BRAC USA President & CEO reviews her recent trip to Haiti

March 11, 2011
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I must commend BRAC Haiti for its steady progress and accomplishments. This is certainly one of – or perhaps our most – challenging operating environments and I think the BRAC team in Haiti is finding creative ways to overcome those challenges.

I must commend BRAC Haiti for its steady progress and accomplishments. This is certainly one of – or perhaps our most – challenging operating environments and I think the BRAC team in Haiti is finding creative ways to overcome those challenges.

I think the Limb and Brace Center has made excellent strides in serving 237 people with top quality service and building a cohesive team who see a new career in this highly specialized field. I think we have the makings of a strong group of Haitians that can take “ownership” of the Center and be a stellar example to other Haitians. The staff spoke beautifully about their work, and I hope they can inspire other Haitians to pursue careers of service to people.

It is heartening to see so many of our patients making referrals to our center as well as Haiti’s top orthopedic surgeons. We have developed a good reputation and this can open to doors to other areas in health sector. There is much to do.

The other programs have also gained traction. The permanent housing program has now got real momentum with 79 homes built/underway and over 160 people trained to construct them. They will move much faster now. Haven, an Irish NGO is now trying to learn from our model which is lower cost ($3,500 for a 28.5 sq meter total home) vs theirs at $4,200 home. This is still a huge problem in Haiti – a million people are still in tents – so it’s important that we keep forgin ahead and making progress on this front.

Agriculture has a firm base. The team set up 150 micronurseries and 60 vegetable farmers and now 400 livelihood enterprises will be created in partnership with Caritas Austria.

The Education program has received support from Digicel for a pilot school and livelihood training program. Hopefully this pilot will serve as a model for the program to grow and scale up.

I left Haiti with a feeling of hope, that we can overcome the challenges and build back better.

Best wishes,
Susan Davis

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