Haiti

Please donate to our Haiti Earthquake Appeal 2021 to help families worst affected.

When disaster strikes, ActionAid does things differently. We work directly with local women and girls to provide support and save lives. Meet just some of the incredible women ActionAid works with in humanitarian emergencies around the world, and find out how they get supplies and information quickly and fairly to those who need it most.

In humanitarian crises, women and girls are disproportionately affected. But far from being passive victims, women are amongst the first responders these emergencies, bringing vital skills and knowledge to help save lives and livelihoods. Louisiane Nazaire is one of these women. When Hurricane Matthew struck Haiti in October 2016, she and other members of a women-led cooperative leapt into action. Louisiane explains why women's leadership is essential in emergencies. 

On 4th October 2016, Hurricane Matthew hit my country - Haiti. It destroyed homes, schools, crops, and roads, and brought island life to a halt. Our team has been responding to the crisis ever since, and thanks to public generosity, we have helped communities recover and build back stronger, through working with local partners, ensuring women lead the response, and focussing on sustainable solutions.

Learn how ActionAid’s humanitarian response to Haiti's Hurricane Matthew was led by local people and partners.

Over the last week the ever more shrill criticism of international aid found a new target - the practice of giving money directly to some of the poorest and most vulnerable people, otherwise known as cash transfers. The allegation made was that this amounted to setting up UK-funded cashpoints for the poor. Aid money should never be misspent or wasted, but the criticisms of direct cash transfers - giving money directly to people in need - misunderstand the issue. Here's why.