Project profile — Resettling Haitian Families - International Organization for Migration 2013

This project seeks to resettle 16,000 of the most vulnerable Haitian families (or 52,720 individuals), who are still living in camps following the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti near Port-au-Prince in January 2010. It is estimated that over 200,000 people died as a result of the earthquake and 1.5 million people were internally displaced. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), as of December 2013, 39,464 families (146,573 individuals) were still living in 271 camps across Port-au-Prince. The IOM is resettling the families living in 60 camps that have been identified as the most environmentally vulnerable, in which people face higher risks of forced evictions, and/or which are located on school grounds. Some project activities include: (i) identifying and registering the people living in the 60 camps; (ii) providing water and sanitation services, including maintaining latrines, during the resettlement process; (iii) offering health, psycho-social and protection services to the most vulnerable people in the camps; (iv) providing case workers to help people find new housing and negotiate rental agreements and moves; (v) providing rental subsidies to cover a full year of housing rental for a family and transportation subsidies to cover moving costs; (vi) cleaning up vacated camp areas and returning the properties to their owners; (vii) conducting follow-up visits with resettled families to evaluate their satisfaction with their new housing situations; and (viii) providing technical assistance to improve the capacity of the national and local governments and community based organizations to promote the resettlement of the remaining displaced people.

The expected intermediate outcome for this project is increased voluntary return of people internally displaced by the 2010 Haiti earthquake, especially women and children, from selected camps, to normal living conditions.

Results achieved as of March 2014 include: (1) 36 out of 60 camps were identified as most vulnerable, where people face a high risk of eviction; (2) 4,600 households were registered of which 4,307 households were relocated: 4,290 are now living in rental accommodations and 310 have returned to a family home; (3) 97,1% of relocated households have not moved out of their new accommodations; (4) initial screening related to the need for protection services was done for 2,498 beneficiaries, 10 of which were victims of sexual and gender based violence, 64 suffer from a physical handicap and 13 suffer from a mental handicap; (5) medical support was provided to 1,952 people (1,184 women and 768 men), including psychological support, medical transportation services, medication, financial support for medication and lab tests; and (6) psycho-social support was provided to 1,190 people (705 women and 485 men), including referrals to health and/or psychiatric facilities, counseling, psychological aid and health education.