Post Conflict Projects

The UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti 's (MINUSTAH) Brazilian contingent handed the Ecole Nationale de Cité Soleil to the local authorities, after having rehabilitated the school. At a short, but solemn, ceremony, the Brasilians officially handed over the building that had been serving as the contingent's headquarters. "The handover of this building to the authorities in Cité Soleil is a sign of change for the area," declared Colonel Barrosso Magno, commander of the Brazilian contingent. "The work we did here is not for the benefit of the soldiers, but for Cité Soleil's population." In his remarks, the deputy mayor of Cité Soleil, Gustave Benoît, recounted the efforts made by the Brazilians to bring security to the zone as well as to improve the living conditions of the local people. Recalling the different military operations that have taken place and the humanitarian activities that have been accomplished, Mr. Gustave thanked the Brazilians...

A provincial library in north-eastern Haiti has been resurrected thanks to funding by the United Nations peacekeeping mission, just one of the many so-called Quick Impact Projects (QIPs) that it is carrying out to improve community life in the impoverished Caribbean country. "The goal of this project is to encourage young people of the town to undertake cultural projects in this space, joining the useful with the pleasant," Principal Deputy Special Representative Luiz Carlos da Costa said at the recent inauguration of the library in Fort-Liberté, the main town in the north-east. The library, which once had only seven books, now has more than 1,000 thanks to $3,500 donated by the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). "To open the doors to a library is to close the doors to juvenile delinquency," library director Mesmin Cape said at the ceremony in the town, which has some 20,000 primary and secondary schoolchildren. "We had tried several wa...

Just days after launching a large-scale security operation to clean up one of Haiti 's most notorious hotbeds of criminal gangs, the United Nations peacekeeping mission has transformed the former crime boss's headquarters into a free medical clinic, with clowns to cheer up sick children. We are here to help the Haitian people," the commander of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) Brazilian contingent Claudio Barroso Magno Filho said. "And this aid cannot be achieved if there is not first security and peace. That is why our security operations are immediately followed by our humanitarian assistance." Until last Friday, when the UN launched a 700-troop-strong operation in the Boston area of Cité Soleil, one of Haiti's most crime-ridden neighbourhoods in Port-au-Prince, the capital, Jamaica Base was the headquarters of the gang chief named Evans, who used it to coordinate his activities in a country that has seen a surge in extortion, kidnappings...

Depuis la fin de 2004, la MINUSTAH s'est efforcée de réaliser des projets dans ces quartiers, malgré les difficultés liées à la situation sécuritaire. Au total, 47 projets à impact rapide, les QIP, ont été mis en œuvre dont 28 à Cité Soleil et les 19 restant, respectivement au Bel Air, à Solino, à Cité Militaire, à Martissant et à Carrefour Feuilles, pour un montant total de 571 293 USD. Plus de la moitié de ces projets ont été rendus possibles grâce à l'implication des militaires brésiliens, sri lankais et des UNPOL. La moitié des projets (22 sur 47) a permis de faire travailler les habitants à l'assainissement de leur quartier, en enlevant et recyclant les ordures. Dès que les quartiers étaient devenus plus sûrs, les QIP ont été consacrés à la réhabilitation d'équipements communautaires, en particulier, les écoles, les centres de santé et les espaces publics qui avaient été souvent saccagés. Deux sous- commissariats ont aussi été réhabilités à Cité Soleil et Martissan...

The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) has helped rehabilitate a high school for some 5,000 students in the St. Martin quarter of Port-au-Prince , the capital, after it had been out of commission since 2004 because of insecurity and disrepair. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative Edmond Mulet took part in the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Lycée Daniel Fignolé, stressing that strengthening state institutions, including education facilities, is a crucial part of the mandate of the mission, set up in 2004 to help re-establish peace in the impoverished Caribbean country after an insurgency forced President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to go into exile. The 16-classroom school was refurbished with UN, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and International Organization for Migration (IOM) funding. Prior to its refurbishment, the public school didn't have the necessary equipment for students to attend classes in a normal fashi...

Under the portfolio of projects for local government paid for by the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), MINUSTAH (the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti ) has contributed to the strengthening of the capacity of 13 Town Council Executives in the North East. The training took place between 27th and 29th June at Jacksyl, which is in the Caracol District in the North East. The training was organized jointly by the UNCDF and MINUSTAH's Civil Affairs Section. MINUSTAH, through its Quick Impact Projects fund, financed the training at a cost of US$11,000. Sixty-five local government employees, including mayors, finance clerks, general managers, secretaries and financial controllers benefited from the course on budget issues.

MINUSTAH, the French acronym for the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti , has recently closed its USD 2 million budget for Quick Impact Projects (QIPs) for the fiscal year of 2006-2007. A total of 166 projects were implemented to meet the immediate needs of the government and the Haitian population in terms of infrastructure rehabilition, delivery of basic public services, capacity-building and social mobilisation. To jumpstart the taking of office of the newly-elected local officials, QIPs spent USD 200,000 for the start – up kits (basic office supplies and equipment) for the mayors, vice-delegations and delegations. There were 92 infrastructure projects consisting of the rehabilitation of existing or the construction of new but basic municipal/delegation offices, police commissariats and court tribunals. Of equal importance, in the aftermath of this year's military operations in Cité Soleil, is the evolution of the security situation which necessitates that the missio...

Cambodia - 1999 to 2000. Kosovo - 2000 to 2005. Haiti - 2005 to present. More than seven years in three post-conflict environments. What is it that has drawn me to these places? Am I an aid worker, a junkie or both?