The goal of this phase is to create and nurture the conditions for long-term, sustainable food security and community development of rural communities located in two of Haiti’s poorest departments by providing technical and financial assistance to fourteen farmer cooperatives whose members continue to be vulnerable to hurricanes and tropical storms. Through a tailored plan, the project will assist participating cooperatives become stronger agencies by linking well-developed and developing cooperatives for peer learning , affordable credit and mutual support.

The project’s participants include the 2,061 members of 14 cooperatives with benefits extending to at least 10,000 individuals. Others in the communities at large will also directly benefit from stronger cooperatives providing better services to members and non-members in the areas of adult literacy, loans for women, agricultural production, and credit.

With project support, all the cooperatives’ leaders and selected members, both men and women, will receive continuing training and technical assistance in the areas of organizational and program management, agricultural credit schemes, adult literacy and small loans programs, soil and water use and conservation, poultry and livestock management and conflict resolution. Additionally, cooperative members will have greater access to livestock, poultry, seeds, and agricultural tools.