Over the last fifty years, the mission of Tdh has been to come to the aid of children and to defend their rights at all times 1

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1 Monthly Tdh highlights in Haiti bulletin no 3 Terre de hommes child relief Emergency assistance for children and their communities in Haiti (Port-au-Prince, 7 June 2010) Among the 2 million people affected by the January 12 th earthquake 1, over 1Ê300Ê000 people are living in shelters 2. Five months later, their living conditions are still critical. The torrential rain now coming down the western region, the epicentre of the earthquake, worsens the situation of the people living in temporary shelters. The emergency team of Terre des homes child relief (Tdh), whose first helpers arrived soon after January 12th, is presently composed of 200 local staff alongside with 20 expatriates. Each one of them has wide experience in dealing with emergencies in the special fields of intervention of Terre des hommes: nutrition, child protection, psychosocial work, water and sanitation. A shelter team is also working to provide assistance to homeless people in Leogane, Petit and Grand Goâve. Tdh emergency team in the west is working closely with its counterpart in the South, to take advantage from the experience that Terre des hommes has gained in the past 20 years in Haiti. Aid for the next nine months following the earthquake has been planned to launch a four complimentary interventions project. Over the past five months, Tdh has been providing comprehensive assistance to vulnerable families affected by the earthquake. The four scopes of activities are: 1) provision of temporary shelters and distribution of essential household items for 20Ê000 people 2) provision of safe water, constructions of latrines and hygiene promotion campaigns for 15Ê000 people 3) mother and child health care and the evaluation of the nutritional status of 20Ê000 infants under 5 and pregnant and lactating women 4) setting up of child protection measures, with a psychosocial support for 5Ê000 children Tdh targets mostly groups of affected villagers who camp near their former homes and people in some spontaneous temporary gathering sites. The overall target population is 50Ê000 persons, of which around 30'000 are children and adolescents. They are receiving direct humanitarian assistance and services to improve their living conditions and their level of protection. SHELTER / NFI 1 OCHA Haiti, Humanitarian bulletin, 20 th May/issue 3, available at: 2 Government of Haiti, Summary of earthquake destruction, 31 st May, available at: Over the last fifty years, the mission of Tdh has been to come to the aid of children and to defend their rights at all times 1

2 Over 16Ê799 people have received shelter items (491 heavy shelters kits, 821 tents) or Non Food Items More vulnerable families received hygiene kits (2Ê848); foldable jerry cans (2Ê332); kitchen sets (746); coal efficient stoves (347), tarpaulins (1Ê093), mosquito nets (1Ê016) Shelter intervention Shelter box Kit shelter DDC Tdh continues to distribute shelters and non food items. So far, 16Ê799 people benefited from these distributions. Assessment and distribution are made in collaboration with the village committees and information is shared with municipalities. A household survey has been made directly by the team where houses have been marked and IDs of inhabitants have been registered. All the distributions have been strictly controlled according to the preestablished lists and codification in order to avoid any fraud. Monitoring tools will be developed in the future to assess the use of the distributed material. The beneficiaries are responsible to build their own shelters (with technical support). Tdh coordinates all its activities with other NGOs active in the areas and established regular contacts with Jen, Oxfam International, Solidarité, Handicap International, and more recently Shelter Box, CORDAID and Un Techo Para Mi País. To provide the best possible response, Tdh also participates actively to the Emergency Shelter Cluster (ESC). Presently, Tdh is conducting a specific assessment for transitional shelters and is hoping to be able to start the construction of T- shelters in the next couple of months. Italian civil protection tent WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE (WASH ASH) Over the last fifty years, the mission of Tdh has been to come to the aid of children and to defend their rights at all times 2

3 Over 4Ê635 people have access to safe drinking water in the vicinity of displacement sites in Leogane and 3 water committees have been formed 418 latrines have been built in 6 localities of Grand Goave and 19 hygiene promotion sessions have taken place involving 380 families Drinking water Tdh provides clean water to vulnerable families in Leogane. In 3 locations, bore-hole wells are being drilled to replace the storage tanks (bladders) that were installed during the first phase of the emergency. Water committees have been established in each location. Those committees are set up to take the ownership of the water system and are responsible for its maintenance under the supervision of the village committees. Recently, three additional water points have been identified; in one location the existing water point needs to be rehabilitated. Construction of latrines So far, 418 latrines were built serving a population of 1Ê763 persons. This number increases at a rate of approximately 100 latrines per week. Masons and workers were identified at the community level to participate to a week of training and to receive building material and tools; 46 workers have already been trained to work on Tdh project. As part of Tdh community based approach, beneficiaries dig the hole and build the hut surrounding the latrine. Tdh workers build the main part of the latrine the foundation, the slab and the sit. By identifying and training members of the communities, Tdh is ensuring the sustainability of its interventions as well as the capacity building of the whole community. Trained worker buiding latrines in Grand Goave Hygiene Promotion Since the beginning of the project, 19 hygiene promotion sessions have taken place (including 20 people per session). Each family that received a latrine is invited to participate. At the end of the session, each family receive a hygiene kit including the provision of soap, a baby pot, a brush and a bucket of 20 liters with tap and lid for the storage of water at home. Before the sessions, the hygiene promotion agents carry out a questionnaire among 25% of the families expected to attend the hygiene promotion sessions to establish their knowledge and hygiene practices. Two weeks following the hygiene promotion sessions, the agents return in the families and carry out a second questionnaire to evaluate the change in knowledge and monitor the quality of the hygiene awareness campaign. NUTRITION Over the last fifty years, the mission of Tdh has been to come to the aid of children and to defend their rights at all times 3

4 6Ê018 infants under five, 2Ê275 children above five and 433 pregnant and lactating women have received mobile clinic consultation. 244 children with moderate severe acute malnutrition and 70 children with complicated severe acute malnutrition have been identified, treated or referred according to their needs. Tdh continues to conduct mobile clinic visits in the West and South departments for children under 5 years old and pregnant or nursing women. When appropriate, malnourished children are referred to specialized structures. In the South, Tdh has been developing a community based approach on nutrition for the last 20 years, notably for moderate severe acute malnutrition treatment. Recognizing its strong expertise in the field, the Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP) and UNICEF have identified Tdh as leading organization in the South to determine key Tdh mobile clinic in the South nutrition priorities for the forthcoming Interim Health Plan. In the West Department and in Jacmel, Tdh is currently participating to a Nutrition Survey led by the MSPP and UNICEF in collaboration with Médecins du Monde Switzerland. The survey started end of April and should be completed by the end of June. In addition, Tdh health team works in collaboration with the MSPP and IBESR (Institut du bien être social) to evaluate the nutritional health status of children in orphanages and to institutionalize the approach. Dealing with severe acute malnutrition: : the consequence of a human disaster Junior, father of Roselor, a baby born in December 2009, found himself alone with his daughter after his wife died during the earthquake. When Tdh carried out a mobile clinic in his village, Roselor was identified with severe acute malnutrition due to the sudden breastfeeding stop. The child was then referred to the nutritional stabilization unit of Les Cayes. The animators and medical staff have shown to Junior ways to treat water with chlorine, to prepare oral serum for his child and to entertain his little girl with simple games. From Fanny Mraz, Communication Officer, Les Cayes Over the last fifty years, the mission of Tdh has been to come to the aid of children and to defend their rights at all times 4

5 CHILD PROTECTION AND PSYCHOSOCIAL ACTIVITIES Around 145 children (85 in the West and 60 in the South) are individually monitored and followed up as part of the individual protection system put in place in coordination with other actors of the child protection sub-cluster. So far, 28 cases have been resolved. 438 children have been documented in 7 orphanages and researches for the restoration of family links are conducted 1Ê949 children between 6 and 12 years old are registered and participate to daily recreational, cultural and sportive events organised by 50 animators in 8 recreational centres in Grand Goâve and in Léogane 2Ê839 children kits have been distributed to vulnerable families (blankets, mats, soap, towels, clothes ) Child protection Tdh continues to play the role of focal agency for separated and non accompanied children in the South Department and Grand Goave. In addition, Tdh is now coordinating the Sub Cluster for Protection in Les Cayes. So far, 438 children have been documented in 7 orphanages from the West department to prevent disappearances, to assess the level of care, to conduct research for the restoration of family links, to approach better the causes of placement and abandonment and to define support that could be given to families to withdraw their children from the orphanages. The objective of those activities is to build on capacity and to prevent neglect and abusive adoption of children. Within the same line, Tdh continues to collaborate closely with IBESR (Institut du bien-être social), the governmental body in charge of child protection. On the advocacy level, Tdh is actively involved on the revision of the Adoption Act currently under discussion at the Senate. As part of the Anti-trafficking working group, Tdh continues its advocacy work to modify articles of the Adoption Act. An expert from Tdh conduct a mission last month to support this work and to mobilize key stakeholders including the Ministry of Social Affairs and Justice, IBESR, the embassies of France, Netherlands, Canada, the United States, UNICEF, MINUSTAH and other key NGOs. Psychosocial activities Tdh established 8 safe centres for children in height sites in the area of Grand Goave and Leogane where 1Ê949 children from 6 to 12 benefit from psychosocial activities. Every day, 50 animators organize sports games and crafts and cultural activities. In addition, 2Ê839 children kits consisting of blankets, mats, soap, clothes, etc. were distributed to children in IDP camps in the west and displaced children in the Southern Department. As part of its community mobilization approach aiming at Safe community center for children in Leogane strengthening the capacity of families and communities to participate in the action of psycho emotional development of the children, Tdh involve parents in advocacy and prevention activities. The chosen approach offers daily places for children to socialize with other children, it gives parents and community leaders an area of dialogue and exchange on principles of protection, education and it encourages them to improve their emotional relationship with their children. With most vulnerable children, Tdh workers engage in individual monitoring activities and refer them by the need to specified services (victims of sexual violence, abuse, disease, malnutrition, ). Over the last fifty years, the mission of Tdh has been to come to the aid of children and to defend their rights at all times 5