For fifteen years, GRET has been working in poor settlements of Port-au-Prince, in partnership with CAMEP (the public drinking water company), the Haitian government authorities (DINEPA - Direction Nationale de l’Eau Potable et l’Assainissement), and the populations in these settlements.

GRET is active in the fields of access to essential services and urban social development. It assisted CAMEP with setting up a drinking water distribution system using standpipes, charging affordable rates and managed by neighborhood committees (komités dlo) that are elected by the local population and play an important role in the relationship between inhabitants and government authorities. The profits from the sale of water are used by the committees to finance collective infrastructures in the settlements. At the end of 2009, half of the settlements in the capital were equipped with standpipes, supplying more than 800,000 people.

On January 12, 2010, a devastating earthquake struck the capital of Haiti and several secondary cities in the southeast of the country. GRET has already mobilized to participate in the reconstruction efforts in Haiti. Its team, made up of 26 local staff and two expatriates, is safe and sound. It is working alongside the population of the shantytowns, government authorities, and neighborhood committees to facilitate the arrival of emergency aid, restart the drinking water supply, and participate in lasting rebuilding efforts.
GRET is active, first, to ensure that the disadvantaged settlements in Port-au-Prince are not forgotten by the inflow of humanitarian aid following the earthquake. GRET is also working towards the longer term, to design and support rebuilding efforts and restart a sustainable development process.

GRET’s Action Plan to Contribute to the Rebuilding Efforts in Haiti>>>
Read more about GRET’s presence in Haiti>>>

If you want to help GRET’s rebuilding efforts in Haiti
You can send a donation to the CFSI, 32, rue le Peletier, 75009 Paris, and writing “GRET Haiti” on the back of your check.
GRET is a member of the French International Solidarity Committee (CFSI), a member of the Comité de la Charte du Don en Confiance (trusted donation charter committee).