RURAL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT (HACHO)

THE 1977 DROUGHT STOPPED ALL SCHEDULED OPERATIONS DURING THE PERIOD UNDER REVIEW & ENGAGED ALL HACHO PERSONNEL IN PREVENTING STARVATION IN THE NORTHWEST REGION. BOUNDARIES OF OPERATION WERE EXTENDED 40 KM TO INCLUDE BASSIN BLEU & GROS MORNE. SINCE COMMUNITIES RECEIVED FOOD WITHOUT CUSTOMARY WORK CONTRIBUTION DURING THE DROUGHT, THEY WERE HARD TO MOTIVATE TO COOPERATE AFTERWARDS. ONE OF HACHO"S MAJOR UNRESLOVD PROBLEMS CONCERNS TRANSFER OF HACHO"S HEALTH RESPONSIBILITIES TO THE HAITIAN GOVT TO PERMIT HACHO TO CONCENTRATE ON COMMUNITY DEVEL & AGR PRODUCTN. IF AID TERMINATES THE PROJECT IN FY79, HACHO WILL HAVE 2 ALTERNATIVES: 1)BE DESIGNATED THE OFFICIAL COORDINATING DEVEL AGENCY IN THE NORTHWEST REGION, OR 2)BE ABSORBED WITHIN GOVT MINISTRIES. THE 1ST ALTERNATIVE IS MORE ADVANTAGEOUS BECAUSE THE GOVT RECOGNIZES HACHO"S AUTONOMY & CANNOT ABSORB ITS RESPONSIBILITIES. ALSO, HACHO CAN EXPECT GENEROUS FUNDING THROUGH OTHER AID PROJECTS AS WELL AS GERMAN CONTRACTS. THE HACHO PHASE II EVAL RECOMMENDATN TO KEEP STATISTICS FROM BASE YR 1976, TO USE THESE DATA AS A BASIS FOR PROJECTNS IN THE FY77 REVISED PROJCT PAPER & TO TEST THE VALIDITY OF THESE PROJECTNS WITH DATA ACQUIRD BY INTRODUCNG CHANGES IN RECORD KEEPING METHODS WAS NEVER FULFILLD BECAUSE OF POOR LITERACY & OTHER PROBLEMS. HACHO HAS APPROX 3500 PEASANT FAMILIES PARTICPTNG IN COMMUNITY SELF-HELP PROJCTS TO GROW SORGHUM ON 2000 HECTARES. BECAUSE OF DROUGHT, HACHO HAS CONCENTRATD ON REPAIRING INSTEAD OF INSTALLING WATER SYSTMS. HACHO HAS COMPLETD SURVEYS & RECRUITD PERSONNEL FOR OPENING OF NUTRITN CNTRS IN 20 NEW COMMUNITIES. AN EXPERMNTL FARM HAS DISTRIBTD 114,906 WOOD-PRODUCNG & 13,538 FRUIT-PRODUCNG TREES. IT NOW HAS A 77,784 SEEDLING STOCK. A TRNG & DEMO CNTR IS PLANND AT THE FARM. A BEEKEEPING PROJCT WILL DISTRIB 500 HIVES AMONG 100 PEASANT FAMILIES. A LESS COMPLICATD METHOD OF RELEASING TITLE I FUNDS IS NEEDED. AN 8-MONTH DELAY IN SIGNING THE CARE-AID CONTRACT RESULTED IN VEHICLE PURCHASE DELAY.