Haiti: Forest Gardens of Hope
Natural disasters, violent conflicts, poverty and hunger characterise life in Haiti. Hope is growing in the forest gardens that families in rural areas are creating as part of the project, with the help of Misereor’s partners.
Your donation makes Misereor’s work possible all over the world. Here, it helps people in Haiti to secure their livelihoods through their own efforts and to find new hope.
- Latin & Central America
Hunger, the climate crisis and displacement
In Haiti, many people lack the bare necessities; the country has long been unable to meet the food needs of its own population. Because large swathes of the original forests have been cleared, tropical cyclones and heavy rainfall hit the regions unchecked, washing away valuable topsoil into the sea. Whilst the situation is escalating in the capital, Port-au-Prince, which has been ravaged by violence and gang crime, thousands of internally displaced people are once again seeking refuge in rural areas – where they must be provided with food.
The Power of the Forest Garden
Misereor’s partner organisations rely on a tried-and-tested, environmentally friendly solution: forest gardens, also known as agroforestry systems. On these plots, crops complement one another:
- Deep-rooted fruit and timber trees protect sensitive crops from the wind and provide shade.
- Fast-growing vegetables and cereals provide food and act as green manure for depleted soils.
- Dry, barren slopes are transformed back into fertile, green oases.
Knowledge that no storm can destroy
The foundation of this aid is practical training: families learn how to set up and maintain forest gardens, how to process their harvest, and how to keep their chickens and goats healthy. To get things off the ground, Misereor’s partners provide hardy seeds, seedlings and irrigation systems. They also organise the families into groups: through savings and solidarity groups, the families support one another – a tangible contribution to stability and social harmony in the country.
A strong network for the whole country
Around 40,000 families in Haiti have already joined the PADED partner network (Network for Agroecology and Sustainable Development). As they harvest more than they consume themselves, these families help ensure a supply of healthy food at local markets. This also means that families who have fled the cities can be provided for.
Here’s how your support makes a difference:
- People are being fed: more than 50,000 woodland gardens provide families with food all year round.
- Climate protection and erosion control: Windbreaks, fruit trees and species-rich mixed crops protect arable land from being eroded by storms.
- Targeted training: Young people and women are gaining skills in agroecological farming methods and cooperative organisation.
- Water management: Adapted irrigation techniques ensure the fields’ water supply even during periods of drought.
- Seeds: Self-managed seed banks ensure that regionally adapted seeds remain available locally.
- Livestock farming: Proper feeding practices and veterinary care, which families can carry out themselves, keep poultry and goats healthy.
Would you like to find out more about our charity projects? Then read our magazine “Weiter.wirken” now. The magazine about and for the people who make a difference at Misereor.
When making a donation by bank transfer, please quote the reference “S63409 Haiti: Forest Gardens – Hope for Haiti” in the payment reference field. This lets us know which project is particularly close to your heart; your contribution will be channelled as a general donation towards this work and Misereor’s overall global mission.
To ensure that your donation has an impact in the long term, Misereor uses a small proportion for important administration an related tasks. This way, we make sure that projects are selected carefully and implemented responsibly and that their effects are regularly monitored. Should it not be possible to use your donation as planned, we will use it where it is currently needed most.
Our local partner organisations
GADRU
Misereor works with several local agroecological organisations in Haiti, which are supported by the nine dioceses.
They operate from individual centres spread throughout the country. These are supported by the GADRU advisory service, which is run by the Jesuit order.
Suzanne Lemken
Donor Communications
- Telephone
- +49 241 442127
- suzanne.lemken@misereor.de
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