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New York — The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) resumed a watershed management programme in Gonaives, Haiti, that was suspended after four hurricanes devastated the city’s infrastructure and habitat over the past couple of months. The programme now employs 7500 people, providing a rare job opportunity for the population whose livelihoods were destroyed.

Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere, was hardest hit by Hurricanes Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike that displaced tens of thousands of people throughout the Caribbean.

The labour-intensive programme in watershed management serves a dual purpose; it offers income for families while also reducing the risk from future climate change-driven disasters. The 7,500 employees in Gonaives are building dikes and water walls, planting trees against land-slides.  These and other activities are helping to decrease future devastation from floods and landslides. The programme is implemented by UNDP, ILO and FAO with a support from France and Japan.

“Employment is the key pre-condition for social stability,” said Jean Marie Vander Wouwer, an ILO Adviser and UNDP manager of the watershed programme in Gonaives. “With donor support, we’re ready to immediately scale-up the programme by another 2,500 people.”

“The recovery of Haiti calls for targeted solutions that bring about long-lasting effects,” said Joel Boutroue, UN Humanitarian Coordinator and the Head of UNDP in Haiti. “We should aim to reduce the impact of future disasters, maintain social stability and lay foundations for a social safety net. We will be more likely to succeed in re-building Haiti with large labour-intensive programmes than without them.”

UNDP plans to implement programmes that will ultimately provide employment for up to 400,000 people. The long-term aim is to contribute to stability through employment creation.