Friday, July 24, 2009

A Note from Josette








Bonjou,
What a summer! The Lambi Fund of Haiti has been busy as ever working throughout Haiti's countryside visiting partner organizations and providing on-site training.
Our newest projects are in the Northwest. The Lambi Fund team is working with a group of fisher folk to upgrade their fishing equipment with new nets and a boat. They are excited that they will be able to fish more productively and improve their livelihoods.
Lambi Fund staff also led an effective training session with a large women’s group in the Northwest. They learned about water purification, sanitation and rainwater cistern management. Now, this community is looking forward to clean, potable water on a reliable basis.
Seeing these projects become a reality is a true pleasure, as is watching enthusiastic families working to transform their communities.
Enjoy the rest of your summer, as we will be busy working with locals to reforest the land and prepare for the upcoming hurricane season!
All my best,
Josette Perard
Haiti Director
P.S. Follow us on and for all the latest Lambi Fund Updates and visit www.lambifund.org for even more information on sustainable development in Haiti.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Haiti Reforestation Act


THE HAITI REFORESTATION ACT OF 2009- PROMOTES SUSTAINABLE APPROACHES TO REFORESTATION AND AFFORESTATION

US Senator Richard Durban (D) from Illinois recently introduced a bill in the US Senate addressing the issue of reforestation in Haiti. Bill S 1183, the Haiti Reforestation Act of 2009, if enacted into law will authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to provide assistance to the Government of Haiti to end within 5 years the deforestation in Haiti and restore within 30 years the extent of tropical forest cover in existence in Haiti in 1992. In the process of drafting the Haitian Reforestation Act of 2009, Senator Durban's staff met with Lambi Fund of Haiti board member Jay Schoenberger to discuss our reforestation efforts. It must be noted that Lambi Fund's approach to reforestation is reflected in the portion of the bill which governs NGO involvement.

While Bill S 1183's primary focus is to work with the Haitian government, it also provides support for NGOs engaged in reforestation and afforestation activities. We are very pleased that the bill describes eligible agencies as those whose activities, similar to the Lambi Fund’s, support grassroots sustainable economic and environmental activities. As stated the bill will give preference to organizations which:

· Focus on sustainable income generating growth
· Provide seed money to start reforestation or afforestation collaborative
· Partner with local communities
· Focus on efforts that build local capacity to sustain growth after the completion of grant program
· Secure the involvement of local communities and indigenous peoples to protect forests in existence and carry out reforestation and afforestation activities

The Lambi Fund of Haiti is extremely interested in your opinion about Bill S 1183
www.opencongress.org/bill/111-s1183/show