25 March 2010

Jacmel, Haiti: UNV volunteers are helping feed Haitians cut off from vital food supplies by the January earthquake. UNV volunteer Hazem El Zein runs food distribution for the World Food Programme (WFP) in the southeast region, distributing food to around 300,000 people.

Food was scarce in southeast Haiti even before the earthquake struck, as infrastructure had already been badly damaged by previous hurricanes.

“We were able to carry out the first food distribution in Jacmel only five hours after the quake,” says Mr. El Zein. “We had stocked on food supplies in preparation for the cyclone season, so we luckily had enough food to distribute for one and a half months.”

WFP became the United Nations agency responsible for aid coordination in the region. As Head of Programme for WFP in the southeast, Hazem El Zein coordinated the relief efforts of the United Nations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in a region with an estimated population of 500,000.

This involved implementing WFP projects as well as providing logistical support to all NGOs in the area until staff of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) arrived in Jacmel two weeks later.

Some 600 people were killed in the port town of Jacmel during the quake and, according to the WFP, around 16 percent of the town’s population is now dependent on food aid, receiving daily sustenance from WFP through the efforts of UNV volunteers.

“We serve a daily hot meal of beans and rice to around 30,000 people across the city, and we distribute food in the whole southeast region to around 300,000 people directly or indirectly affected by the earthquake,” says Hazem El Zein.

WFP food distribution is done through neighbourhood and village committees, and daily projects are carried out in cooperation with local NGOs, providing training for capacity building while working with community services.

The main challenge is the lack of a proper road system in the southeast. “It can take up to two days to reach a small village in the countryside. And since the roads are in a terrible state, the trucks often break down,” points out Mr. El Zein.

With a degree in law and four years of experience in development and relief work in his home country of Lebanon, Hazem El Zein is proud to recall that the WFP was operational in record time in Jacmel, distributing some 3,500 fortified biscuits at the airfield on the evening of the earthquake.

“Not only were we able to react extremely quickly, but the coordination of the emergency relief efforts worked well and we were able to serve between 70 and 80 percent of the population,” he concludes.