Two years after the earthquake, close to a million displaced Haitians have left temporary camps, an effort that the World Bank has supported by helping families rebuild and repair their homes, provide them with rent subsidies and upgrades to hard-hit neighborhoods.
In his first official trip to Haiti, newly appointed World Bank Latin America& Caribbean vice president Hasan Tuluy, visited the Petionville Club camp -run by actor Sean Penn's foundation JP/ HRO- where families get health and education services.
As part of the Bank's housing support, homes have been repaired and rebuilt in Port-au-Prince's hardest hit areas. Hasan Tuluy and Sean Penn inspect a model house built with support from the Neighborhood Reconstruction and Housing program, which has received US$65 million in grants.
The Neighborhood Reconstruction and Housing program has helped communities build family centers such as this one in Delmas 36, featuring after-school activities for children like dancing, karate and reading.
More than 100,000 Haitian school children attend school for free and 75,000 more receive free meals, as part of the Bank's support to the Education for All project (EFA).
At Les Frères René School, in Delmas 30, Hasan met with children and school officials to learn more about the EFA project, which provides tuition subsidies, learning materials and teacher training.
As Haiti moves forward on its reconstruction agenda, private initiatives like this IFC-financed state-of-the art power plant, seem to be fueling the country's recovery.
E-power, a Korean-Haitian joint venture, has boosted Haiti's electricity output capacity by 35 percent, while providing employment and on the job training to hundreds of Haitian technicians.
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