Fighting Food Insecurity in Port-au-Prince

Description

Haiti has one of the highest levels of chronic food insecurity in the world, with more than half of its population affected and 22% of children suffering from chronic malnutrition.

One of the most urgent challenges facing many disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Port-au-Prince is child malnutrition, a consequence of chronic undernourishment that was further aggravated by Hurricane Matthew in 2016. APROSIFA (Association pour la promotion de la santé intégrale de la famille) established a nutritional recovery centre for malnourished children and their mothers in the Carrefour-Feuilles neighbourhood of Port-au-Prince. In addition to nutritional rehabilitation services, the centre offers workshops on child nutrition, urban agriculture and art therapy. Its objective is to improve the quality of life in the neighbourhood by fostering a sense of community and support among mothers, most of whom are between 15 and 25 years old.

Despite the efforts of the APROSIFA team, hundreds of children continue to require urgent nutritional care. One of the greatest challenges facing the program has been the political context, as administrative delays and the impacts of Hurricane Matthew have hindered the establishment of a solid foundation capable of ensuring the program’s long-term sustainability and impact within the community. Alternatives and APROSIFA are now in the second phase of the project, during which the expansion of nutritional care and urban agriculture projects is accompanied by efforts to secure partnerships with the Haitian government to guarantee the long-term sustainability of the program’s outcomes.

Year(s)

2018–2020

Region(s)

Latin America and Caribbean

Lieu(x)

Haiti

Related Challenge(s)

Women and feminism

Objectives

The project was launched in 2015 with the primary goal of combating child malnutrition in the Carrefour-Feuilles neighbourhood of Port-au-Prince. It uses a holistic approach that encourages the participation of mothers, their children, and other key stakeholders in addressing child malnutrition. During the first phase of the program, the project reached 500 malnourished children and 350 mothers, indirectly benefiting approximately 10,000 families in Port-au-Prince through community-based intervention and participation efforts. It also launched an urban agriculture project aimed at improving the quality of life of families in the neighbourhood.

The project is now in its second phase, which seeks to expand intervention efforts to 700 malnourished children and an additional 200 women. This phase also aims to strengthen the urban agriculture education initiatives that were introduced during the first phase. In addition to building on previous initiatives, the second phase seeks to consolidate a partnership with Haitian Minister of Public Health in order to make the APROSIFA clinic more sustainable through the integration of permanent doctors into the clinic.

Partners

The “Association pour la Promotion de la Santé Intégrale de la Famille (APROSIFA) is a Haitian organization founded in 1993 that works in the field of maternal and child health. Its work focuses on maternal and child care by developing community-based programs that build strong relationships with traditional local structures. Since 2010, APROSIFA has addressed food insecurity among women and children in Haiti by developing art therapy workshops, urban agriculture projects, and rehabilitation programs for women affected by violence.

Activities

The program implements a series of income-generating activities for mothers who acquire skills and knowledge to develop sustainable livelihoods. Workshops include hands-on urban agriculture activities in the centre’s model garden, guidance on meeting daily nutritional needs, and support in identifying alternative sources of income, such as marketing urban agricultural products or creating products from recycled materials. For these young mothers, acquiring new skills and knowledge has led to positive outcomes, enabling them to provide adequate food for their families without reducing their own consumption.