PORT-AU-PRINCE (AlertNet) - In the midst of buildings ruined by Haiti's massive earthquake, Marie-France Forbin uses a shovel to scoop up rubble that is then loaded onto nearby trucks.
The mother of four is one of more than 12,000 Haitians who have been enlisted to clear away the debris -- as part of a U.N. scheme aimed at providing temporary work for the country's unemployed.
With rubbish piled high on the streets of the capital Port-au-Prince and roads blocked by debris from flattened buildings, removing tonnes of rubble to ease the delivery of much-needed humanitarian aid is an urgent priority -- as is clearing human waste to stop the spread of infectious diseases.
"I'm lucky to have this job. It allows me to buy more food," said Forbin, who wears a blue overall as she labours away.
While she works, her eldest daughter, aged 15, looks after the other children at one of the hundreds of squatter camps across the capital.
The initiative, known as the cash-for-work scheme, is coordinated by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as part of its emergency relief and recovery response to the powerful earthquake to rattle Haiti in 200 years.
The programme pays workers 150 gourdes, around $4, for half a day's labour and gives them food.
Workers are also employed to break debris into smaller pieces with pick axes, and to clean public markets, tented settlements and communal wash areas.
The scheme is targeting those who have lost family members in the 7.0 magnitude quake and women, who head up to 40 percent of households in the Caribbean island nation.
In the coming months, the UNDP hopes to put 100,000 people to work, and if sufficient funding is secured, expand the project to involve up to 220,000 people, including those living in other earthquake-stricken cities such as Leogane and Jacmel.
This would make the United Nations, along with the port authorities and farming and textile sectors, a leading employer in Port-au-Prince.
STEP TOWARDS INDEPENDENCE
Clearing the rubble is dusty, hard work. But in the poorest country in the Western hemisphere where jobs are scarce and an estimated 1 million people homeless, getting any kind of paid work is rare. Before the quake, unemployment hovered between 70 to 80 percent, with the majority of Haitians scraping a living as subsistence farmers.
Employing Haitians to take part in the clean-up operation is seen as crucial in ensuring a successful recovery effort, while offering Haitians a chance to be autonomous.
"The cash-for-work programme gives people a choice about how they want to spend their money. They are taking part in the recovery of Haiti," said Eric Overvest, UNDP country director in Haiti.
"Getting people involved in the clean-up operation gets people active," he added.
The initiative also aims to kick-start the local economy since money earned through the programme is likely to be spent on buying food at local markets, going directly into the hands of the Haitians. The cash injection will help stimulate the local economy, said UNDPs Overvest.
But funding for the cash-for-work programme remains a challenge despite a recent call from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for international support. The UNDP has issued a flash appeal asking for $40 million to support the initiative.
Meanwhile, for the hundreds of thousands of other Haitians who remain jobless, surviving is a precarious day-to-day struggle.
On top of collapsed buildings, people scavenge for mangled iron rods to sell, while others pick through the debris looking for clothes and any material that could be used as shelter.
Outside the gates of the U.N. compound in Port-au-Prince, large groups of men wait holding CVs in the hope of getting work with media crews and the myriad of non-governmental organisations taking part in the aid effort.
If future jobs are to be created in Haiti, it is essential to start focusing on how to attract foreign investment and implement long-terms plans to boost small-scale agriculture in the mango, corn and sugarcane sectors, economists say.
Before the quake, the Inter-American Development Bank identified agribusiness, sustainable energy, including wind and solar power, and garment manufacturing as sectors with strong potential to generate jobs in Haiti.
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