In Time of Drought Women Key to Family Livelihood in Haiti
May 5, 2005 By Melina Pavlides/CWS Gros-Morne, Haiti
From March 29 to April 9, CWS staff Martin Coria, Don Tatlock, and Melina Pavlides, visited 13 communities in Haiti's Northwest and Artibonite Departments where CWS Emergency Response and Social and Economic Development Programs are sharing resources in a concerted effort to assist families following last September's Tropical Storm Jeanne and to address ongoing issues of food security related to drought.
Daily life in Haiti, a mostly agrarian society, consists of frequent trips to the market for a majority of the country's eight million people. Last September, many lost what little they had in the massive flood caused by Tropical Storm Jeanne that killed some 3,000 persons. Now in a protracted season of drought, families rely on profits from commercial trade to meet basic needs, because there is little farming or harvesting. Women are central to this commercial sector.
Women, especially in rural communities, often travel 10 - 15 miles or more on foot, by mule, or by overcrowded bus in the hot sun with their merchandise in tow to reach village markets where they sell, buy, or trade their goods for a small profit. After hours spent in the market, they begin the long journey home to provide for their families. The following day the process starts all over again. "The sheer physical strength, ingenuity, and resilience of the women of this country is remarkable," says Peter Graeff, (CWS Program Assistant for Haiti from 1983-88), a 30-year veteran of the country, and now an independent consultant for CWS.
CWS, together with long-time partners Service Christian D'Haiti (SCH) and Christian Center for Integrated Development (SKDE), is supporting economic activity of women through 13 local community groups or cooperatives (co-ops) with micro-credit and literacy programs in Haiti's Northwest Department. The micro-credit programs, also managed by women, provide small loans that boost the economic capacity of member families to meet immediate needs – food, school, medicine, and transportation, while also expanding buying power in the markets. "Loans used for commercial buying and selling helps supplement seasonal crop income," Graeff explains. "Harvests are far between in the region, especially now because of the drought, so women often travel five days a week to the city marketplace."
"The women manage the micro-credit programs very well," says Martin Coria, CWS Associate Director of the Social and Economic Development Program. "In many cases, the women have already secured their own capital for the programs before receiving inputs from outside sources like CWS and other funding partners. We hope with more input, training, and support, these communities will increase their profit margins, build on their capital, develop more advanced skills in income generation, and move toward sustainability," says Coria. "It takes time and will require more advanced training, but the groups we have met are eager to learn and are progressing very well."
"For us, the priorities are to send our children to school, provide food and medicine for our families, and to add to the capital of the community bank," says Madam La Vie Saint-Phillip, secretary of Fidelity Community Bank in Gros-Morne, which has 250 members. "Even in the dry months, we are able to finance agricultural and small manufacturing enterprises that sell rice, salt, sugar, beans, oil, flour, kerosene, soap, and matches. One of our goals is to be more versatile. When something becomes unprofitable, we want to be able to change or diversify our activities to meet market demands."
For many of the women running the micro-credit programs, replenishing capital is an overarching goal. "More money means more members and expanding to address needs of more women and their families," adds Saint-Phillip. "We don't want to exclude anyone. If we continue to replenish capital and build on it, we can become more inclusive."
"Women are ready and energized to do better in the buying and selling market," says Toussaint Wilbert, project coordinator of SCH. The progress of the micro-credit programs that facilitate their trading activities, however, cannot grow too fast or serve borrowers superficially. Continued support in terms of accompaniment, training, and management skills is vital."
CWS-assisted literacy programs for women in the co-ops have produced remarkable results in empowering and preparing women for increased growth and opportunity. "When they go to the banks in Gonaives, they can read and understand business documents," says Norelia Eneteda, president of "Serious Business," a micro-credit group and member of the literacy program in the Bravard community. "They are able to make better decisions with greater confidence."
For 23-year-old Erlene D'estines, the literacy program has more symbolic meaning. Once she completes the SKDE-sponsored literacy-training program, she will be certified to train others -- something she is extremely proud of. "My independence is very important to me," D'estines says. Although I want to have a family someday, my education is most important and because this opportunity was given to me, I want to share it with others. I remember when I was first able to read and write my own name, I cried."
As part of its multi-country sustainable food security program, which receives major support from Foods Resource Bank, CWS will continue to assist women-run micro-credit and literacy programs in Haiti's Northwest and Artibonite Departments through 2008.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]