UN and Haitian partners appeal for aid to reduce vulnerability

The Transitional Appeal, which covers 2015 and 2016 and is known as TAP, aims to mobilize resources to smooth the country’s transition process and ensure continuity of assistance for the most vulnerable individuals and communities.

“The expected results of the TAP directly target people and vulnerable communities, without forgetting the necessary capacity-building of public institutions,” said the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Haiti, Sandra Honoré, in a news release.

A massive earthquake struck Haiti on 12 January 2010, killing 200,000 people and damaging much of the country’s infrastructure. Five years later, some three million Haitians still remain unsure about where their next meal will come from.

Because of its geography, Haiti is highly prone to natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods, landslides and droughts. Poverty means that even moderate shocks can push people into hunger.

Replacing the annual humanitarian appeal, the TAP aims to address the post-seismic lessons of humanitarian coordination in line with Haiti’s national priorities.

It strives to meet both acute and urgent needs – internal displacement, the cholera epidemic, food insecurity and malnutrition, natural hazards and disasters – by addressing issues and structural deficiencies in Haiti to strengthen the country’s capacity to recover.

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Haiti, Peter de Clercq, explained that the TAP is an ongoing process.

“It is a platform for transition which will be revised and adapted during its implementation. This is a dynamic process with a view to creating the foundations of sustainable development in Haiti over the next two years.”

Echoing that sentiment, Haiti’s Minister of Planning and External Cooperation, Yves Germain Joseph, called the TAP an “inclusive and consultative process,” the result of an ongoing collaboration initiated in October 2014 between national and international partners.

Photo: UN/MINUSTAH/Logan Abassi