Haiti—USAID Water and Sanitation project

In Haiti, the incidence of life-threatening water-borne diseases has worsened in recent years, due in large part to the massive earthquake in 2010 and Hurricane Matthew in 2016. Today, fewer Haitians have access to improved water sources than in 1990. Haiti’s National Directorate for Water and Sanitation has become absorbed in emergency response rather than planning the effective decentralization of water security, sanitation, and hygiene (WSSH) services. Private-sector actors have attempted to fill gaps in access, but without proper regulation, these services are often unaffordable for low-income populations and cause environmental damage.

To help reverse these trends, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) designed the USAID Water and Sanitation project to lay the foundation for sustainable, safe, and affordable water and sanitation services. The team supported infrastructure projects to expand access to water and sanitation services while also building local capacity to provide ongoing maintenance. Working in four target communities, by 2022, the program was able to help the local water utilities and fecal sludge management sites to provide basic and improved water and sanitation services to more than 400,000 Haitians and put the local water utilities and fecal sludge facilities on a more stable financial footing.

Sample Activities

• Build the capacity of local water utilities to improve their management strategy, reduce non-revenue water losses, and attract new customers.
• Strengthen the capacity of small and medium enterprises to market sanitation products.
• Help the government to reopen two of the fecal sludge management facilities.
• Establish an Enterprise Acceleration Fund to support private-sector WASH service providers with seed funding and technical mentorship.
• Support high-impact and financially self-sustaining water supply and sanitation infrastructure projects, including pump repair, leak reduction, and new water kiosks.
• Strengthen the enabling environment for sustainable WASH services by working with private-sector and government partners to develop regulations in key areas, such as the safe disposal of septic waste.

Select Results

• Provided 318,850 people with improved or basic water services.
• Assisted more than 50 entrepreneurs and small enterprises.
• Built capacity of nine water and sanitation national and sub-national institutions through training in sector planning, investment, monitoring, or regulation.
• Working with the Haitian National Water Authority to assist local water utilities (CTEs) to function as independent businesses. Despite COVID-19, an increase in crime, the presidential assassination, and a fuel shortage, a core group of CTEs increased their combined revenues from 3 million gourdes to nearly 8 million gourdes in 2021.
• Operationalized two fecal sludge management facilities in the districts of Fondfrede and Morne Cabrit. These facilities increased access to sanitation for more than 75,000 people and prevented human bio-waste from polluting drinking water sources.
• Introduced modern management systems, including a customer management and invoicing system that substantially increased revenues and a cloud-based reporting system that allows regional and national authorities to monitor system performance.
• Launched the Water Resilience Center.