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WASHINGTON D.C., United States, October 10, 2008 - Haiti will receive another US$25 million in emergency grants from the World Bank to support recovery and rebuilding, and strengthen its institutional capacity to cope with natural disasters.
World Bank Group President Robert Zoellick said yesterday that the grants will fund rebuilding of major bridges and other rehabilitation work on key infrastructure, as well as expanding existing programmes to help reduce Haiti's vulnerability to natural disasters and strengthen its capacity to respond to them.
This comes after the Caribbean nation was hit by four successive storms and hurricanes in August and September.
"Haiti must be given a chance. The international community needs to step up to the challenge and support the efforts of the Haitian government and its people," said Mr Zoellick, who plans to visit Haiti later this month. "This US$25 million grant is part of the Bank's support for Haiti's development, and in particular, for its recovery following the devastating impact of Fay, Gustav, Hanna, and Ike."
The World Bank has approved US$240 million in assistance for Haiti since 2005, including a recent US$10 million emergency grant to help the government respond to the food price crisis (Global Programme). This total does not include the additional funds announced today and about US$14 million of trust fund resources invested in Haiti.
World Bank teams are also working closely with the Haitian Government, the United Nations, the European Commission, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and other partners on a joint Post Disaster Needs Assessment for a concrete and coordinated recovery and rehabilitation plan for this emergency and to increase the country's resilience to future natural disasters.
Meantime, the IDB also announced yesterday that a project in Haiti was one of four to win grants to help the poor.
Under the grant programme "Innovation for Inclusive Development" - from which projects in Ecuador and Nicaragua, and a joint project in El Salvador and Honduras will also benefit - the IDB is trying to help bridge the gap by bringing innovators in developing and developed countries together with those who can benefit from the innovations.
With its grant, Meds and Food for Kids - a non-profit organisation dedicated to the treatment and prevention of childhood malnutrition in Haiti and other developing countries - will first enhance the Haitian peanut production through the UNICEF certification for food safety. This will allow domestic peanuts to be used in the production of export-grade Medika Mamba ("peanut butter medicine"), or Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF). In turn, this will allow Haitian-produced RUTF to be sold to UNICEF and other organisations working in Haiti; it will provide steady income to the mostly subsistence-level peanut farmers; and it will improve the access of Haiti's children to this nutritious food. Currently, less than one per cent of Haiti's children receive RUTF, while approximately 23 per cent suffer from malnutrition.
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