AID cooperative agreement no. 521-0156-A-00-5038-00 to Save the Children Federation for the local resource development project

SCF will establish a local institutional base by forming at least 150 groupements averaging 8 members each over the life of the project. (Groupements, the first organizational level beyond that of the household, serve as mechanisms to train small farmers and promote income-generating activities.) The groupements developed under this project will participate in environmental study sessions, which will highlight the hillside agricultural problems in Haiti and develop possible short- and long-term solutions. The groupements will participate in reforestation and soil conservation activities. A minimum of 350,000 trees, including fuelwood and fruit-producing species, will be planted: 180,000 on the private holdings of groupement members (150 per member) and the remaining 170,000 on other land between treated hillside and catchment basins. The project will also construct soil conservation structures and/or, as appropriate, contour plantings of trees and other stabilizing vegetation to treat at least 1,500 hectares of fragile hillside lands within the target area. In additionally, credit will be disbursed both to groupements and to membes for independent group and individual productive investments. A groupement-managed revolving fund will be developed to continue after the project is completed. Finally, SCF will develop a comprehensive watershed management plan for the Bouyaha and Canot tributaries of the Upper Artibonite River. The plan will utilize the groupements as the basic units from which larger and higher order organizations, such as hillside farmer brigades and catchment basin management committees, are structured and mobilized.