Deadline: 29 November 2025
The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund Haiti has launched a major initiative to improve access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene in the Département de l’Artibonite through the project titled “Eau Potable et Assainissement Rural, Résilient, Durable et Décentralisé (EPARRDD)”, funded by the World Bank.
The project aims to strengthen rural water and sanitation systems, promote hygiene behaviors, and enhance the resilience of communities in areas most affected by cholera.
The program focuses on improving sanitation services in priority communes by promoting safe hygiene practices, rehabilitating small sanitation blocks, reinforcing handwashing, and encouraging the elimination of open defecation through the Community-Led Total Sanitation (ACAT) approach. These interventions target rural sections that have not previously received ACAT support, covering the most affected areas across seven departments: Centre, Sud, Sud-Est, Nord, Nord-Est, Nord-Ouest, and Ouest.
In addition, the project implements emergency Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) responses for displaced persons affected by violence in the Metropolitan Port-au-Prince area. Activities include distributing hygiene and dignity kits, providing water via tanker trucks, chlorinating stored water, emptying toilets, and installing mobile toilets at displacement sites to ensure immediate access to safe water and sanitation.
The initiative also strengthens the institutional capacity of the Department of Emergency Responses (DRU) within DINEPA and regional focal points through modular training programs designed to enhance emergency WASH response. Furthermore, the project focuses on improving wastewater and sludge management in collaboration with DINEPA’s Direction d’Assainissement (DA). This includes developing a sanitation chain management strategy in urban centers, reviewing existing institutional, regulatory, commercial, and financial arrangements, proposing additional measures as needed, and upgrading the Wastewater Treatment Plant (STEB) with laboratory equipment and quality control protocols for monitoring treated water.
To guide these interventions, a baseline survey will be conducted in ten priority communes to assess cholera cases and other criteria, which will inform the ACAT activities and behavior change communication campaigns. Through these comprehensive efforts, the EPARRDD project aims to ensure that more communities in the Artibonite and surrounding regions have access to safe, sustainable, and resilient water and sanitation services, contributing to better health and protection against waterborne diseases.
For more information, visit UN Partner Portal.