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USAID Sponsored Haitian Diaspora Investment Challenge Facility
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 26, 2008
Press Office: 202-712-4320
Public Information: 202-712-4810
www.usaid.gov
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has created the Haitian Diaspora Investment Challenge Facility that will be implemented in the fall of 2008. This program will provide members of the U.S. Haitian Diaspora with the opportunity to compete for grants of up to $100,000. Competitors must provide detailed plans for sustainable business activities in Haiti. A notification will be made public to provide details of the application process.
In order to start this program, USAID is providing initial funding of $2 million. Other international donors, as well as private sector foundations or businesses, are invited to contribute to the fund. The grants will leverage diaspora business investment in Haiti on a basis of at least 2 to 1. Diaspora investors' grant applications must include business plans for sustainable activities, implemented with the participation of a Haitian business. In addition, business development and other technical support will be provided to grantees. As part of the program, credit guaranty programs with local Haitian banks will provide improved access to credit.
The Haitian Diaspora traditionally serves as a major source of foreign exchange for Haiti, sending remittances back home to family members and charitable organizations. This group is often the first responder in times of natural disasters and other crises, and mobilized quickly to respond to the current crisis in Haiti stemming from Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. The Facility will allow the Diaspora to more fully realize its potential for investing in productive business activities, which would broaden and deepen recovery and creation of livelihood opportunities.
A Haitian and a U.S.-based NGO, both to be named later, will manage the alliance. USAID and other donors will have a seat on the Facility's governing structure.
For more information about USAID's programs in Haiti and around the world, go to www.usaid.gov.
The American people, through the U.S. Agency for International Development, have provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for nearly 50 years.
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