The President of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has presided over the opening of four Haitian schools that were rebuilt by Islamic Relief.
When a catastrophic earthquake struck the Caribbean nation in 2010, tens of thousands of people died and public infrastructure was wrecked, largely around Port-au-Prince. Islamic Relief was amongst the first to respond with emergency aid, and subsequently began implementing projects to enable communities to lift themselves out of poverty.
Four quake-damaged schools opened so far
Our ambitious schools rehabilitation programme is supported by IDB funding of US $4 million. So far, Islamic Relief has brought four quake-damaged government schools back into use.
Lycée Jacques Premier School and Immaculé Conception Girls School were completed in April and July 2014. Jean Marie Vincent School and Charlotin Marcadieu School were both completed last month.
Speaking at the opening ceremony on 14 October, His Excellency Dr Ahmad Mohamed Ali, the President of the Islamic Development Bank, said: “The importance of education for development, particularly for girls is vital to the socio economic development of any country.
“The implementation of the project has been entrusted to Islamic Relief Worldwide and I wish to commend the organisation for the successful implementation of this project.
“Beyond the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the schools, this important development project had other benefits for the people of Haiti. Over the period of the project, it has created one thousand jobs on the construction sites.
“IDB and Islamic Relief have organised workshops for the children in the area to build their confidence after the earthquake and to assure them of the safety measures embedded in the designs of the buildings.”
Safe, modern learning spaces for thousands of children
When complete, the schools programme will provide around 11,200 children with safe, disaster-resilient and modern learning spaces. Guests at the official opening ceremony included the Haitian Minister of National Education and Professional Training, members of the Diplomatic and Consular Corp, representatives of Islamic Relief Worldwide including the Islamic Relief Middle East manager and Haiti head of mission, as well as school children and local community leaders.
Islamic Relief was one of the first international organisations on the ground in the wake of the magnitude 7.0 tremor in 2010. We have since delivered numerous recovery and development projects in Haiti.