CLEAN WATER BRINGS FRESH HOPE TO POOR NEIGHBOURHOODS IN HAITI
(UNICEF) - By Thomas Nybo
PORT-AU-PRINCE – All day long, a steady stream of residents, young and old, queue to fill their buckets with affordable, clean water at the water kiosks of Cité l’Eternel, a neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Bejonét Joseph is here several times a day. The 24-year-old single mother moved here two months ago because there were no jobs in her mountain village. She left the baby in the care of her mother so she could come here to find work. The money Ms. Joseph earns is sent home to pay for her son's food and clothing.
She spends her days as a maid, cleaning and preparing food for other families. Without the water kiosk, which is just a two-minute walk from the small room she shares with her cousin, Ms. Joseph says survival would be much more difficult.
"The water kiosk is good for me because otherwise I would need to travel far to find water," she said.
Sustainable post-quake improvements
The water project is run by GRET, a French NGO that receives support from UNICEF. The project targets 50 of the poorest neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince, assessing and mapping water systems, and providing repairs where necessary. There are about 300 kiosks in these neighbourhoods, which are connected to the municipal water lines, and their rehabilitation represents a sustainable, concrete move to reduce post-earthquake reliance on expensive water brought in by truck.
Here's how it works: Residents are charged less than two cents for five gallons of water. The money raised pays the city water bill, covers staff salaries to run the water kiosks, and is used to fund small-scale development projects, ranging from sports fields to health centers.
Benefits for everyone
Homéus Jean Rénel heads the local water committee in his neighborhood, the north section of Cité l’Eternel.
"We have a soccer field being built by GRET, plus we have a basketball court," he said. "The program also gave us a new road that drains properly during the rains."
The improvements to the community are especially popular with the children, who finally have a safe place to practice sports and to play.
As for the water, it benefits everyone, young and old alike.
"The program is very important because it is water, and you know, water is the symbol of life," Mr. Rénel continued. "Before, there was no water. But once the water program began, there was a better life here."
Showing posts with label Article - NGO's. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Article - NGO's. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
ARTICLE - JAMAICA-HAITI FIBRE OPTIC CABLE
DIGICEL, PARNERS TO LAY CABLE LINK FROM HAITI
(Jamaica Gleaner) -
Digicel Group announced plans on Tuesday to deploy a US$16-million (J$1.34b) fibre-optic cable from Haiti to connect with an existing cable from Jamaica to the United States, aimed at delivering improved data and call services by July 2012.
Concurrently, Digicel said it continues to mull investing in its own separate cable to link Jamaica to the US.
"Digicel's appraisal of this matter is ongoing," said Digicel spokeswoman Gillian Power in response to Wednesday Business queries.
The investment will offer Haiti a secondary underwater link to the world following damage to a separate cable after the 7.0 earthquake two years ago.
Digicel will finance the 200-kilometre cable and partner with Columbus Networks, a fibre-optic cable network provider and Alcatel-Lucent as technology supplier who will subcontract IT International Telecom to provide marine services for the project.
Columbus Networks will own, operate and manage the Fibralink Extension after it is completed.
"Digicel is funding the entire project and has drawn on Alcatel-Lucent and Columbus Networks' technology and demonstrated expertise necessary for the deployment of the high-capacity link," Digicel said in a release.
Said Paul Scott, president of Columbus Networks: "This expansion will add to our network, enable us to enhance broadband connectivity further and thus deliver reliable, cost effective bandwidth and Cloud-based services at cost-effective prices to a very large population base".
Once completed, the FibraLink extension to Haiti will provide a secure, high-capacity subsea link with 21 other countries in the Caribbean as well as with the United States and the main internet backbone gateway in South Florida.
Latest rebuilding effort
The undersea cable project represents Digicel's latest recovery and rebuilding effort in Haiti. As the single largest private investor in Haiti, Digicel has invested over U$600 million to date and employs over 900 people directly and more than 60,000 people indirectly.
Alcatel-Lucent originally deployed the FibraLink system owned by Columbus Networks which provides coastal and terrestrial connectivity from Kingston to Ocho Rios and Montego Bay in Jamaica with direct connectivity to the US by integrating it into other parts of the Columbus Networks infrastructure.
"The benefits that this undersea link can bring to Haiti can't be over-estimated. We are pleased to collaborate with Digicel and Columbus Networks on such a critical endeavour," said Philippe Dumont, President of Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks.
The earthquake in January 2010 "damaged or destroyed" much of Haiti's communications infrastructure - including the country's only other subsea cable link which, to date, "has not been sufficiently" reactivated and secured against risk of impact from future seismic events, said Digicel. As a result, Haiti lacks the high-capacity broadband connectivity that is pivotal to expanding business, public sector and social activity in Haiti, concluded Digicel.
(Jamaica Gleaner) -
Digicel Group announced plans on Tuesday to deploy a US$16-million (J$1.34b) fibre-optic cable from Haiti to connect with an existing cable from Jamaica to the United States, aimed at delivering improved data and call services by July 2012.
Concurrently, Digicel said it continues to mull investing in its own separate cable to link Jamaica to the US.
"Digicel's appraisal of this matter is ongoing," said Digicel spokeswoman Gillian Power in response to Wednesday Business queries.
The investment will offer Haiti a secondary underwater link to the world following damage to a separate cable after the 7.0 earthquake two years ago.
Digicel will finance the 200-kilometre cable and partner with Columbus Networks, a fibre-optic cable network provider and Alcatel-Lucent as technology supplier who will subcontract IT International Telecom to provide marine services for the project.
Columbus Networks will own, operate and manage the Fibralink Extension after it is completed.
"Digicel is funding the entire project and has drawn on Alcatel-Lucent and Columbus Networks' technology and demonstrated expertise necessary for the deployment of the high-capacity link," Digicel said in a release.
Said Paul Scott, president of Columbus Networks: "This expansion will add to our network, enable us to enhance broadband connectivity further and thus deliver reliable, cost effective bandwidth and Cloud-based services at cost-effective prices to a very large population base".
Once completed, the FibraLink extension to Haiti will provide a secure, high-capacity subsea link with 21 other countries in the Caribbean as well as with the United States and the main internet backbone gateway in South Florida.
Latest rebuilding effort
The undersea cable project represents Digicel's latest recovery and rebuilding effort in Haiti. As the single largest private investor in Haiti, Digicel has invested over U$600 million to date and employs over 900 people directly and more than 60,000 people indirectly.
Alcatel-Lucent originally deployed the FibraLink system owned by Columbus Networks which provides coastal and terrestrial connectivity from Kingston to Ocho Rios and Montego Bay in Jamaica with direct connectivity to the US by integrating it into other parts of the Columbus Networks infrastructure.
"The benefits that this undersea link can bring to Haiti can't be over-estimated. We are pleased to collaborate with Digicel and Columbus Networks on such a critical endeavour," said Philippe Dumont, President of Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks.
The earthquake in January 2010 "damaged or destroyed" much of Haiti's communications infrastructure - including the country's only other subsea cable link which, to date, "has not been sufficiently" reactivated and secured against risk of impact from future seismic events, said Digicel. As a result, Haiti lacks the high-capacity broadband connectivity that is pivotal to expanding business, public sector and social activity in Haiti, concluded Digicel.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
ARTICLE - RED CROSS - BUILD A HOTEL?
RED CROSS WEIGHS DECISION TO BUILD HOTEL IN HAITI
(AP) - By Martha Mendoza
PORT-AU-PRINCE — The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is considering building a hotel and conference center in Haiti on part of a $10.5 million property that it bought after the 2010 earthquake.
The hope is that profits could sustain the work of Haiti's local Red Cross in the coming years, the head of the international group's Haitian delegation said Monday.
The 10-acre compound, known as the "Hilton Property," was purchased from Comme Il Faut, Haiti's local cigarette company, in the months after the quake, Eduard Tschan told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
The charity paid in a single payment, using funds donated by national Red Cross agencies for quake recovery. At the time, Haiti's recovery was the largest operation in the organization's history, with 3,000 people working here.
Now that its work is winding down, the international Red Cross is putting together an exit strategy and as part of that process is trying to figure out what to do with this property.
The Haitian Red Cross, which works closely with the Haitian government as almost a branch of its health department, has a rebuilt headquarters on the property and that will remain.
It's a valuable spot, near the international airport, in a growing city. Tschan said two ideas are being studied: selling the acreage not being used by the Haitian Red Cross, or finding a business partner and building a hotel and conference center that would provide profits to sustain the Haitian Red Cross.
"There is great potential with this property," Tschan said.
He said that if a marketing feasibility study determines a hotel or conference center seems viable, the Red Cross will open the project to bidders.
"Ideally it would be a local company," he said.
CharityWatch president Daniel Borochoff, who evaluates nonprofit organizations, said the hotel plan is risky and highly unusual. More typically, charities invest in low risk securities, he said.
"It's not clear it would work," he said. "And if they lose the money it's going to be a problem."
Borochoff said a hotel and conference center could tie up funds that might be needed quickly in future disasters, and noted donors hadn't been informed.
"What would happen if donors learned that instead of giving money to treat cholera or build shelters, it's going to build a hotel? I understand it's an investment, but that takes some explaining," he said.
Raymond Joseph, a former ambassador to the United States, welcomed the project, saying it would expand the number of hotel rooms in Haiti and create employment opportunities in a country where there are few.
"I'm applauding what they're doing," Joseph said by telephone. "It will help Haiti by creating jobs for quite a few people."
Should the hotel happen, it would join other efforts to build hotels and lure visitors to Haiti in the aftermath of the quake, which devastated the capital and other cities in the south.
Best Western International Inc. is building a seven-story hotel with 105 guest rooms, a restaurant and lounge, a full spa and a swimming pool. The inn, aimed at business travelers, bankers and diplomats, is scheduled to open this summer in the heart of Petionville, a hillside city southeast of the capital.
Similarly, Marriott International Inc. is planning to build a $45 million, 173-room hotel in partnership with the Digicel mobile phone company. The hotel is slated to open in 2014 in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince.
There is precedent for the Red Cross building a hotel. The Red Court Hotel, a four-star hotel in Kenya, is owned by the Kenya Red Cross Society and all proceeds go toward the charity.
The international Red Cross has spent $754 million in Haiti since the earthquake, with an additional $114 million spending planned for 2012. Other Red Cross organizations also have their own relief operations in Haiti.
Associated Press writer Martha Mendoza reported this story from Santa Cruz, California, and Trenton Daniel reporting in Port-au-Prince.
(AP) - By Martha Mendoza
PORT-AU-PRINCE — The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is considering building a hotel and conference center in Haiti on part of a $10.5 million property that it bought after the 2010 earthquake.
The hope is that profits could sustain the work of Haiti's local Red Cross in the coming years, the head of the international group's Haitian delegation said Monday.
The 10-acre compound, known as the "Hilton Property," was purchased from Comme Il Faut, Haiti's local cigarette company, in the months after the quake, Eduard Tschan told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
The charity paid in a single payment, using funds donated by national Red Cross agencies for quake recovery. At the time, Haiti's recovery was the largest operation in the organization's history, with 3,000 people working here.
Now that its work is winding down, the international Red Cross is putting together an exit strategy and as part of that process is trying to figure out what to do with this property.
The Haitian Red Cross, which works closely with the Haitian government as almost a branch of its health department, has a rebuilt headquarters on the property and that will remain.
It's a valuable spot, near the international airport, in a growing city. Tschan said two ideas are being studied: selling the acreage not being used by the Haitian Red Cross, or finding a business partner and building a hotel and conference center that would provide profits to sustain the Haitian Red Cross.
"There is great potential with this property," Tschan said.
He said that if a marketing feasibility study determines a hotel or conference center seems viable, the Red Cross will open the project to bidders.
"Ideally it would be a local company," he said.
CharityWatch president Daniel Borochoff, who evaluates nonprofit organizations, said the hotel plan is risky and highly unusual. More typically, charities invest in low risk securities, he said.
"It's not clear it would work," he said. "And if they lose the money it's going to be a problem."
Borochoff said a hotel and conference center could tie up funds that might be needed quickly in future disasters, and noted donors hadn't been informed.
"What would happen if donors learned that instead of giving money to treat cholera or build shelters, it's going to build a hotel? I understand it's an investment, but that takes some explaining," he said.
Raymond Joseph, a former ambassador to the United States, welcomed the project, saying it would expand the number of hotel rooms in Haiti and create employment opportunities in a country where there are few.
"I'm applauding what they're doing," Joseph said by telephone. "It will help Haiti by creating jobs for quite a few people."
Should the hotel happen, it would join other efforts to build hotels and lure visitors to Haiti in the aftermath of the quake, which devastated the capital and other cities in the south.
Best Western International Inc. is building a seven-story hotel with 105 guest rooms, a restaurant and lounge, a full spa and a swimming pool. The inn, aimed at business travelers, bankers and diplomats, is scheduled to open this summer in the heart of Petionville, a hillside city southeast of the capital.
Similarly, Marriott International Inc. is planning to build a $45 million, 173-room hotel in partnership with the Digicel mobile phone company. The hotel is slated to open in 2014 in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince.
There is precedent for the Red Cross building a hotel. The Red Court Hotel, a four-star hotel in Kenya, is owned by the Kenya Red Cross Society and all proceeds go toward the charity.
The international Red Cross has spent $754 million in Haiti since the earthquake, with an additional $114 million spending planned for 2012. Other Red Cross organizations also have their own relief operations in Haiti.
Associated Press writer Martha Mendoza reported this story from Santa Cruz, California, and Trenton Daniel reporting in Port-au-Prince.
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