By the Caribbean Journal staff
Above: construction in Haiti (Photo: Clinton Bush Haiti Fund)
The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund is granting $1.4 million in new funds for three projects in Haiti, including a housing programme, a vocational training programme and a green energy initiative.
GaMa Enterprises, a Haitian company, will receive $1.08 million in funding for a franchise-based housing solution aimed at building steel-frame housing kits at a factory in Port-au-Prince. Operating under the brand name KayTek, which means “house technology” in Creole, the company will produce a selection of ready-made and custom-designed homes for Haitians.
“Together, GaMa/KayTek and the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund are supporting long-term reconstruction by promoting jobs, cultivating entrepreneurship and building capacity in construction,” said Mathias Pierre, GaMa’s president. “[Construction] is forecast to be the nation’s predominant sector over the next five years. Simultaneously, we are addressing the needs of more than 800,000 individuals still seeking permanent housing.”
The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund is also granting up to $225,000 to equip classrooms at Salesiens Professional School, which was devastated by the 2010 earthquake.
The final project will provide $150,000 for Arc Finance, a global nonprofit which will look to provide sustainable sources of electricity, decrease energy costs and reduce pollution in urban and rural areas.
“These investments create the economic opportunities required for successful reconstruction,” said the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund Executive Vice President Ambassador Tim Carney.