Regional connectivity, rural accessibility and climate resilient infrastructure were key priorities for Haiti’s
development vision and World Bank (WB) support. In 2015, only 39 percent of Haitians lived within 2 km of an all
weather road, with most rural roads in poor condition. The transport infrastructure was highly vulnerable to natural
disasters and climate events, with limited coverage and poor maintenance, especially in rural areas, that hindered
access to agricultural markets, leading to post-harvest losses of up to 30 percent. In 2016, Hurricane Matthew
demonstrated again its vulnerability by destroying roads and bridges that isolated 1.2 million people from emergency
aid. To address these issues, the Haitian government prioritized, under its PSDH, climate resilience—including all
weather roads—aiming to construct 4,000 km of roads by 2021 to improve intercity and rural connectivity. In support
of these efforts, and aligned with both the World Bank’s (WB) Systematic Country Diagnostic (Report No. 97341) and
the Haiti Country Partnership Framework (CPF, Report No. 98132) for FY2016-2019, the Rural Accessibility and
Resilience Project was designed to assist the Government of Haiti (GoH) in enhancing rural connectivity, improving
climate resilience, and strengthening institutional capacity for road infrastructure planning and maintenance.