Haiti two years on: livelihood support for young people

12 January 2012

It is two years since the devastating earthquake hit Port au Prince in Haiti where over 220,000 people died and more than one million were made homeless.

With your support, Y Care International has been supporting vulnerable young people to learn the skills needed to access jobs and rebuild their lives.

An estimated three million people were affected by the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Over 220,000 people died, around 300,000 were injured and more than one million made homeless.

Y Care International’s supporters were amazing and allowed us to provide immediate emergency supplies such as food, water, shelter and medical support and supplies to the people affected.

However, according to a new aid report released on 10th January 2012, there are more than half a million Haitians who are still homeless and most do not have access to basic amenities such as running water, toilets or doctors. Their ability to improve their own situation is hindered further by the fact that more than 70 per cent of the workforce is under or unemployed.

Rebuilding livelihoods
Since November 2011, Y Care International have been working to address unemployment problems facing vulnerable young people in Haiti. We have been working through our local partner IDEJEN to improve the lives of young people in Haiti by providing educational and employment opportunities to marginalised out of school young people in Port au Prince.

Young trainees learn building skills in Haiti after the earthquake.

The education system in Haiti prior to the earthquake was a challenge, but it was further disrupted as a result of the disaster as teachers were killed and schools were damaged or destroyed. The Haiti Emergency Youth Livelihood Response Programme (HERO) will work directly with 300 young people in 6 slum areas of Port au Prince to provide non-formal basic education, life skills training and technical skills. The public and private sector will also be involved through local chamber of commerce to link the young graduates from the training programme to economic opportunities.

This 18 month programme will also run cultural activities for young participants to develop their talents (e.g. music, dance, sketch), encourage their participation in community services, and run a daily lunch programme to respond to the nutritional needs of the participants.
In addition to the young people that will directly benefit from the project, we will also work with 6 community-based organisations to reinforce their capacity to address the needs of out of school youth in emergency and vulnerable situations.

“By providing vocational skills and training to vulnerable young people, and working with the public and private sector to provide economic opportunities for them once they graduate, we are providing an holistic response to the unemployment problem facing young people,” says Gemma Hayes, Y Care International’s Latin America and Caribbean Programme Manager.