SECTION I: INTRODUCTION
Country and hazard overview
CASE STUDY
Some key principles
in practice:
Trade-offs in
post-disaster response
Country: Haiti
Organisation: Save the Children
Hazards: Earthquakes, flash floods, high winds
Summary: Reconstruction in the wake
of the 2010 Haiti earthquake was extremely
challenging, spanning many years and hundreds
of organisations. In the complex and shifting postdisaster context, the international humanitarian
organisation Save the Children was tasked with
providing school buildings to get children off the
streets and back into school. Amid conflicting
pressures of time, resource constraints, internal
organisational mandates and relations with
the Haiti government, Save the Children made
difficult trade-offs to complete their mission using
community-based principles.
Holguín
NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN
Port-De-Paix
Cap-Haitien
Gonaives
Fort-Liberte
HAITI
Carribean Sea
DOM.
REP.
Port-au-Prince
Jeremie
Les Cayes
Jacmel
2010 Haiti Earthquake
Carribean Sea
15
Hinche
In 2010, a devastating earthquake struck Haiti, damaging
or destroying 80 percent of schools around the capital city
Port-au-Prince. Nearly 250,000 people were killed, and
one-third of the population displaced. Most documents from
the past 204 years of Haitian governance were buried under
rubble. Land tenure was almost impossible to determine
and the Haitian MoE was overwhelmed by the crisis, despite
good coordination. In this extremely difficult context, Save
the Children – who was co-leading the Education Cluster
with UNICEF while working alongside other NGOs and the
MoE – rushed to respond.
Returning children to the classroom was the most pressing
goal for Save the Children from both educational and childprotection perspectives. Aiming for immediate relief amid
the post-disaster turmoil required Save the Children to make
difficult trade-offs. Pressures from key stakeholders pushed
and pulled the school construction program, sometimes in
opposing directions.
A laudable success
The Education Cluster was run by Save the Children
and UNICEF. Together, they coordinated the efforts of
approximately 100 organisations.
Collectively, the Haiti Education Cluster established
more than 1,000 temporary learning spaces, trained
more than 10,000 teachers in psychosocial support for
children, facilitated the return to school of more than
1 million students, and undertook cholera-prevention
activities in 20,000 schools.
Save the Children alone constructed at least 100
schools, helping thousands of children get off the
street into their successful education programming that
followed. Surveys indicate that community members
were extremely grateful for Save the Children’s efforts.