In Haiti’s storm-hit south, food vouchers restore choice and dignity for families

This article is published in association with United Nations.

Standing outside a colourfully painted building in southeastern Haiti, at the entrance to a bustling shop called Gods Will Depot where bags of food are stacked to the ceiling, Ketia surveys the large pile of groceries she has selected for her family: a big sack of flour, packages of spaghetti, boxed milk, some bars of soap.

Ketia and her husband are both teachers. Before Hurricane Melissa swept through the Caribbean this past October, they were able to support their three children. However, when, the storm struck, their coastal community of Petit Goâve was among the most affected.  

“I lost everything I owned: my furniture, my car, everything I had in my home,” lamented Ketia.

Ketia and her family are among approximately 225,000 people receiving assistance from the UN World Food Programme (WFP) in the wake of the storm. She is receiving assistance from a voucher system which allows families to purchase goods from selected retailers – a programme which supports those affected by the storm while also helping stimulate the local economy.  

© WFP/Sylvain Barral

“The shop is using an electronic system which records the transactions which are happening, and WFP pays the retailer,” explained Channon Hachandi, Head of Supply Chain for WFP Haiti. “It’s a good method to support affected families, because instead of going to receive assistance at a distribution, the recipient is acting like a normal shopper, going to the market.”  

Even before Hurricane Melissa, more than half of the residents in the most affected regions were already facing acute food insecurity, an indication of the acute humanitarian crisis that Haiti has been facing for many years.  

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The storm killed more than 40 Haitians, and many others lost their homes, businesses and belongings. In a region highly dependent on small-scale agriculture, there was widespread damage to farmland and a near total loss of harvests.  

WFP provided assistance before, during and after the hurricane. Together with the government, the agency sent 3.5 million early warning text messages via cellphones, and provided cash payments to people to help them prepare and mitigate the effect of the hurricane. 

During the storm itself families who relocated in temporary shelters were provided with rations. Immediately after, as families assessed the devastation, food rations for 15 days were distributed.  

To help the community rebound, the response has evolved, through provision of cash and vouchers thus giving families what WFP described as “the dignity of choice.” 

Right now, approximately 10 per cent of Haitians receiving assistance after Hurricane Melissa are benefitting from the voucher programme- an approach WFP aims to expand.

Wilfred Nkwambi, Head of Programmes at WFP in Haiti, emphasized that vouchers are more than simply a means of feeding people — they are a breath of fresh air for the local economy.  

“In this shop alone, the owner employs eight additional people for these distributions. In this part of Petit Goâve, there are five other shops, employing a total of 40 people, mostly women and young people. Not only is it good for the recipients, but also for the city’s merchants and local producers,” explained Mr. Nkwambi.

© WFP/Sylvain Barral

At the same time, WFP employs day labourers for logistics, generating additional income for local families. This approach benefits everyone, transforming aid into an engine for economic recovery.

Placing dignity and choice at the heart of intervention demonstrates humanitarian assistance can be synonymous with resilience for the Haitian people, according to WFP.

“Thanks to the food voucher distribution, we won’t go hungry in the coming weeks, and we have the chance to start rebuilding our lives,” said Ketia, as she loaded her groceries onto a motorcycle taxi and headed back to her family.