Read the latest updates from our food security development workers Gabriel in Haiti and Bernardo and Karina in the Dominican Republic...
DW Gabriel
The implementation and monitoring of the activities of the project are temporarily in difficulty due to the resignation of one of the agronomists. The team in Ouanaminthe [at partner organisation Solidarite Fwontalye] is reduced and this will affect the actual field activities.
We need to get more from our promotors in the field - so far the performance is poor when it comes to driving a motorcycle to reach Lamine and Gens de Nantes... There is still a lack of knowledge on their part in the realization of agricultural work.
However, I think there is the will within the team to support each other and to overcome this temporary challenge.
DW Bernardo
This week we coordinated and monitored the construction of infiltration systems [for irrigation] in Cruz de Cabrera, together with a representative of GIZ from Colombia, where this system was first developed and implemented. (This project is co-funded by GIZ within the project "Libón Verde".)
The people are very motivated and engaged in this work, as it is an important contribution to improve the quality of soil and productivity. Unskilled labour has been recruited in the community and they receive a small reward for their work, which provides an important extra to their income.
My field work this week was unfortunately a little bit reduced, as we needed to prepare financial and narrative monitoring reports for our donor GIZ. The desk work is not my favourite part, but it is important, as we need to be accountable and guarantee the next disbursement of funds in order to continue activities in the field.
DW Karina
I was engaged with an update for our project monitoring and evaluation. We need to make sure we are delivering what people need. It was difficult to get to the communities to gather information and to visit the beneficiaries in order to realize the food security surveys due to the heavy rainfalls during the last two weeks. But our promotors in the field helped and we were able to finish with all the surveys. Now I need to systematize and analyze the data.
In Ouanaminthe, Solidarite Fwontalye achieved to get some funds together to organise the Fair on Food Security, but it was not able to make it a bi-national fair. I participated in the conference part of the event and I did a presentation on the "World food day". The Fair was a success, but it is still a huge disappointment that our Dominican farmers' associations and mothers clubs couldn't participate due to the lack of funds.
Photo: A farmer in Lamine, Haiti (photo © Fran Afonso/Progressio)
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