MERCY CORPS BEGINS FOCUS ON
CREATING JOBS, HEALING CHILDREN
In addition to meeting immediate needs by
bringing clean water and better sanitation to two
hard-hit neighborhoods, Mercy Corps is working
to create 7,000 jobs cleaning wells, clearing
streets and hauling away debris. We also are
launching a psycho-social support program called
Comfort for Kids to help ease post-quake trauma
in children.
Mercy Corps has a long track record of helping
communities transition from receiving aid to
carrying out their own recovery after natural
disasters. Our team of humanitarian first
responders in Haiti includes experts in emergency
distribution, water, food, shelter, health, logistics,
trauma support and job creation.
Creating Jobs, Hastening Economic Recovery
Stores in Haiti are opening and street vendors are
setting up their goods, but wares are expensive
and very few people have jobs – so they’re
unable to purchase the things their families need
to survive.
Mercy Corps is scheduled to begin cash-for-work
programs next week in the Petionville and
Tabarre communities of Port-au-Prince. We
anticipate that cash-for-work will ramp up to
provide more than 7,000 people with short-term
jobs doing essential recovery tasks such as
clearing debris and agricultural land, and cleaning
wells.
Our program will allow earthquake survivors to
earn a daily wage, get money in their pockets –
and resume the flow of cash into Haiti’s economy.
The next critical steps in re-booting Haiti’s
economy will include cash grants so that people
can rebuild assets like small businesses, fishing
boats and food carts. We are also looking into
partnerships using microfinance and remittances
to allow nascent businesses to stabilize and grow.
Mercy Corps is already working with microfinance
provider FONKOZE to help recapitalize its clients
post-earthquake. Efforts like this are essential to
Last year, Mercy Corps helped 16.7 million people turn crisis into opportunity.
return Haiti’s economy to a functioning state, both
in Port-au-Prince and in the provinces to which
many of the city’s now-homeless are returning.
Haitians living in tent camps desperately need work in order to earn
money to pay for goods. Mercy Corps is starting cash-for-work
programs to provide short-term jobs. Photo: Cassandra Nelson/Mercy
Corps
Providing Healing Support to Children
When the earthquake struck, schools in Port-au-
Prince collapsed. A full assessment of the
quake’s impact on education in Haiti is not yet
done, but reports from the Education Minister
state that half the 15,000 primary schools and
1,500 secondary schools, as well as the three
main universities, were destroyed or badly
damaged. Because schools were open when the
quake hit, many students and teachers died
inside. The Ministry of Education collapsed, killing
many staff members.
Haitian children who survived the earthquake
experienced trauma that could negatively affect
them for life.
Early next week, Mercy Corps will ship
approximately 5,000 Comfort for Kids kits, for
distribution to Haitian children. Offering children
these kits, which include items such as a plush
blanket and a stuffed animal, is the first step in
Mercy Corps’ efforts to help Haitian children
overcome the emotional trauma of the
earthquake.
Our Comfort for Kids counseling methodology is
designed to help restore children’s sense of well-
being after a trauma. It was first developed in
New York by Mercy Corps and Bright Horizons, a
global workplace childcare provider, to help
children recover from the trauma of 9/11.
Subsequently, Mercy Corps has used Comfort for
Kids to help children recover from the China
(2008) and Peru (2007) earthquakes and
Hurricane Katrina (2005).
kitchen staff can cook and serve the first hot
meals since before the earthquake.
A Foundation for Self-Sufficiency
The 7.0-magnitude January 12 earthquake in
Haiti left 3 million people in need of aid,
exacerbating the dire humanitarian situation in the
poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The
Caribbean nation suffers extreme hunger and
political instability, and this disaster only increases
the needs of thousands of impoverished Haitian
families. Mercy Corps has special expertise in
disaster response that establishes a foundation
for self-sufficiency.

HOW TO HELP
Mercy Corps is accepting donations toward our
earthquake response. Public support thus far has
been strong, and corporations such as
Amazon.com, Best Buy, Gap, Genentech, ITT
Corporation, Nike, and Trilogy/Voilà and Western
Mercy Corps’ Haiti country director Bill Holbrook surveys the Union have generously contributed to our efforts.
wreckage. Our longer-term programs will help Haiti recover and
rebuild in the capital as well as the provinces. Photo: Cassandra
Nelson/Mercy Corps Mercy Corps
Haiti Earthquake Fund
Health, Clean Water and Sanitation PO Box 2669/Dept NR
Mercy Corps plans to help tens of thousands of Portland, OR 97208
survivors access vital clean water and sanitation mercycorps.org
services. Sanitation has been severely neglected, 888.256.1900
and our expert, Mugur Dumitrache, estimates that
10,000 or more latrines are needed. The risk of MEDIA INQUIRIES
spreading disease can easily be avoided by Joy Portella
building safe, sanitary latrines. Director of Communications
Mugur has visited numerous communities in Port- jportella@sea.mercycorps.org
au-Prince to work with locals and other NGOs 206.437.7885
identifying ground water sources, and assessing
the quality of water and sanitation systems. PROGRAM INQUIRIES
Kevin Grubb
Distributing Food Program Officer
Mercy Corps’ emergency response team kgrubb@mercycorps.org
delivered more than 15 metric tons of non-
perishable food to the depleted pantry of the Mercy Corps
General Hospital in Port-au-Prince. Our team 45 S.W. Ankeny Street
brought high-energy biscuits as well as enough Portland, OR 97204
food staples – rice, pinto beans, flour, vegetable 503.896.5000
oil, sugar and salt – to feed 1,000 General 800.292.3355
Hospital patients, their families and staff for two
weeks. We also financed the purchase of fresh mercycorps.org
produce. With these provisions, the hospital’s February 2, 2010