In Haiti, Flexible Funding Saves Lives
Flexible funding is the most powerful way to save lives because it enables UNICEF to allocate funds where they are most needed, addressing critical needs for the most vulnerable children
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More than 2.9 million children in Haiti – one out of every two - depend on humanitarian aid for survival in 2023. The country is currently grappling with a storm of crises: political instability, a dramatic increase in armed violence, a resurgence of cholera, and skyrocketing inflation. Basic services are on the verge of collapse, and unprecedented levels of hunger, malnutrition, and gender-based violence (GBV) are being recorded.
In the Port-au-Prince Metropolitan area alone, at least 140,000 people are internally displaced, living in spontaneous sites and host communities. This includes many unaccompanied children exposed to abuse, exploitation, and violence. Widespread insecurity and insufficient humanitarian funding pose a concrete risk, leaving most children in need behind.
In this increasingly volatile environment, with more children in need than ever and resources immensely stretched, flexible funds are crucial for UNICEF Haiti to meet the challenge and address children’s needs. Unearmarked and flexible funding is emergency funding where donors entrust UNICEF with the use of their funds when and where needed and in a timely and effective manner. While all funding is greatly appreciated and needed, flexible funding is the most powerful way to save lives, allowing UNICEF to decide where the funding should be allocated based on critical needs for the most vulnerable children that are unmet and/or the response is critically underfunded.
In Haiti, flexible funds were critical in responding to the cholera resurgence since October 2022. These funds contribute to improving access to water, sanitation, and hygiene in cholera-affected communities support the Government for coordinating a 'Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) shield' strategy, including the chlorination of drinking water through municipal networks and public collection points.
Flexible funds also support the provision of tailored psychosocial support to thousands of vulnerable children and families along the border with the Dominican Republic and the rehabilitation of schools damaged during the 2021 earthquake, benefiting more than 26,000 children.
Much remains to be done to provide relief and ensure protection for Haitian children in need, including preventing and responding to gender-based violence, supporting internally displaced children and families, and host communities, and continuing the fight against cholera. Unearmarked flexible contributions are of paramount importance to reaching children where it's most needed.
