 fiscal year on September 18, 2026. The launch event brought together senior Haitian government officials, United Nations representatives, international donor bodies, and development partner stakeholders to lay out core priorities for the multi-week review process.

    Opening the proceedings, Planning Minister Sandra Paulemon framed the review as far more than a routine administrative exercise: she positioned it as a critical space for cross-stakeholder dialogue, institutional accountability, and evidence-based policy decision-making. Paulemon anchored the review’s approach in three non-negotiable core priorities: national ownership of development agendas, efficient resource utilization focused on tangible outcomes, and mutual accountability between Haitian institutions and international partners.

    In a pointed rebuke to historical models of external-led development in Haiti, Paulemon emphasized that the country must take the driver’s seat in shaping its own growth trajectory. “Haiti cannot simply be a site for the execution of a multitude of projects,” she told attendees. “Haiti must be the lead actor in defining, directing, and monitoring and evaluating the interventions that contribute to its development.” The minister also called for far stronger coordination of donor activities across sectors and regions, urging partners to eliminate duplicate programming, leverage complementary strengths, and channel all available resources toward Haiti’s most pressing development priorities. She additionally welcomed the relaunch of the country’s External Aid Management Module, a digital tool designed to streamline aid tracking and coordination.

    Fritz Gérald Louis, representing Haiti’s Minister of Economy and Finance, echoed these remarks, stressing that strategic resource management is foundational to unlocking meaningful, sustainable development across the country. He added that closer alignment between national development planning, external resource mobilization, national budget programming, and on-the-ground project execution is essential to improve outcomes for Haitian communities.

    MPCE Director General Guy Roméro Latry expanded on the practical purpose of the review, noting that the process serves as a core monitoring and coordination mechanism for all externally backed initiatives. Latry emphasized that national institutions and international partners must align on a shared understanding of project progress, delivered results, and on-the-ground implementation barriers to move forward effectively.

    Yvrose Guerrier, Director of the MPCE’s External Cooperation Directorate, delivered a detailed breakdown of the current donor portfolio during her presentation on the review process. As of the review launch, the total value of all active externally funded projects amounts to 364.75 billion Haitian Gourdes, with just 38.74% (141.29 billion Gourdes) disbursed to date. This leaves an outstanding 223.46 billion Gourdes yet to be allocated to implementing activities. The portfolio includes 118 separate financing lines that support 112 distinct development projects across the country. Guerrier explained that the review will systematically assess the technical and financial performance of each project, identify persistent implementation bottlenecks, and evaluate how well each initiative aligns with Haiti’s official national development priorities.

    United Nations Resident Coordinator Nicole Boni Kouassi reaffirmed the UN’s support for the review process, underlining the urgent need for coordinated development intervention across Haiti. She noted that the review creates a critical shared platform for Haitian government authorities, technical and financial partners, and implementing agencies to collectively assess progress and address shared challenges.

    Annalisa Lombardo, President of the Inter-Organization Liaison Framework (CLIO), also reaffirmed her organization’s long-term commitment to strengthening constructive dialogue between Haitian national institutions and international development partners.

    Luca Trinchieri, Head of Cooperation with Haiti for the European Union, delivered remarks via pre-recorded videoconference, reiterating the EU’s ongoing commitment to deepening and improving its development partnership with Haiti.

    When the review process concludes, the MPCE aims to produce a clear, data-driven snapshot of implementation status across all externally funded projects, and collaborate with all relevant national institutions and partners to develop concrete, actionable solutions to address the implementation constraints uncovered during the assessment.

  • Significant distribution of equipment to fishermen in Grand’Anse, Haiti

    Significant distribution of equipment to fishermen in Grand’Anse, Haiti

    In a targeted move to strengthen Haiti’s coastal fishing communities and boost regional food security, Haiti’s Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development (MARNDR) has distributed thousands of dollars worth of new fishing equipment and critical supplies to 45 local fishing associations across the Grand’Anse department. The distribution, carried out through MARNDR’s Program to Support Agricultural and Fisheries Productivity and Improve Rural Infrastructure for Market Access (PAPAIR), forms part of a broader co-financed development project covering Haiti’s southern and Grand’Anse regions, with core funding provided by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

    Agronomist Marcelin Aubourg, Haiti’s Minister of Agriculture, attended the distribution event in person, taking time to hold one-on-one conversations with beneficiary fishermen to collect on-the-ground feedback about their needs, challenges, and experiences with the program. Association representatives wasted no time in expressing their deep gratitude for the targeted technical and organizational support provided by MARNDR, noting that the intervention fills a long-unmet need for the Grand’Anse fishing sector, which has long grappled with outdated, insufficient equipment that limited productivity.

    Early reports from participating fishermen already show tangible positive impacts from the donation. Beneficiaries explained that the upgraded equipment has already boosted their daily catch volumes, allowing their associations to generate consistent new income streams. This revenue is not only covering basic household needs and children’s school fees for member families but is also enabling contributions to community-focused social projects that benefit the broader region.

    Minister Aubourg commended the beneficiary associations for their active engagement and commitment throughout the project rollout, emphasizing that the long-term success of the initiative depends just as much on local participation as it does on external funding and equipment. He urged participating fishermen to maintain their current momentum, and highlighted the importance of proper maintenance and care for the new equipment to ensure its long-term functionality. This responsible stewardship, he noted, will allow the assets to benefit future generations of fishermen through the association’s shared community model.

    The full list of distributed equipment reflects a holistic approach to supporting the sector, addressing productivity, storage, safety, and maintenance needs all at once. The donation included 16 fiberglass fishing boats, 50 15-horsepower outboard motors, eight 13-foot solar-powered freezers for catch storage, 50 complete engine maintenance kits, 100 assembled fishing tackle kits, five Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) to boost catch volumes, and 165 75-liter insulated coolers for transporting catch to market. To address longstanding safety concerns for fishermen working off Haiti’s coast, the donation also included a full set of personal safety equipment, including life jackets, designed to improve working conditions and reduce risk at sea.

  • FLASH : Joseph Félix Badio and 17 Colombians imprisoned in Haiti extradited to the USA

    FLASH : Joseph Félix Badio and 17 Colombians imprisoned in Haiti extradited to the USA

    Five years after the 2021 assassination of former Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, a landmark development in the long-stalled legal process has unfolded: 18 key suspects, including one of the alleged plot’s top masterminds and 17 former Colombian mercenaries, have been extradited from Haiti to the United States to face prosecution.

    Moïse was killed in a commando-style raid on his private Port-au-Prince residence in the early hours of July 7, 2021, an attack that sent shockwaves through Haiti and left the country facing a years-long political and security crisis. While U.S. law enforcement has made consistent progress in investigating the plot, securing arrests, and securing convictions against co-conspirators, Haitian judicial proceedings have faced crippling delays and institutional hurdles. Half a decade after the assassination, not a single suspect had gone to trial in Haitian courts, leaving demands for accountability unmet.

    To break this impasse and advance the pursuit of justice, the Haitian government authorized the extradition of the 18 suspects at the formal request of U.S. judicial authorities, acting under bilateral judicial cooperation agreements between the two nations. Among those transferred is Joseph Félix Badio, a former high-ranking official with Haiti’s Anti-Corruption Unit, who investigators have long identified as one of the central operational architects of the assassination plot on Haitian soil. The other 17 individuals are former Colombian soldiers who allegedly made up the on-the-ground commando team that carried out the assault on Moïse’s residence.

    All 18 suspects had been held in Haitian custody since shortly after the 2021 attack. On the morning of Sunday, September 20, 2026, they were loaded onto a U.S. military plane at Port-au-Prince International Airport – all clad in blue jumpsuits, per U.S. official accounts – and flown to the United States. The plane landed shortly before 11 a.m. local time, marking the completion of the long-planned transfer.

    Jason A. Reding Quiñones, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, confirmed the extradition in an official post on his social media account. The 18 suspects will be tried at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, where investigators have already established that much of the plot was planned and funded. To date, 30 people have been formally charged in connection with the assassination in U.S. courts, and several co-conspirators have already been convicted.

    “Today marks the beginning of a crucial new phase in our pursuit of justice for the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse,” Reding Quiñones said in a statement. “Our work does not end with the men who planned and executed this assassination. We will follow the evidence wherever it leads us, to those who financed, facilitated, supported, or committed crimes to make it possible. Five years later, we continue to bring defendants to trial in U.S. courts, and we are not finished.”

    The extradition comes just one week before the scheduled September 28, 2026, trial of Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a Florida-based suspect accused of being one of the assassination’s chief financial backers and a figure who sought to replace Moïse as president following the attack. In line with the legal principle of double jeopardy, which bars retrial for the same offense, Haitian judicial authorities have officially terminated all local legal proceedings against the 18 extradited suspects, who are now fully under U.S. judicial jurisdiction.

    The full list of extradited suspects is as follows: Joseph Félix Badio; Carlos Giovanni Guerrero Torres; Victor Alberio Pineda Cardona; Juan Carlos Yepes Clavijo; Naiser Franco Castaneda; Angel Mario Yarce Sierra; Jheyner Alberto Carmona Flores; Edwin Enrique Blanquicet Rodriguez; Manuel Antonio Grosso Guarin; Jhon Jairo Ramirez Gomez; Francisco Eladio Uribe Ochoa; Alejandro Giraldo Zapata; Neil Caceres Duran; Jhon Jader Andela; Enalber Vargas Gomez; Jhon Jairo Suarez Alegria; Gersain Mendivelso Jaimes; and Alex Miyer Pena.

    Haitian officials emphasized that the extradition agreement preserves the country’s legal prerogatives and interests. Under the terms of the bilateral mutual legal assistance pact, any new evidence uncovered during the U.S. proceedings will be shared with Haitian investigators to support ongoing local investigations into other unindicted co-conspirators. In a statement, the Haitian government said the decision reflects its enduring commitment to leveraging every available avenue of international cooperation to ensure accountability, delivering justice for Moïse, his family, and the Haitian people who have waited five years for closure.

  • Social : The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor intends to strengthen social protection

    Social : The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor intends to strengthen social protection

    Haiti’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MAST) is moving forward with an ambitious plan to consolidate and expand national social protection systems, as senior officials met this week with key international partners to map out the transition of the Adaptive Social Protection for Increased Resilience program, widely known as Klere Chimen, to full government leadership. MAST Minister Marc-Elie Nelson led the discussions, with representatives from the World Food Programme (WFP), World Bank, and Swiss Cooperation in attendance, alongside MAST’s own technical team from the Program Studies Unit. The gathering comes at a critical juncture for the partnership, as stakeholders work to shift direct implementation responsibility from international bodies to the Haitian government.

    Core topics on the meeting agenda included consolidating existing program gains, outlining a phased handover of responsibilities to MAST, strengthening national institutional capacities, and laying the groundwork to expand Klere Chimen coverage to all 10 of Haiti’s administrative departments. Minister Nelson opened the discussion by praising the sustained commitment of the three international partners, highlighting the complementary nature of their financial and technical support. Specifically, he noted that Swiss Cooperation’s contribution augments World Bank financing for the PSARA initiative, creating a collaborative model that demonstrates the value of national leadership in international development partnerships.

    Nelson emphasized that the impact of Klere Chimen extends far beyond the success of a single targeted project. Instead, he framed the program as a foundational lever to strengthen Haiti’s entire national social protection system, with priority areas including institutional capacity building, upgrading MAST’s internal information system (SIMAST), improving beneficiary payment mechanisms, streamlining beneficiary management, and better coordinating cross-sector social protection interventions. While the minister expressed enthusiasm for the transition to national implementation, he stressed that the handover process must be gradual, well-structured, and risk-mitigated. “Transferring responsibilities without transferring capacities undermines the sustainability of public action,” Nelson noted, arguing that capacity building must go hand-in-hand with the devolution of program ownership.

    To date, the Klere Chimen program has already yielded actionable operational infrastructure in key areas including cash transfer distribution, beneficiary targeting, payment processing, case management, grievance resolution, and program monitoring and evaluation. These existing systems create a solid foundation for program expansion, but the minister stressed that the transition must not disrupt support for vulnerable households. To guarantee continuous service delivery and benefit access, MAST has called for the development of a joint coordinated roadmap that clearly outlines transferred responsibilities, capacity building priorities, technical assistance requirements, implementation timelines, and accountability and monitoring frameworks.

    Beyond the Klere Chimen transition, meeting participants also agreed on the need to move away from a model of disconnected, standalone projects toward a unified, coherent, and sustainable national social protection ecosystem. Minister Nelson noted that Haiti’s existing National Policy for Social Protection and Promotion (PNPPS) is the appropriate strategic framework to align and harmonize disparate interventions across the sector. He proposed that the ongoing drafting of national policy implementation plans draw directly from the Klere Chimen experience and its successful model of complementary partnership between the Haitian government, World Bank, Swiss Cooperation, and WFP. “Partner funding must gradually contribute to a unified national architecture,” Nelson stated, explaining that this approach will prevent the growth of uncoordinated parallel systems and ensure that international investment directly strengthens Haitian public institutions for long-term sustainability.

    A central role in this unified architecture is earmarked for SIMAST, the MAST information system. The Haitian government is advancing legislation to designate SIMAST as the single official social registry for the entire Haitian state, with a draft decree currently in development. A separate proposed order to establish the DTSI-MAST (Directorate of Information Systems and Statistics at MAST) will also strengthen the technical and institutional foundation of the ministry’s information systems. Additionally, plans to adopt innovative alternative data collection methods are expected to rapidly expand SIMAST coverage, even in hard-to-reach rural areas and during emergency response scenarios.

    Following the conclusion of the meeting, Minister Nelson reaffirmed his commitment to maintaining open dialogue with the three international partners around a shared five-pillar agenda: expanding Klere Chimen national coverage, formalizing the institutional role of SIMAST, harmonizing beneficiary targeting practices, scaling up adaptive social protection programs, and strengthening national coordination mechanisms. “Every investment made today must contribute to making the national social protection system stronger tomorrow,” Nelson concluded.

  • Gonaïves : La Providence Hospital becomes a university hospital

    Gonaïves : La Providence Hospital becomes a university hospital

    In a major step to address Haiti’s growing shortage of postgraduate medical training positions, Haiti’s Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP) has formally granted university hospital status to La Providence Hospital in Gonaïves, the largest healthcare facility in the country’s Artibonite department. The official designation, outlined in a circular issued September 17, 2026 by MSPP Minister Dr. Bertrand Sinal, clears the way for the newly renamed La Providence University Hospital of Gonaïves to host physicians in hospital residency training programs.

    The decision to expand university hospital designation to La Providence comes as Haiti faces a critical mismatch between the number of medical graduates seeking postgraduate residency spots and the limited capacity of existing university hospitals. In justifying the change, Minister Sinal highlighted that annual applications for residency positions far outstrip available slots, creating a barrier to equitable access for medical specialization regardless of a candidate’s academic background. The MSPP also noted that the closure and underperformance of several Haitian university hospitals in recent years has reduced residency capacity, threatening the continuity of essential medical specialties across the country’s national health system.

    In the official circular, Dr. Sinal grounded the decision in Haiti’s constitutional guarantees of the right to health, existing legal frameworks for medical education established as early as 1981, and the MSPP’s statutory mandate to regulate the national health system and set standards for medical training. After a comprehensive evaluation, the MSPP confirmed that La Providence Hospital meets all the clinical, academic, and technical standards required to deliver university-level medical training, thanks to its high-quality infrastructure, experienced medical staff, and proven capacity to serve a large patient population.

    Under the terms of the circular, the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy (FMP) of the State University of Haiti (UEH) will retain responsibility for academic governance of the residency programs hosted at the new university hospital, including the organization of curricula, pedagogical oversight, and evaluation of resident physicians. The number of residency slots and the range of medical specialties offered at La Providence will be determined jointly by the MSPP, hospital administration, and the FMP.

    Notably, this designation is the first step in a broader government plan to expand medical training capacity across Haiti. Article 3 of the circular confirms that the MSPP and FMP will continue progressively converting capable departmental and other hospitals into training or university hospitals, governed jointly by the two institutions. This long-term initiative aims to diversify the national supply of postgraduate medical training opportunities and ensure equitable access for all Haitian medical graduates, whether they earned their degrees from public, private, or foreign universities.

  • Economy : New report on diaspora remittances

    Economy : New report on diaspora remittances

    A new 2026 analysis from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has underscored the outsized and growing role of diaspora remittances as a foundational economic pillar for low- and middle-income nations around the world, with small, crisis-battered Haiti emerging as one of the most dependent economies in the Latin American and Caribbean region.

    Released publicly on September 14, the report, titled *Sending Money Home 2026. Beyond remittances : From lifeline to resilience – one family at a time*, documents that total global remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries hit $728.6 billion in 2025. This figure is more than four times the total volume of official development assistance disbursed to these economies in the same year, and it also outpaces total foreign direct investment inflows to the group.

    Over the 10-year period from 2016 to 2025, the report finds remittances have established themselves as one of the most stable and largest sources of household-level funding across the globe. Unlike more volatile capital flows that can dry up during economic downturns or global crises, remittances have consistently enabled family units to cover basic needs, build long-term adaptive resilience to shocks, and make strategic investments that improve future outcomes. Across the decade, total remittance volumes grew by 94% – a rate that outpaces both population growth and the expansion of emigration out of low- and middle-income countries.

    Currently, the data shows 220 million migrants and diaspora members send financial support back to 1.1 billion family members in their countries of origin, meaning remittance income reaches roughly one out of every six people globally. Nearly one-third of all remittance funds, equal to approximately $233 billion, flow to rural areas, where access to formal jobs, mainstream financial services, and core public infrastructure is often severely constrained. For many rural households, these cross-border transfers are not just supplemental income – they are a lifeline that enables basic survival.

    Latin America and the Caribbean recorded the fastest regional remittance growth of any region over the past decade, with total inflows surging 132% to reach $168.6 billion in 2025. Within that regional trend, Haiti’s remittance profile stands out for its extraordinary dependence on these cross-border transfers. In 2025 alone, Haiti received $4.111 billion in total remittances, marking an 85% growth in flows over the 2016–2025 decade.

    As a share of Haiti’s total gross domestic product, remittances make up 17% of the country’s entire annual economic output. Even more strikingly, remittance volumes equal 822% of Haiti’s total exports of goods and services, placing Haiti among the top five most remittance-dependent economies in Latin America and the Caribbean, alongside Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala.

    In terms of transfer costs, the report notes the average fee for sending $200 to Haiti through non-bank service providers was 5.4% in 2025, a figure that remains above global targets to reduce remittance costs but is lower than historic averages for the country. Consistent with broader regional trends, remittances in Haiti function as a critical lifeline for households navigating persistent challenges, including widespread economic instability, chronic insecurity, recurring natural disasters, and the growing impacts of climate change.

    The full 61-page English version of the IFAD report is available for public download via the HaitiLibre news portal.

  • SEMANAH : Inspection Tour in the North and Northeast

    SEMANAH : Inspection Tour in the North and Northeast

    In mid-September 2026, Patrick Norzéus, Director General of Haiti’s Maritime and Navigation Service (SEMANAH), launched a multi-day working inspection tour across Haiti’s northern and northeastern departments, with three core goals: boosting the regulatory body’s operational capacity, strengthening partnerships with local government and industry stakeholders, and upgrading service delivery and performance across all maritime sectors under SEMANAH’s oversight.

    The tour’s most urgent public safety initiative unfolded in Fort-Liberté, a coastal city in the Northeast that has earned international designation as a “Tsunami Ready” community. Working alongside local civil authorities, SEMANAH completed the reinstallation of 41 tsunami warning signs across high-risk coastal zones. Beyond physical installation, the project is designed to educate local residents on what each marker indicates, how to protect the infrastructure from damage, and what life-saving steps to take when a tsunami alert is issued—most critically, fast evacuation from low-lying hazard zones to pre-designated safe assembly points.

    Norzéus stressed the foundational role of maritime resources in Haiti’s emerging green economy and their broader contribution to national GDP. He noted that the country’s major port infrastructure remains a backbone of national economic activity, even amid the persistent security and development challenges that have hampered progress in Haiti’s far northern regions. He also highlighted ongoing port expansion and new construction projects currently under evaluation by domestic and international economic investors, signaling growing momentum for regional maritime development.

    Reinforcing the importance of the new warning signage, Norzéus urged local residents to care for the installed markers, reminding the public that the signs clearly mark evacuation routes and are a critical line of defense to save lives when a natural disaster strikes. Joanis Fleury, Departmental Director of Civil Protection for the Northeast, committed to ongoing public outreach campaigns to reinforce this knowledge, ensuring residents understand the purpose of the signs, how to interpret them, and the correct actions to evacuate safely if an earthquake or tsunami is triggered.

    To put this preparedness into practice, SEMANAH partnered with Haiti’s Civil Protection Directorate, GeoHazards International, and Fort-Liberté municipal authorities to host a full tsunami warning evacuation drill along one of the newly signed routes. The simulation gave local residents hands-on practice navigating the signage network and following marked routes to safe assembly points, with the goal of cutting evacuation response times and building confidence among the population ahead of any real emergency.

    Moving into Haiti’s North Department, Norzéus next inspected facilities at the port managed by the National Port Authority (APN). During the visit, he prioritized addressing a long-standing navigational hazard: a shipwreck that has created major difficulties for coastal vessels attempting to dock at the facility. Norzéus pledged to coordinate with relevant agencies to develop a viable solution to remove the wreck and restore safe docking operations. He also announced plans to expand support for the Haitian Coast Guard, to strengthen and expand their operational presence across northern maritime waters.

    Norzéus’ tour continued with stops at the Caracol coastal shipping zone and multiple port sites earmarked for new construction by private investors, allowing him to assess on-the-ground conditions for upcoming development projects. At the Labadee coastal shipping port—home to a local fleet of roughly 80 commercial vessels—he held working meetings with SEMANAH’s local representative and the leadership of the regional Seamen’s Union. The talks centered on pressing challenges facing maritime workers in the area, reviewing existing emergency response protocols, and mapping out opportunities for closer collaboration between SEMANAH and local maritime industry stakeholders.

    During the meeting, the Seamen’s Union president submitted a formal request for the distribution of life jackets to vessel captains and crew members. In response, Norzéus clarified that the direct provision of life jackets does not fall within SEMANAH’s official mandate. Even so, he reaffirmed the institution’s unwavering commitment to advancing maritime safety and protecting the lives and property of everyone working in Haiti’s maritime sector. To that end, he announced SEMANAH would facilitate new partnerships with relevant stakeholders to address the need for standardized safety equipment, and pledged to provide an initial batch of life jackets to local sailors in the immediate term.

  • FLASH : Towards a critical situation of child malnutrition in Haiti, between December 2026 and May 2027

    FLASH : Towards a critical situation of child malnutrition in Haiti, between December 2026 and May 2027

    A new joint analysis led by Haiti’s Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP) and supported by top United Nations agencies and global nutrition partners has painted a grim projection of an impending child malnutrition crisis that could push thousands of vulnerable Haitian children to the brink of death by mid-2027. Published on September 17, 2026, the assessment forecasts that between June 2026 and May 2027, at least 253,725 Haitian children between the ages of 6 and 59 months will develop acute malnutrition. Of that total, nearly 94,000 cases will be classified as severe acute malnutrition — a life-threatening condition without urgent, targeted intervention. An additional 159,852 children will suffer from moderate acute malnutrition, and 25,750 pregnant and breastfeeding women will require life-sustaining nutritional support over the same period, according to the report.

    The ongoing wave of armed violence plaguing the country has been identified as a key driver set to exacerbate already fragile food and nutrition access. The analysis mapped out priority regions facing the most urgent need, noting that projected spikes in malnutrition cases will push up demand for nutritional and medical care across dozens of communities. This increased demand will place even more overwhelming strain on already overstretched public health and social services that many Haitian families already struggle to access due to insecurity and infrastructure collapse.

    By the period between December 2026 and May 2027, the projection shows that 29 of Haiti’s 140 communes will reach IPC Acute Malnutrition Phase 3, a classification indicating severe levels of food insecurity and malnutrition. Two of the country’s most populous and violence-wracked areas, Cité Soleil and Cabaret, are on track to hit Phase 4 — the second-highest alert level on the IPC scale, defined as a critical malnutrition emergency marked by extremely high rates of acute malnutrition and sharply elevated risks of preventable illness and death among affected children.

    International agency leaders have stressed that the crisis is not irreversible, but only if immediate coordinated action is taken. “The rapidly deteriorating situation is a stark reminder that investing in malnutrition prevention is not an expense, but a strategic investment in Haiti’s future,” said Lauren Landis, WFP Representative and Country Director for Haiti, echoing the consensus among global partners.

    Three major UN agencies — UNICEF, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the World Food Programme (WFP) — have jointly issued an urgent call to action for the Haitian government, international donors, civil society groups, and all relevant stakeholders to intervene immediately to scale up care and prevent a catastrophic loss of life. The agencies have outlined three core priorities for the response:
    First, partners must strengthen prevention and treatment services, prioritizing hard-hit communes through expanded community-based malnutrition screening, rapid access to treatment, widespread distribution of life-saving therapeutic foods, and targeted nutritional support for pregnant and breastfeeding women. Second, interventions must integrate maternal and child nutrition support with broader access to basic services, including safe drinking water, sanitation, general healthcare, and measures to protect local agricultural production and household livelihoods to improve long-term access to nutritious diets. Third, stakeholders must guarantee unimpeded safe access for humanitarian workers to at-risk regions and provide immediate flexible funding to allow the government and partner organizations to pre-position critical supplies, scale up operations to meet growing need, and sustain the response through the peak crisis period.

    “Preventing acute malnutrition requires addressing not only its immediate consequences but also its root causes,” explained Pierre Vauthier, FAO Representative in Haiti. “Families must have access to and be able to produce a diverse and nutritious diet. By protecting agricultural livelihoods and strengthening local food production, we can help vulnerable households meet their nutritional needs, better withstand future crises, and reduce their dependence on humanitarian aid.”

    As Haiti grapples with persistent political instability, widespread armed conflict, and a collapsing economy, the projection serves as a urgent wake-up call for the international community to step up support before the projected crisis becomes a full-scale humanitarian catastrophe.

  • Suspicious Fuel – MCI Conducts Inspection Operations at Several Gas Stations

    Suspicious Fuel – MCI Conducts Inspection Operations at Several Gas Stations

    In a proactive move to safeguard consumer interests amid growing concerns over fuel quality, Haiti’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MCI) launched targeted inspection operations at multiple gas stations across the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area on September 18, 2026.

    Led by MCI Minister James Monazard and executed through the ministry’s Directorate of Quality Control and Consumer Protection (DCQPC), the operation deployed a team of 10 trained inspectors to carry out on-site assessments. The initiative was directly triggered by a surge in consumer complaints regarding potentially non-compliant fuel sold at local retail stations, aligning with the MCI’s broader mandate to tighten market oversight and protect public trust in distributed petroleum products.

    During the inspections, the team followed a rigorous multi-step protocol to ensure accurate and verifiable results. Inspectors first documented detailed traceability information for every sample collected from fuel pumps to maintain chain of custody. Before sending samples off-site for comprehensive laboratory testing, inspectors conducted preliminary on-site visual and olfactory examinations to flag immediate irregularities.

    Once full laboratory analysis is completed, the MCI will use the resulting technical data to assess whether fuel at the inspected stations meets national quality standards. If adulteration or non-compliance is confirmed, the ministry has stated it will implement proportionate, appropriate enforcement actions to address violations and prevent further harm to consumers.

    Beyond this targeted inspection blitz, the MCI used the operation to reaffirm its long-term commitment to strengthening market control mechanisms, enforcing national product standards, and elevating the level of protection available to Haitian energy consumers. To streamline public engagement, the ministry has also launched a dedicated digital complaint channel for motorists who believe they have experienced vehicle damage or other issues after purchasing low-quality or adulterated fuel.

    Motorists submitting complaints through the official MCI portal (https://mci.gouv.ht/doleances.php) are guided to provide key details including the name and location of the gas station in question, the date of their fuel purchase, and specific issues their vehicle has experienced following refueling. The platform also allows users to upload supporting documents such as purchase receipts to strengthen their claims, enabling the MCI to follow up on reports more efficiently.

  • Launch of the National Community Reforestation Strategy in Haiti

    Launch of the National Community Reforestation Strategy in Haiti

    On September 17, 2026, Haiti’s Ministry of Environment, led by Minister Valéry Fils-Aimé and implemented through the country’s Directorate of Forests and Renewable Energy (DFER), officially inaugurated the National Community Reforestation Strategy – a landmark national initiative designed to reverse decades of landscape degradation while tying ecological restoration to inclusive local economic development. The launch ceremony brought together multiple cabinet ministers, senior representatives from public agencies, private sector stakeholders, environmental nonprofits, and international development partners, with Haiti’s Minister of Agriculture Marcelin Aubourg addressing attendees remotely via pre-recorded video. At the core of the new strategy is a paradigm shift: moving beyond short-term, cost-centered environmental action to build a long-term, productive “restoration economy” that directly benefits marginalized groups including young people, women, and rural smallholder producers. Minister Fils-Aimé emphasized this shift in opening remarks, noting that natural resource protection should not be treated as a purely charitable expenditure, but as an investment that generates shared, sustainable economic opportunity for the local communities that steward these resources. In addition to outlining the strategy’s core vision, Minister Fils-Aimé also announced an upcoming collaborative initiative with the Ministry of Interior to develop a network of new communal forests across underutilized state-owned land. Speaking from his remote address, Minister Aubourg stressed that successful reforestation cannot be reduced to a one-off tree-planting exercise. Instead, he argued, it requires a holistic territorial approach that integrates watershed management, soil regeneration, expanded vegetation cover, and the scaling of climate-smart agroforestry practices. This approach, he added, depends on far stronger coordination between national public institutions, local municipal governments, rural communities, and development partners to avoid fragmented, ineffective interventions. Aubourg also highlighted the critical need to center smallholder farmers in decision-making, including their input on selecting which landscapes to prioritize and which tree and crop species to plant, to align projects with local ecological conditions, agricultural needs, and economic goals. DFER Director Agr. Eder Audate followed with a detailed presentation of the strategy’s full framework, laying out its overarching vision, core objectives, strategic priority areas, expected outcomes, and on-the-ground implementation mechanisms. Audate outlined the guiding principles that will shape the strategy’s rollout: local community ownership and governance, selection of ecologically appropriate native and useful species, integration of agroforestry to support local livelihoods, delivery of direct economic benefits to participating communities, and ongoing rigorous monitoring and evaluation of all interventions. The strategy sets out bold, measurable targets to be achieved by 2031: restore more than 50,000 hectares of severely degraded landscapes across Haiti, establish or strengthen 100 community-run tree nurseries distributed across all 10 of the country’s departments, directly engage more than 50,000 rural households in implementation, and create or support more than 10,000 full-time green jobs. Beyond landscape and economic goals, the strategy also includes provisions to strengthen long-term monitoring of all restored areas. This monitoring work will improve outcome tracking, increase transparency around intervention activities, and document the strategy’s contributions to Haiti’s national climate change and environmental protection commitments made under international agreements. Joseph Emmanuel Philippe, Coordinator of the Technical Secretariat of the General Directorate of the Ministry of Environment, closed the ceremony by issuing a call to action, urging technical and financial partners, environmental organizations, private sector businesses, academic and scientific institutions, and all relevant stakeholders to join in supporting the strategy’s national rollout. The initiative already receives core support from three major international development actors: the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and Heifer International. For Haiti’s Ministry of Environment, the strategy represents a unified effort to align public, community-led, and partner interventions around a shared national ambition: restore degraded ecosystems, strengthen the climate and economic resilience of rural communities, and position large-scale ecological restoration as a sustained driver of inclusive economic opportunity across the country.