WB grant for emergency school reconstruction in Haiti

The World Bank (WB) has approved a US$ 5 million grant to the Republic of Haiti to help rebuild public primary schools that were damaged by hurricanes and tropical storms in August and September 2008.

The WB's Emergency School Reconstruction Project will contribute to rebuilding and refurbishing about 15 public primary schools. It also includes measures to ensure construction and refurbishment use "enhanced construction standards".

It is expected that all new educational infrastructure will use these construction standards.

Specifically, the project will support the following activities:

• Finance the reconstruction and rehabilitation of about 15 primary schools that have been destroyed or seriously damaged. New schools built in Haiti will use better standards and materials in an effort to prevent further collapses of school buildings. A few selected schools used as temporary shelters in case of natural disasters will also be upgraded.
• Support the development of a National Action Plan for Safe Schools (NAPSS), which includes a vulnerability assessment and risk analysis of existing educational infrastructure, a study on "The impact of disasters on the education sector in Haiti", the organization of a national workshop on building and maintaining safe schools, and the design of the national action plan.
• Improve service delivery of the Ministry of Education's Civil Works Unit to properly enforce new standards and regulations related to the construction and maintenance of educational infrastructure.

An estimated 964 schools were seriously damaged in the 2008 hurricane season, affecting more than 200000 children.