Washington, DC -- 1/15/2010 -- As you know, the people of Haiti are suffering terribly after the earthquake in Port-au-Prince last Tuesday. Haiti is an FTI partner country, and we are trying to mobilize our resources to help as best as we can. Concerning the situation on the ground in Haiti for the education sector: The Ministry of Education buildings were destroyed as were many schools. The Ministry of Education does not currently have operational capacity, and many government officials working in the education sector are unaccounted for at this point. There have been many casualties. NGOs such as Catholic Relief Services and many others are functioning, though often with many staff unaccounted for.
Concerning the Catalytic Fund: The World Bank is the Supervising Entity for the $22 million Catalytic Fund grant to Haiti. The signing of the grant had been scheduled to take place in just over a week's time. Over the last few days, the Secretariat has met with the Bank's Haiti country team, and education team; we have agreed in principle to restructure the program to make funding immediately available for school feeding and school reconstruction.
We are suggesting that the grant (or a portion to be agreed) be executed directly by the World Bank with the help of well-established NGOs in Haiti, such as Catholic Relief Services, Save the Children or BND (Bureau de Nutrition et Developpement). The multi-donor trust fund just created could be used to channel funds through these organizations. A significant portion of the grant could also be transferred directly to World Food Program for school feeding. All of this would be done in coordination with relief efforts, in support of development efforts to re-establish Haiti's education system.
We are aiming to have an agreement on the use of the funds by the middle of next week. We are expecting to contact the members of the Catalytic Fund Committee next week for a virtual non-objection to any changes from the originally agreed program and implementation arrangements. We would also like to make an early commitment that additional CF funds will be made available to complete the originally intended program as soon as it becomes possible (for instance, school grants as part of a tuition waiver program).
Regarding EPDF, there may be an early need--also to be clarified by mid-week--for use of some immediate funding for planning or other purposes, particularly in support of urgent ECD needs; these activities would be consistent with EPDF objectives. We propose to contact the members of the EPDF committee next week once we have further details, and to request a virtual non-objection if needed.
Last Modified: February 28, 2010
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