Decent work for decent reconstruction in Haiti

On 12 January 2010 Haiti was hit by a devastating earthquake, worsening the already critical situation in the country. To date, the main international organisations, donors and other stakeholders have failed to keep the commitments made in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, struggling to turn their pledges into concrete and operational results.

Already before the earthquake, 80% of the Haitian population was living below the poverty line, on less than two dollars a day, and 55% was living in extreme poverty, with incomes of less than 1.25 dollars a day. The situation is now worse, due to the high level of unemployment.

Haiti is characterised by the immensity of the informal economy. Some 90% of workers earn their livelihoods in its commercial and production sectors.

The few formal jobs in Haiti are in the public sector (education, health, justice), and employ only 2% of the active workforce. According to ILO estimates, 20% of companies in the informal economy employ an average of 10 to 20 workers, whilst 80% are micro-enterprises with fewer than ten employees. Unemployment is a major obstacle to development in Haiti. Even prior to the earthquake, approximately 16% of the overall population (54% of the active population), in other words, 1.5 million people were totally unemployed. The unemployment rate among young people aged 19 and under is 62%. The rate among 20 to 25 year olds is 50%.

Haiti’s institutions are weak. Corruption is rampant and there is no real dialogue between social partners. Furthermore, although Haiti has ratified the eight Core Conventions of the ILO, there is still a total lack of respect for their actual application.

It is against this background that the Tra-dwa-fom-oga , Decent Work for a Decent Reconstruction project, led by the ISI (Italian trade union development cooperation institute made up of the ISCOS-CISL, Progetto, Sviluppo-CGIL , Progetto Sud-UIL) and the TUCA, is being carried out, with the aim of improving working and living conditions for Haiti’s people, including those active in the informal economy. The project is being implemented in line with the general framework for action set out in the Trade Union Road Map for Reconstruction drawn up and approved during the ITUC - TUCA conference in Santo Domingo (2010). The strategy is to take concrete action, strengthening social dialogue and organisations representing workers (as well as by training leaders), supporting workers’ access to social protection systems, including for those working in the informal economy and people living in extreme poverty, and protecting the rights of Haitian migrants working in neighbouring Dominican Republic. The creation of decent work is also being promoted through technical and vocational training, with the support of the other project partner, Consejo Provincial de los Padres Salesianos, to facilitate access to the labour market and increase the beneficiaries’ incomes.

With the arrival of the new ITUC-TUCA representative, Kattia Paredes, the activities have been given new impetus, favouring dialogue and the prospect of united action among Haitian trade unions, especially the three ITUC affiliates, the CTH, CTSP and CSH, but also the others, opening up greater opportunities for coordination between the international trade union organisations operating in the country, the ILO and other actors.

The Tra-dwa-fom-oga project is supporting this fundamental work through the activities outlined above, as well as working to create a rights culture through specific campaigns and actions linked to symbolic days such as 1 May, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (25 November) and many other events capable of drawing attention to a country that is once again falling into oblivion.

It is by no means easy to operate in a context such as Haiti. Great determination is needed, conscious of the risks, including the personal risk run by those working on the ground, given the high level of crime in the country as a result of the immense poverty. ISI has an office in Haiti, made up of local and expat staff who act on the belief that the reconstruction, like work, must be decent and with every awareness that this is Haiti’s chance, perhaps its last, to overturn the situation, the dearth of opportunities that has been plaguing the country for over thirty years.

Article by Simone Cirulli Iscos CISL