By Farah Geste | Admin
Dear GlobalGiving Family,
In our last report, we shared how our Partner Communities came together after Hurricane Melissa to respond to devastating flooding, prevent cholera outbreaks, reopen schools, and begin rebuilding lives. Thanks to your support, emergency response quickly became community-led recovery.
Today, we are taking the next step.
The lessons of Hurricane Melissa made one thing unmistakably clear: reducing future disaster risks requires restoring the environment that protects our communities.
Launching the La Digue Watershed Restoration Initiative
C2C Haïti is partnering with our Mountainside Partner Community Stakeholder Association, Association des Paysans Haut Douzième (APHD), to implement the La Digue Watershed Restoration and Flood Risk Reduction Initiative in Petit-Goâve.
This 10-month community-led initiative will strengthen climate resilience by restoring degraded hillsides, stabilizing dangerous ravines, and reducing the flood risks that threaten thousands of families downstream.
The project will directly benefit approximately 9,000 residents, including more than 5,500 women and girls, while helping protect over 90,000 people throughout the greater Petit-Goâve region.
Restoring the Land That Protects the Communit
Years of deforestation, erosion, and increasingly severe storms have transformed once-productive hillsides into deep ravines that funnel destructive floodwaters into nearby communities.
Working together, community members will restore approximately 400 hectares of degraded watershed while stabilizing 11.5 kilometers of vulnerable ravines using a combination of stone structures, vegetative barriers, and erosion-control techniques designed to slow runoff and protect surrounding farmland.
Thousands of native forest trees, fruit trees, bamboo, vetiver grass, and napier grass will be planted to rebuild healthy ecosystems, improve soil stability, increase water retention, and reduce future flood damage.
Investing in People While Restoring the Environment
This initiative is about more than conservation.
Many farming families continue recovering from the economic losses caused by Hurricane Melissa. To help restore livelihoods while protecting natural resources, the project includes a Cash-for-Work program that provides temporary employment to vulnerable households participating in restoration activities.
Priority will be given to female-headed households, widows, families experiencing food insecurity, persons with disabilities, earthquake-affected households, and other vulnerable families. At least 30% of participants will be women, ensuring that economic opportunities reach those most affected by recent disasters.
Building Community Leadership
Long-term resilience depends on local knowledge and leadership.
Throughout the project, farmers and community members will participate in training focused on disaster risk reduction, sustainable agriculture, soil conservation, watershed management, and climate adaptation. These skills will strengthen local capacity to care for the land long after project activities are complete.
As with all C2C Haïti initiatives, solutions are not imposed from outside. They are designed, led, and sustained by the community itself.
Looking Ahead
By the end of this initiative, we expect to see:
Every tree planted, every ravine stabilized, and every farmer trained represents another step toward a safer and more resilient Petit-Goâve.
Development With Dignity
Your partnership continues to make community-led solutions possible.
Together, we are not simply responding to disasters after they happen. We are helping communities reduce future risks, restore the environment, strengthen local leadership, and build a more resilient future for generations to come.
Thank you for standing alongside the people of Petit-Goâve as they transform recovery into lasting resilience.
Mèsi Anpil,
C2C Haiti
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