标签： Haiti

In late April 2026, key stakeholders gathered in Les Cayes, Haiti, for the fourth Steering Committee meeting of the Support Program for the Productivity of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Improvement of Rural Infrastructure for Access to Markets (PAPAIR), a flagship rural development initiative launched in January 2022. Held under the official patronage of Haitian Minister of Agriculture Agronomist Marcelin Aubourg and Ministry Director General Agronomist Pierre-Richard René, the two-day event brought together participants both in-person and via videoconference to review program achievements and map out next steps. With PAPAIR’s original mandate set to conclude in the coming months, discussions between Haiti’s Ministry of Agriculture and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) are already underway to explore a potential extension that would allow for the completion of ongoing projects and the long-term consolidation of on-the-ground results. The Steering Committee, which includes representatives from the Program Implementation Unit, IDB, departmental agricultural directorates across Haiti’s South, Grand’Anse, North, and North-East regions, partner institutions, and local farmer and fisher organizations, used the meeting to outline a revised strategic direction for remaining activities in 2026. All decisions reached at the gathering will be formally submitted to IDB for review as part of the official extension request. Opening the meeting, Minister Aubourg emphasized that even amid widespread economic and social challenges across Haiti, PAPAIR has delivered tangible, encouraging outcomes for rural communities. Echoing this assessment, Yannick Saint Paul, IDB’s representative to the meeting, confirmed the bank’s satisfaction with the program’s progress, noting that current results align fully with the institution’s initial expectations. Saint Paul also reaffirmed IDB’s long-standing commitment to supporting Haiti’s efforts to reduce widespread food insecurity and expand sustainable domestic agricultural production, a stance that was widely endorsed by all participating stakeholders. A breakdown of the program’s current achievements reveals widespread impact across four key target departments and 21 municipalities. To date, more than 15,600 of the 21,819 targeted smallholder farmers have directly benefited from program interventions. Program teams have established 336 dedicated agricultural demonstration plots, upgraded or rehabilitated nearly 20 municipal agricultural offices, and constructed new water storage tanks and irrigation infrastructure to reduce producers’ vulnerability to drought and erratic rainfall. In the area of farmer capacity building, 947 participants have already completed training through the program’s field school network, out of a total 3,300 planned trainee slots. For Haiti’s fisheries sector, which falls under the program’s second and fourth components, 65 local fisher associations across the four target departments are already receiving sustained organizational and technical support to improve sustainability and livelihoods. On the institutional development front, the program has completed construction of the new Aquin Communal Agricultural Office, and a 252-square-meter modern administrative building for the Southern Departmental Agricultural Directorate (DDAS) is currently 92% complete. The new facility, which includes upgraded office space, a conference room, and modern amenities, is designed to dramatically improve working conditions for departmental agricultural staff and boost overall administrative efficiency. Under the program’s rural infrastructure component, 24 kilometers of rural access roads have already been rehabilitated across Haiti’s North and North-East departments. These upgrades are expected to cut producer transport costs, reduce costly post-harvest losses, improve smallholders’ access to regional markets, and stimulate local economic activity across rural communities. The program has also provided specialized training to Ministry of Agriculture executives, departmental agricultural staff, and local government officials to strengthen their capacity to monitor infrastructure implementation and conduct long-term maintenance after project completion. By the close of the meeting, attendees approved a series of key resolutions to guide the program’s remaining activities, or any potential extended mandate. Priorities include expanding capacity building support for fisher and farmer associations, increasing the involvement of departmental agricultural directorates and Haiti’s National Seed System in regulating and supporting local seed suppliers, formalizing systems for the Ministry of Agriculture to retain project-trained staff to ensure long-term activity continuity after the program ends, strengthening departmental ownership of intervention planning and monitoring, and rolling out additional targeted skills training to improve the overall quality of program interventions. The event concluded with guided field visits to ongoing project sites in the municipalities of Les Cayes and Torbeck. Attendees had the opportunity to inspect progress firsthand, including the ongoing DDAS building expansion, and hold direct discussions with the engineering teams leading construction and infrastructure works across the region.

In a targeted push to expand and strengthen social safety net services for vulnerable communities, Haiti’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MAST) launched an official working mission across Artibonite Department and northern Haiti starting April 24, 2026. Led by MAST Minister Marc-Elie Nelson, the delegation included top leadership from two of Haiti’s key social assistance bodies: Jhonny Raphaël, Director General of the Social Assistance Fund (CAS), and Kesner Romilus, Director General of the Economic and Social Assistance Fund (FAES). The mission’s first stop was the commune of Saint-Michel de l’Attalay, located in Haiti’s central Artibonite region.

The visit to Saint-Michel de l’Attalay delivered multiple tangible improvements to local social services, kicking off the mission with measurable progress. To address longstanding gaps in public service access, Minister Nelson formally inaugurated a new, purpose-built headquarters for the local CAS directorate. The upgraded facility is designed to cut wait times and improve service delivery for residents seeking social support across the commune. In a move to boost on-the-ground operational capacity, more than 10 newly hired local social services technicians received their official assignment letters during the event, bringing much-needed additional staffing to the under-resourced region. Additionally, local authorities confirmed they would begin outreach to identify nearly 1,000 eligible new beneficiaries, who will receive official CAS membership cards granting them formal, sustained access to the fund’s support programs.

A core priority of the mission’s first stop was addressing the urgent humanitarian needs of people displaced by ongoing insecurity in nearby Marchand-Dessalines. Hundreds of residents have fled escalating violence in Marchand-Dessalines and its surrounding areas, seeking shelter in Saint-Michel de l’Attalay. To meet their immediate food needs, the delegation announced that an off-site community soup kitchen has already been established, which will serve up to 300 hot meals daily to displaced people and other vulnerable local residents. Recognizing that the majority of the 800 displaced people currently residing in on-site accommodation lack regular access to cooked meals, Minister Nelson also confirmed plans to open a second community restaurant directly on the displacement camp site in the near future. To ensure future support is tailored to actual needs, the government has launched a comprehensive, on-the-ground assessment of living conditions among displaced populations, which will inform both emergency relief efforts and longer-term structural support programs.

On the sidelines of the social protection and humanitarian activities, Minister Nelson held a working meeting with leadership from the Saint-Michel de l’Attalay local police department. During the discussion, he publicly recognized and commended the local police force for their consistent commitment to maintaining public safety and protecting vulnerable residents amid widespread regional insecurity.

Following the completion of the first phase of the mission in Saint-Michel de l’Attalay, the delegation will travel to Gonaïves, Haiti’s historic birthplace of independence, for the next leg of their outreach. After wrapping up activities in Gonaïves, the mission will continue north to Cap-Haïtien, where officials will roll out additional social protection expansions and assess community needs across the northern department.

In a landmark step to address Haiti’s growing affordable housing crisis and expand social protection coverage, Haiti’s Minister of Social Affairs and Labor (MAST) Marc-Elie Nelson officially laid the foundation stone for the new regional office of the Public Enterprise for the Promotion of Social Housing (EPPLS) in the northern border city of Ouanaminthe on Saturday, April 26, 2026.

During the well-attended groundbreaking ceremony, Minister Nelson used the occasion to directly address local families, workers, and laborers, reaffirming the Haitian government’s unwavering commitment to supporting vulnerable populations across the Far North region through targeted, people-centered subsidy programs. He confirmed that a total allocation of 7.405 billion gourdes has already been disbursed to boost social protection frameworks and support the country’s most economically disadvantaged groups. As part of this broader effort, Nelson highlighted that the Fund for Economic and Social Support (FAES) has rolled out direct cash assistance, providing 5,000 gourdes in one-time support to every employed worker in Haiti’s key textile export sector.

EPPLS Director General Rony Charles praised the government’s strategic investments in social welfare and called for proactive collaboration from local communities to ensure sustainable, responsible management of the new social housing developments and planned residential villages. To institutionalize this local oversight, a nine-member Supervisory Commission made up of early-career young professional trainees has been established. The commission’s core mandate includes ongoing monitoring of infrastructure upkeep and enforcing public cleanliness standards across all social housing sites, with formal letters of appointment officially presented to the new commission members during Saturday’s ceremony.

In a major policy announcement made at the event, Nelson confirmed plans to construct 1,000 new housing units across the broader northern region of Haiti, a project designed to alleviate the severe housing shortage that has disproportionately impacted low-income households in the area. The entire development will be funded through partnerships with international development organizations, with all units reserved exclusively for low-income families struggling to access safe, affordable housing.

The Ouanaminthe groundbreaking is part of Minister Nelson’s official cross-country outreach tour, which launched in northern Haiti on April 24, 2026. Following the conclusion of his northern visit, Nelson is scheduled to travel to Haiti’s Great South region starting next week, where he will oversee the rollout of direct government assistance to vulnerable households in that part of the country.