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Haiti
>> Regional Overview >> Haiti Overview Program Data Sheet
521-001
USAID MISSION: Haiti
PROGRAM TITLE: Economic Growth (Pillar: Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade)
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE AND NUMBER: Sustainable Increased Income for the Poor, 521-001
STATUS: Continuing
PLANNED FY 2002 OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: $7,100,000 ESF
PRIOR YEAR UNOBLIGATED AND FUNDING SOURCE: $0
PROPOSED FY 2003 OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: $6,500,000 DA; $5,370,000 PL 480
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1997 ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2005Summary: USAID's program to increase the income of Haiti's urban and rural poor includes:
- provision of private agricultural extension services in natural resource management, quality assurance, and marketing;
- improvement of financial services for microenterprises, and training for microfinance institutions;
- technical assistance to strengthen private sector marketing systems; and
- provision of guarantee loans to promote investment by small and medium entrepreneurs.
Inputs, Outputs and Activities: FY 2002 Program: ESF-financed activities will help to increase farm-level productivity and incomes, promote the adoption of proven natural resource management practices, develop or improve marketing channels for Haitian farmers, conduct applied research on staple foods, cocoa, and planting techniques, and continue ongoing microlending support programs.
The program will develop strong financial institutions to service Haitian microenterprises. Partners include commercial banks, credit cooperatives, private companies, and local and international non-governmental organizations. Financial institutions will benefit from USAID-sponsored training in the application of internationally accepted best practices for microfinance lending, technical assistance in the development of new product lines (e.g., savings, production loans, and health insurance), and operation of branches in under-served, especially rural, areas. USAID will offer loan portfolio guarantees to participating commercial banks to provide direct financial support to micro-, small, and medium enterprises. USAID will continue to finance its microfinance capitalization fund, which has been highly successful in leveraging commercial loans for key microfinance institutions (MFIs). In FY 2002 at least five commercial banks will be actively lending to small and microenterprises.
Through assistance from community-based agricultural field agents, food-for-work, and support to local financial institutions that provide training and small loans, especially to rural women, cooperating sponsors implementing the P.L. 480 Title II program will increase the availability of locally-produced food and access to food overall by increasing the incomes of targeted poor families.
Planned FY 2003 Program: FY 2003 efforts will build on ongoing activities that increase the productivity and incomes of agricultural producers and strengthen microfinance institutions. To maximize impact, USAID will continue concentrating its efforts geographically in the northern and southern regions of the country, creating a concentration of farmers producing quality agricultural commodities for both export and local markets. USAID will also fund technical assistance for grassroots organizations to help them develop direct commercial relationships with large-volume buyers including exporters, thereby opening up new markets, reducing the need for intermediaries, and increasing revenues to small producers. Resources will also be used to support microfinance growth, continuing the activities described above. Activities will emphasize the development of new products and services that build on and further expand credit access for rural microenterprises.
Performance and Results: Principal long-term outcomes of the agriculture program include: sustainable increases in the productivity of staple crops in targeted areas; sustainable increases in the export of selected cash crops; and establishment of direct commercial relationships between producer organizations and large-volume buyers. Profitable operation of all five USAID-assisted MFIs and financial independence for 19 credit and savings cooperatives constitutes the principal long-term outcomes of the microfinance program.
Haiti's economy rests largely on the shoulders of small and microenterprises (SMEs), which account for more than 80% of total employment. USAID's work building strong financial institutions to meet the credit demands of SMEs continues to surpass expectations. The number of outstanding loans increased by 40% last year, well above the target of 25%. Also within the past year, two of the five key MFIs receiving USAID support covered 100% of their operating expenses, and the other three covered approximately 60%. In FY 2002, USAID's emphasis will shift from training in basic principles to direct business applications.
During FY 2001, the Aid to Artisans program developed long-term marketing opportunities with the San Diego Zoo, Eziba, the Lee Carter Company, Dwellings, Mark Phillips Collections, and Smith & Hawken. In FY 2002, the program seeks to double the number of such market links. Over 60 small firms employing about 1,500 artisans participate in the Aid to Artisans program.
With assistance from USAID, about 35,000 farmers produced eight crops for export (mango, coffee, pumpkins, cacao, yams, taro, genap, and miniature dried oranges), with sales in excess of $855 million. By linking farmer organizations directly with exporters, farm-gate prices for mangoes have increased 50-100%. In 2001, USAID provided assistance to nearly 250,000 hillside farmers (roughly one-third of Haiti's farm families and 16% of its total population) through a network of 80 grassroots organizations. Seventy of the farmer organizations have marketing contracts, mostly with exporters, generating nearly 6,500 seasonal jobs. The 30,000-member Federation of Native Coffee Producers, supported by USAID, doubled its coffee exports in FY 2001 and recently negotiated contracts with European and Japanese coffee importers. The quality of cacao has improved greatly, with zero rejections of beans in 2001 compared to over 30% previously.
Major Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: Prime contractors Development Alternatives, Inc (DAI) and Winrock International and sub-contractors Pan American Development Foundation, University of Florida, and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture will continue to implement the agriculture program. DAI also leads implementation of the microfinance program. The Haitian Society for Financial Development manages the SME guarantee and microfinance capitalization funds, while Aid to Artisans is the key partner promoting Haitian handicrafts.
US Financing in Thousands of Dollars
521-001 Sustainable Increased Income for the Poor DA ESF Through September 30, 2000 Obligations 2,991 58,492 Expenditures 2,977 38,149 Unliquidated 14 20,343 Fiscal Year 2001 Obligations 0 10,809 Expenditures 2 13,843 Through September 30, 2001 Obligations 2,991 69,301 Expenditures 2,979 51,992 Unliquidated 12 17,309 Prior Year Unobligated Funds Obligations 0 0 Planned Fiscal Year 2002 NOA Obligations 0 7,100 Total Planned Fiscal Year 2002 Obligations 0 7,100 Proposed Fiscal Year 2003 NOA Obligations 6,500 0 Future Obligations 6,500 0 Est. Total Cost 15,991 76,401
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Last Updated on: May 29, 2002 |
