Carol Schachet's blog

Only six months ago, Haiti was violently shaken by an earthquake, killing nearly 300,000 and leaving the country reeling from its latest disaster. With help from responsive and generous donors, Grassroots International has been able to provide support directly to community-led organizations -- the people on the front-line of helping rebuild.

No one denies that Haiti needs seeds and support this planting season, as the population still faces steep challenges since January’s devastating earthquake. Many thousands have fled urban areas for the countryside, taxing already strained resources and causing many rural communities to re-purpose for food the seeds set aside for planting.

But is any seed a good seed? No, says Chavannes Jean-Baptiste and other Haitian activists. Chavannes is the executive director of Grassroots International partner the Peasant Movement of Papaye (MPP).

Grassroots International, along with scores of organizations and global activists, endorses the call of the Via Campesina to "Stop Land Grabbing Now!" and say no to the principles of “responsible” agro-enterprise investment promoted by the World Bank.

Below is a blog from our colleague Stephen Bartlett of Agricultural Missions entitled “Praying with our Feet Journal.” Along with 1,000 others, he participated in the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) Farmworker Freedom March, a three-day trek of 25 miles ending in Lakeland, FL where Publix supermarket chain corporate headquarters is located. The farmworkers are calling on Publix to pay them a penny more for every pound of tomatoes they pick, which would nearly double their meager wages. CIW and other marchers are also asking Publix to sign onto a code of conduct which would prevent the from buying tomatoes from any growers that did not meet certain basic working conditions.

A World People's Conference on Climate Change has been called by Bolivia as a response to the failure of COP15. As one of the few countries that openly criticized the negotiations in Copenhagen and has refused to sign the Copenhagen Accord, Bolivia has invited governments, organizations, and people to take part in finding solutions to fight climate change.

How does cheap food contribute to global hunger?  Tim Wise, a former Grassroots International Executive Director, recently wrote an article in Resurgence magazine explaining the contradictory nature of food and agriculture under globalization.

Over the weekend proceeding Martin Luther King Day, kids from Jamaica Plain, MA took to the sidewalks to raise funds for earthquake relief in Haiti. They set up tables in front of local shops, including JP Licks ice cream store and City Feed grocery. In less than two hours, area residents had donated $356 to help the Haiti reconstruction work of three Boston-based groups: Grassroots International, Oxfam America and the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee.

Recently, Grassroots International received an email from our partner Camille Chalmers of the Haitian Platform to Advocate Alternative Development (PAPDA). It is translated below.

Over the years, Grassroots International has had an opportunity to talk about rethinking emergency aid with our partners, including those in Haiti. Now, in the wake of a devastating earthquake in Port-au-Prince, those conversations and our funding principles continue to guide relief efforts.