Haiti – Gender Impact Assessment of the Earthquake of January 12, 2010:

A Case Study in Partnership

The 5th Annual Caribbean

Conference on Comprehensive

Disaster Management

Jamaica6-10 December 2010Asha Kambon, PhD

Regional Adviser, ECLAC

The role and experience of ECLAC in the Evaluation/Assessment of Disasters

1972 earthquake demolished capital city of Managua ( first attempt to estimate effects disaster )

1974 Hurricane Fifi in Honduras 1976 Earthquake in Guatemala 1979 Hurricane David and Frederick in the DR Many floods in central America in early ’80s and

more earthquakes in Central America; The first handbook produced in 1991 that detailed

the methodology being used

…role and experience cont’d

In 2000 ECLAC Caribbean Headquarters joined ECLAC Central America Headquarters in assessment of Hurricane Keith in Belize;

By 2003 the ECLAC POS Office for the Caribbean developed a special version of the handbook for use in Small Island Developing States;

Estimates were undertaken in Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Surinam, Turks and Caicos;

Experts at the Caribbean subregional Headquarters introduced the sustainable livelihood approach in the DaLA

The World bank adopted the ECLAC methodology and began applying it in the entire world;

Since then many assessments have been made in many parts of the world, for man made and natural disasters.

What does ECLAC Methodology for the Assessment of Damage and Loss do…

1. Ultimate goal : to measure in monetary and social terms the impact of disasters on the society, economy and environment of the affected country or region;

2. Identifies the changes that may be needed in public policy and in the design of programmes to deal with needs arising from the disaster and advice for long term development; and

3. Provides advice on how to avoid undesirable effects in economic performance and human well being and how to “build back better”.

Preliminary Summary of Impacts ofRegistered Disasters in LAC Region during the first half of 2010

TypeNumber of Disasters Deaths Affected

Cost (current

US dollars)

Climatic and others 20 748 1 350 784 5, 772

Geological 10 223 093 7 171 449 37, 865

Totals 32 223 852 9 053 077 43, 637

This paper seeks to answer the following questions …

Why introduce Gender analysis in a disaster assessment of damage and loss

What does it mean Is it easy What will make it work?

Collaboration and Partnership between DRM Experts and Gender

Experts

What is the purpose of a Gender Impact Assessment (GIA) To make clear the differential

impacts which the disaster has had on women and men and girls and boys;

The findings are meant to assist in the medium term: in the management of the disaster (relief and early recovery); and

In the long term: to sharpen the human development component, that would inform national planning and implementation processes for reconstruction and development.

How is a GIA conducted …

Through the collection and analysis of gender disaggregated data following a disaster, and comparing it with the pre disaster situation, by a team of gender and disaster management experts to provide policy advice ..

The GIA in Haiti was undertaken as a collaborative effort between UNIFEM and ECLAC

How can it be useful ?

The GIA situates its investigation in the theoretical constructs of gender equality, social justice and economic development and is centered on developing people’s capabilities and achieving social and economic equality;

Its outcome is seen as a contribution to applied research and public policy;

How can it be useful ?

The GIA operates on the premise that a disaster offers an opportunity for reconstruction involving a more active state.

Therefore, the response to a disaster is a moment in which sound social and economic policies can be implemented that redress the structural basis of inequalities in societies.

Haiti: GIA Methodology (Mixed) Quantitative Approach

Design an instrument that could capture information about the changed situation of households (male/female headed)

Convenience Sample Sample of IDPs (500 households )

Qualitative Approach Design an instrument which would capture the differential

impact of the Earthquake on men and women, girls and boys and their perceptions of the future

Purposive Sampling Focus Groups (18 – min 20- max 40 persons = 360 -720

persons) Design and Analysis utilising the Grounded Theory

approach

Collaboration and Partnership

Agencies – UN ECLAC , UNIFEM – Barbados SRO

Researchers Four Haitian professionals Two Caribbean professionals- English speaking

Caribbean (UNIFEM, ECLAC) 14 Haitian technicians

One Professional each from Mexico and Santiago ECLAC office ( supported data analysis) ;

Final publication in three languages is planned

The Case of Haiti January 12, 2010 just before

5:00pm a 7.3 earthquake struck Haiti about 17km south west of the capital Port-au-Prince (at a depth of 10km);

Over 220,000 people lost their lives;

1.3 million people were displaced;

Over 300,000 persons were injured

The case of Haiti…. The earthquake resulted in

massive infrastructure damage: 105,000 homes totally destroyed; 208,000 damaged; over 1,300 educational facilities, 50 hospitals destroyed or severely damaged; and the Presidential palace, Parliament, Law courts and most Ministry and Public Administration buildings have been destroyed;

It was the fifth worst disaster in human history ;

The most powerful earthquake to hit Haiti in 200 years

How did the earthquake impact women and men differently?

Death: Of the 222,570 reported deaths 56% or 124,639 were women and 44% or 97,931 were men.

At the time of the GIA 14.7% of the women compared with 3.1% of the men had moved from being economically active to economically inactive;

Due to the massive destruction of houses (damage to the housing sector accounted for 40% of the overall value of the damage caused by the earthquake) Women’s lives and livelihoods were severely disrupted.

How can the analysis inform policy…what did the GIA tell us?

Death caused change in the structure of the Household;

Deaths resulted in increased burden for women heads of household than before the earthquake and increased the absolute number of female HHH;

The number of households now headed by single parent males also increased, due to the deaths of females;

More women were economically inactive than men as a result of the earthquake;

How can the analysis inform policy…what did the GIA tell us? Displacement of households

resulted in a tremendous loss of social capital;

Displacement resulted in the decrease of personal safety and dignity;

All generations, women and men, expressed the notion that they had a right to be consulted about the nature and shape of reconstruction and development. The sense of citizenship and economic, social and cultural rights were heightened.

Policy response… to supportBasic Needs

Implement non traditional types of employment for cash and food to include employment traditionally associated with women such as nursery and monitoring of the children outside of the formal school situation and care for the elderly and the infirm;

Extend the training programs to include women in order to allow their full integration into the nontraditional areas of work, such as the construction industry, within the framework of the rebuilding of the infrastructure;

Broaden the micro financing facilities to include the refinancing of women in the retail business and micro production enterprises.

Policy response… to supportBasic Needs

Special support needs to be provided for those households who lost the female, either in her capacity of spouse or main income earner, and which is now headed by a single parent who is male, to ensure that the household does not become destitute and the children abandoned;

Development of a specific action plan for addressing sexual and gender-based violence in the temporary shelters, based on audit of existing shelters and consultation with residents and service providers;

Policy response…to support Strategic Needs Undertake specific and visible measures that

convey that the State respects the displaced populations with particular reference to their safety and disadvantage;

Ensure consulting and information sharing with the displaced populations, with special focus on the participation of women, girls and young adolescents in decision-making processes and reduce the stress caused by fear for personal safety and rumors and misinformation;

Recognize the right to education for all, by creating wider access to education for girls and boys (universal free access to education), while in temporary locations;

Create opportunities for adult education;

Strengthen the Ministry of Gender Affairs to enable them to monitor the implementation/reconstruction strategies and initiatives to ensure the successful meeting of the basic and strategic needs of women.

Thank you for your attention.