TOP EXECUTIVES FROM THE WORLD BANK TRAVEL TO HAITI
(Defend Haiti) -
PORT-AU-PRINCE - Two vice-presidents of the World Bank, Pamela Cox, Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean, and Axel van Trotsenburg, Vice President for Finance and Dealers and Global partnerships, arrived in Haiti on Thursday for a two-day visit with a mission to reaffirm the commitment of the World Bank to Haiti.
The officials of the World Bank will meet with President Michel Martelly to discuss his priorities and ways of enabling the bank to continue supporting the country. They will also meet representatives of private and public sectors to exchange views on the opportunities and challenges facing Haiti.
Assistance from the World Bank is intended to support the government's development strategy and its most pressing needs in particular.... reconstruction, housing and education.
"These two sectors will contribute to the long-term recovery of the country," Cox said. "The activities of the Bank to Haiti, disaster risk management, increase of agricultural productivity, job creation, and the improvement of access to basic services remain priorities."
Ms. Cox will meet with President Martelly, and Mr. Wilson Jeudy, Mayor of the Municipality of Delmas, to launch the reconstruction of housing and neighborhood development program in Port-au-Prince.
This program is funded by a grant of 30 million USD pledged by the International Development Association (IDA) and a grant of 65 million USD pledged by the Fund for Reconstruction d Haïti (FRH) and being implemented by the World Bank.
The program in question supports the efforts of the government in reconstruction and aims to create favorable conditions for the return of residents to the neighborhoods hardest hit in the capital of Port-au-Prince.
The program will also help launch the repairs and/or reconstruction of homes and restart their economic activities as well.
"The international community is committed to supporting the ongoing reconstruction in Haiti," said van Trotsenburg, "who oversees the IDA, the Bank Fund for the poorest. After the earthquake, the support of IDA has provided grants, funded projects, emergency and quick response on the ground."
"With the continued support of donors, IDA has also been able to raise USD$ 500 million to Haiti through an open special crisis response, aimed to contribute to long-term efforts in economic recovery," van Trotsenburg continued.
Tomorrow the two leaders will attend the launch of the education initiative by President Martelly "Lekol pou Timoun Yo" (school for your children), which is partially funded by the World Bank project Education for All (EFA). President Martelly has said that free and compulsory education is a central pillar of his government.
It is estimated that around 400,000 to 500,000 children are not attending school in the country. The Government of Haiti was able to collect 16 million USD through fees on international calls and financial transactions to fund education.
It also decided to allocate these resources through a tuition waiver mechanism in place, initially established in 2007 with support from the World Bank and financed by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Canada International Development (CIDA) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
The presidents of the World Bank and President Martelly will review the results achieved in the EFA project and a potential increase in the tuition waiver mechanism .
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