Economy

World Bank Endorses $255 million [US] 2012 Strategy for Haiti

WASHINGTON, D.C. (defend.ht) - The World Bank Board of Directors endorsed a $255 million [US] 12-month strategy for Haiti that will allocate $70 million [US] towards "education for all", $60 million [US] towards disaster risk management and $50 million [US] to relaunch agriculture.

The World Bank's 2012 Haiti Interim Strategy Note (ISN) includes the second phase of a project which began four years ago called "Education for All".

In the year 2012, this part of the ISN hopes to increase access to primary education for children aged 6-12, and allow 100,000 students from 1,200 schools to attend school for free, and 75,000 students to receive hot meals at school. In addition, 8,280 student-teachers will enter an accelerated traing program. This project's cost is $70 million [US].

A risk management project hopes to strengthen the Haitian government's response ability to natural disasters and health hazards. The World Bank says it has $60 million [US] for this project.

Lastly, the World Bank says it will put $50 million [US] towards relaunching agriculture in Haiti. 50,000 producers are estimated to benefit.

In September the World Bank pledged $95 million [US] to the Mayor of Delmas, a district in Port-au-Prince. The World Bank also pledged $500 million [US] in September to help with reconstructing Haiti. Sean Penn's J/P Haitian Relief Organization received $2.25 million [US].