World YWCA: Haiti Update
We remain in prayers for the people of Haiti as we share with you an update on the YWCA movement response and immediate plan:
1. On receiving the news of the earthquake, we immediately sought to establish contact with the YWCA of Haiti and offer support to its members, families and friends.
2. We sent immediate information to the movement, and issued A Call to Action with a call for solidarity and for support, donations and immediate relief assistance to be channelled mainly through our ecumenical partners members of ACT International and through the Red Cross. We have received tremendous feedback from member associations’ contributions across the World.
3. We held internal consultations as staff and also with the Board members, and we are grateful to Dr Deborah Thomas and Icilda Humes (World YWCA Board members from the Caribbean) for guidance and direction. We agreed to proceed on the YWCA 6 step approach:
- Support rapid situation assessment. The World Office makes contact with the member association, gathers information on the situation and jointly defines a short-term joint plan.
- Support provision of humanitarian assistance where possible (such as shelter) and advocating for gender responsive humanitarian support in collaboration with ICRC/IFRC and other partners. Special attention to SRHR for women and girls and especially women living with HIV and survivors of violence.
- Effective participation in the recovery, reconstruction, conflict resolution or peace building efforts in a way that respects the sensitivities and complexities of the situation.
- Support strategic engagement and advocacy for sustainable solutions to the crisis that could include peace building or conflict resolution, working in collaboration with partners especially women, youth and faith-based organisations.
- Sustain public communication as part of the advocacy, information and feedback to the YWCA movement and partners through action alerts, situation updates or feature articles on the World YWCA website and in Common Concern.
- Support documentation, as well as systematic monitoring and evaluation of the response.
4. We have established collaborative and information sharing relationships with ACT International, Caribbean Conference of Churches, GBV in Humanitarian Crisis Cluster (International), IFRC, and the Alliance of Youth CEOs; ConnectNet and the Caribbean YWCAs Network.
5. The YWCA of Haiti Board members have been in communication, and to date have been able to respond as follows:
a. Identified the losses within the families and offered each other support, solidarity and prayers. World YWCA Regional Director for Caribbean and Americas (Haitian) lost a cousin in the disaster. We thank all who have sent messages of support and prayers of solace for the departed.
b. Some of the YWCA members have been able to make alternative arrangements for the immediate families and evacuated them to places of safety. However the majority still needs support.
c. YWCA members in Haiti have been part of the community response efforts and each one of them volunteering in various forms in the last two weeks.
d. We have managed to have a measure of contact through email and recently on the phone with the YWCA sisters in Haiti. This opened possibilities for the World YWCA to continue to offer support, guidance advise and also to be able to listen to the needs and the possibilities of support.
e. The YWCA of Haiti plans to convene a meeting very soon with the members present in Haiti. This is a major step in the recovery of communities and again women mobilising and organising to lead in the response. We will share in our next update their assessment of the situation.
6. From the above the World YWCA continues to call for:
a. Continued support to the relief effort in Haiti and especially looking at the special needs for women, especially HIV affected families
b. Greater involvement of women in the needs assessment and inclusion of gender issues (use the tools developed by the GBV Cluster)
c. Support and capacity building of local community, women’s and faith groups such as the YWCAs as a critical step for the recovery and reconstruction of the country.
d. Build on the expertise of the Haitians in the Diaspora, including women, who bring knowledge of the context and have expertise required at this moment of need.
e. Greater involvement of women leaders and inclusion of gender priorities in the plans for the International Conference on Haiti.
7. Next steps for the World YWCA – (30 day plan)
a. Continue support the YWCA of Haiti in its efforts, and nurturing the group’s institutional capacity.
b. Support, facilitate and participate in a solidarity visit to Haiti in February
c. Contribute to the response of the ecumenical family
d. Contribute to the advocacy and support on women’s issues through the GBV Cluster group.
e. Continue with communications, update and links with other organisations
For further information on our response to Haiti, kindly contact:
Marie-Claude Julsaint
Regional Director, Americas and Caribbean
m-cl.julsaint@worldywca.org
Yet again, thank you for the continued support, prayers and solidarity.
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