The USAID Reforestation Project is a 5-year initiative aimed at improving the resilience of targeted populations in the Nord and Nord-Est Departments of Haiti by reversing environmental degradation and loss of tree cover. The project is implemented in five priority watersheds and focuses on empowering target communities to build their capacities and assets for improved tree cover and landscape management.
The project’s fiscal year 2019 was a pivotal year, marked by the consolidation of relationships, coordination, and engagement with government entities, local authorities, communities, partners, and beneficiary farmers. The project also fostered the development of partnerships with the private sector and worked to integrate resilience and sustainable landscape management. Despite socio-political unrest, including a “country lock” and fuel shortage, the project achieved or exceeded 10 of the 15 target indicators applicable for the year, and achieved over 60% of four of the remaining five targets.
The project provided a range of environmental services in targeted forest and agroforestry areas in support of food security and resilience to economic and natural shocks. The project staff’s commitment and dedication, as well as the level of ownership of the project’s activities and initiatives by beneficiaries, partners, and local authorities, were integral to the level of achievements highlighted below.
The project’s intermediate results include reducing the threat of deforestation, improving resilience to economic and natural shocks, and improving environmental governance and coordination. To achieve these results, the project implemented various activities, including a Political Economic Analysis (PEA) to identify and implement activities to increase awareness and reduce deforestation threats. The project also promoted climate change adapted practices, such as training of more than 250 livestock farmers on climate-resilient agriculture.
The project’s program approach was revised in response to lessons learned and feedback from USAID. The project team undertook a series of strategic reviews of project activities and achievements, concluding that the project’s organizational structure and approach needed to be improved to achieve more comprehensive results. The project also conducted a resilience scoping assignment to identify and target specific adaptive, absorptive, and transformative capacities that strengthen beneficiaries’ resilience to shocks and long-term stresses.
The project’s implementation approach and strategy were revised to include a parallel approach to directly reach key beneficiaries and targets, and to provide timely responses to critical needs. The project also determined that the structural barriers to improved natural resource governance identified in the PEA, and the organizational capacities identified through the Community Options Analysis and Investment Toolkit (COAIT) exercise, must be taken into consideration in the project’s strategy and approach.
The project’s FY 2020 workplan was developed as an integrated package of activities that build core resilience capacities in communities and support them on their journey to self-reliance. The project’s revised approach and strategy aim to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the project’s activities, and to achieve more comprehensive results in support of the project’s objectives.
The project’s geographic focus is on the Nord and Nord-Est Departments of Haiti, with a specific emphasis on the five priority watersheds. The project’s timeframes are from September 1, 2018, to September 30, 2019, with a focus on achieving the project’s FY 2019 targets and objectives.
The project’s implementation consortium includes Chemonics International, National Cooperative Business Association – The Cooperative League of the USA (NCBA CLUSA), and International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). The project’s agreement number is AID-521-A-17-00011, and the USAID Agreement Officer’s Representative is Kenold Moreau.