The activities of ActionAid in Haiti began in 1997. ActionAid Haiti/Dominican Republic supports poor people’s basic rights and needs, working at a practical level to improve access to basic services. They lobby the government and others for changes to the policies and practices that aff ect poor people’s lives.
Right to Food: ActionAid promotes the right to food security through activities targeting; increased agricultural production, people’s incomes, livestock, access to water, irrigation, crop diversi cation, soil and water conservation. We promote economic alternatives such as coff ee and castor oil commercialization and women’s micro-enterprises. We also aim to raise citizen’s awareness through advocacy and campaign work.
Women's rights: Activities in this area include; campaigning against Violence against Women and HIV, challenging structural barriers to girls in education, gender training for CBOs, activities promoting women’s access to and control over productive resources, economic initiatives targeting women as well as networking between women’s rights groups.
Education: Since 2003 ActionAid has been supporting 12 community centers in marginal urban areas of Port-au-Prince. In Thiotte, in Haiti’s southeast, ActionAid and partners built 4 community schools in response to the damage done in the Mapou area by flooding. We promote education in all of our DAs through materials and equipment support, community schoolbook cooperatives and
campaign work aiming to make sure that the state guarantees the right to a free and quality education for all.
HIV/AIDS: Activities focus on; Promoting women PLHA’s central role, rights and leadership in an effective response, mobilizing against any and all stigma and discrimination with a focus on prevention and advocating for more effective and better coordinated political action by leaders in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean region.