Crown Agents is supporting two key ministries in Haïti under the Projet de Relèvement d'Urgence des Infrastructures et des Institutions as they rebuild their institutions and infrastructure following the earthquake that devastated the country in January 2010.
In partnership with the Ministry of Public Works, Transport & Communications and the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Crown Agents is supporting selected interventions, which are contributing to rebuilding Haïti's critical infrastructure and the re-establishment of basic institutional capacities.
We are committed to supporting the government to improve the quality of daily life for Haïtians through areas as diverse as debris management, road repairs, canal cleaning, building assessments and reconstruction planning.
The 2010 earthquake caused over 230,000 deaths; roughly two million people were left homeless and a further one million needed support. The destruction of the government's physical infrastructure resulted in the loss of institutional memory, not just through the damage to records, but also through the deaths of an estimated 25% of civil servants.
The Republic of Haïti and the World Bank swiftly drew up a recovery project, the Infrastructure and Institutions Emergency Recovery Project, worth US$65 million. Crown Agents was appointed as Fiduciary Agent to undertake the procurement and financial management tasks under the programme.
Crown Agents' team mobilised in early August 2010 and immediately set up an office, and met with the Government and World Bank. Previous experience of working on challenging projects helped us to manage challenges in security, power and communications as well as balancing multiple stakeholder expectations. Key achievements:
- Emergency works to the two national highways that serve the south west peninsula of Haïti, improving immediate access to essential services and markets for the communities in Sud-Est and Grand Anse.
- Establishing the information system of the General Directorate of Taxes to improve government revenue collection
- Assessment of the structural state of buildings using a 'traffic lights' coding system on 400,000 buildings in Port-au-Prince to identify homes families can return to and reduce the burden on the camps.
- Contracts for canal clearing - contractors have removed 100,000 cubic metres of rubbish from key drainage canals, reducing the risks of flood and disease to camps in the capital.
- Creation of the first and only government-owned municipal landfill at Truitier including skips in Port-au-Prince for waste collection.
- Implementation of a Financial Network System to link the Central Bank, the Ministry of Finance, the Customs Department, and major commercial banks to support Haïti's economic recovery.
During a six month extension phase, we have delivered procurement and financial management training workshops to build capacity with our counterparts alongside our other activities. Feedback has been extremely positive with attendees describing the training as 'important, informative and interesting', as well as 'aids effective and efficient achievement of objectives' and 'able to understand key aspects of their work'. The team also continued to work closely with stakeholders to provide mentoring and on the job capacity building.
Crown Agents' commitment has provided the two Ministries with invaluable reliability and integrity, enabling the team to build and develop increasing levels of trust.
Crown Agents is therefore delivering success on two levels: through the enhancement of skills and expertise within the government and finding solutions to improve the daily lives of Haïtians.