Contractor hopes to build model village in Haiti

KITCHENER — Clive Diggins has already built his prototype. Now he wants to build a village.
The Kitchener contractor, who says his plan to build 100 disaster relief shelters in Haiti began after he had a nightmare about the country’s 2010 earthquake, knows he’s got a lot of work to do.
First, he needs about $500,000 in donations.
“I know $500,000 sounds like a lot of money. But that’s about the price of one home in Waterloo. We could house 400 people (in Haiti) for that,” he said.
And he needs to turn his project Borders and Beyond, a concept he created about a year ago, into a full-fledged non-profit organization.
But he’s got the land — a soccer field on a hill outside Port au Prince — and permission from the owner to build. And he’s got his shelter design, a 3.65 metre by 2.4 metre (12 foot by eight foot) portable home with a steel roof, toilet and rain filtration system.
He’s already built a prototype, a plastic-sided building that he’s placed on display at the St. Jacobs farmers’ market. He’s sunk about $20,000 and many months of designing into the structure.
Diggins believes this shelter, with its improved sanitation and earthquake-resistant construction, can save lives.
Fifteen months after the disaster that killed 316,000 Haitians, there are still more than 600,000 people living in temporary camps around the country. Diggins hopes his 100-shelter village would be a model that would lead to larger contracts to house thousands more.
He hopes to start construction on the shelters in September, and hopes it would stand as a model for officials writing cheques in Haiti’s rebuilding effort. He plans to bring a crew of six or eight workers to the shattered Haitian capital, and teach locals how to assemble the prefabricated shelters themselves. He plans to install water purification and portable toilets, too.
It’s an ambitious project for a man who has never done anything like this before. But it’s a project he believes in, even more so since visiting the quake-shattered Caribbean country in March.
“We’ve just got to get in and do this project,” Diggins said. “These people need this.”
The contractor said he’s been pitching his plan to local companies, hoping for sponsorship, selling it as a cost-effective way to give safe, adaptable homes to 400 people.
gmercer@therecord.com
http://www.therecord.com/news/local/article/525299--contractor-hopes-to-build-model-village-in-haiti

New Agriculture Center to Train Thousands of Haitian Farmers

BAS BOEN, HAITI - The U.S. government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), kicked-off Haiti’s National Agriculture and Labor Day on May 1 by inaugurating a cutting-edge agricultural training center.

The Sustainable Rural Development Center will help modernize Haiti’s agricultural sector by training farmers to use innovative agriculture techniques that will increase crop yields and boost incomes. The five-hectare campus features a training center, warehouse, dormitory, three laboratories and a distance-learning facility.
Haitian farmers will benefit from the resources physically located at the center and virtually through an online video link with agriculture experts at the University of Florida. The onsite dormitory will teach farmers from across the country, including the northern region, how to analyze soil, identify pests and diagnose diseases that hamper crop production. They will also learn to use tools and techniques like drip irrigation and fertilizer briquettes that reduce costs and boost yields.
Agriculture is central to the Haitian economy, generating nearly 25 percent of gross domestic product and employing more than 60 percent of the population, but declining crop production has plagued Haiti for the past 50 years. The Government of Haiti identified agriculture as a key sector to create jobs and boost the economy. The U.S. government responded by designating agriculture as one of the four areas targeted for earthquake reconstruction along with health, governance and infrastructure.
Initially, public and private sector partners will manage the new center, including: USAID, the Haitian Ministry of Agriculture, the National School of Agronomy, local farmer associations, and representatives from Haitian agribusinesses. In the next few years, the U.S. government will transfer full management responsibilities to Haitian institutions.
“Our support will help train thousands of farmers over the next few years,” said USAID/Haiti Mission Director Carleene Dei. “Once the center is running smoothly, Haitian institutions will possess the knowledge and experience to manage the center without our assistance.”
The Sustainable Rural Development Center is one of eight agricultural training centers built with U.S. government funding in Haiti. The facilities are part of President Obama’s global hunger and food security initiative; Feed the Future, which is working to reduce global hunger and poverty by supporting country-led plans for agricultural development.
http://www.sflcn.com/story.php?id=10250