Nikhil Aziz and Maria Aguiar of Grassroots International recently returned from Haiti, where they witnessed some of the pressing challenges - and encouraging opportunities - facing Haitians today. They met with peasant groups, surveyed environmental damage, and posted regular dispatches (which you can read below) to the Grassroots International blog. One of those posts was summarized and published online by The Boston Globe on April 3.

Nikhil and Maria's visit was especially timely, given the protests that broke out in Haitian cities last week in response to the exploding cost of food. The reaction by government officials to these riots has been to offer Band-Aid solutions - a temporary 15% reduction in the price of rice, for example - and the president of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, even used the crisis to promote using arable Haitian land to grow crops for the production of agrofuels. This suggestion is just the kind of failed magic-bullet solution to food security that assumes that through production of export crops, Haitians will earn enough money to buy ever more costly food. Grassroots International's partners in Haiti have been pressing for government support of local food production, or, in Kreyol, "pwodui local," since the first term of President René Préval in 1996.

But the current food crisis actually has its roots in bad governmental (Haitian and U.S.) and NGO policies that continue to haunt the Haitian people. A 2000 report by Grassroots International found that international aid programs were already hindering food security in Haiti almost a decade ago. The report is tragically relevant to today's crisis.

Ever hear of the Creole pig and how critical it is to Haitian food security and food sovereignty? Read below to find out about Grassroots International's efforts to bring back this eradicated pig population and how to support this initiative. You'll also find in this newsletter a link to an excellent report by the Oakland Institute providing a broad contextual analysis of the food price crisis.

And last but certainly not least, we present the second of our staff profiles - this one on Maria Aguiar, our Director of Global Programs.

In this issue:

• Haiti Dispatch #1 - Blue Helmets and Unmet Needs
• Haiti Dispatch #2 - The Colors of Haiti's Central Plateau
• Haiti Dispatch #3 - The Best-Paved Road in Haiti
• Haiti Dispatch #4 - Life, Hope and Development
• Haiti Slideshow
• Feeding Dependency - A Decade-Old Report That Could Have Been Written Today
• Sponsor a Creole Pig!
• Food Price Crisis: A Wake-Up Call for New Policies to Eradicate Hunger
• Staff Profile: Building Alliances: Maria Aguiar

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Haiti Dispatch #1 - Blue Helmets and Unmet Needs

The blue-helmeted United Nations peacekeepers who patrol Haitian cities (and who were partly the focus of ire during the recent food protests) have led ordinary Haitians to wonder why there's enough money for troops but not enough for government programs for the poor. Rural citizens, however, are taking matters into their own hands. "Representatives of peasant organizations such as the Peasant Movement of Papaye (MPP) and the Regional Coordination of Southeast Organizations (KROS) tell me their first priority is to hammer out a national program for improvements in the countryside," Maria Aguiar reports in this post.

Haiti Dispatch #2 - The Colors of Haiti's Central Plateau

In this post, Nikhil Aziz writes about flying over the interior of the country, from Port Au Prince to the Central Plateau, and seeing the devastating effects of deforestation. He then reports on the convention of the Peasant Movement of Papaye (MMP), which is organizing peasant farmers and farm workers, mobilizing them to have a voice in Haiti's government.

Haiti Dispatch #3 - The Best-Paved Road in Haiti

The road to Jacmel was paved by France as a gift to the country, but modern-day Haitians continue to suffer dire economic hardships as a result of past deforestation by colonial powers such as France. In this post, Maria Aguiar discusses how the grassroots organization KROS (Kordinasyon Rejyonal Organysasyon Sides) is running a large complex outside Jacmel that is home to a number of craft-based peasant cooperatives. KROS is also building a "model schools" program in Jacmel.

Haiti Dispatch #4 - Life, Hope and Development

Here, Nikhil Aziz describes a visit to a cassava processing plant, where this starchy root is turned into a tortilla-like bread. This project is overseen by VEDEK (Life, Hope and Development for Cap Rouge), a community-led peasant association that works closely with PAPDA (Haitian Platform for Alternative Development). VEDEK also helps local community members to become advocates for social change.

Haiti Slideshow

Take a photographic tour through Haiti to meet local heroes building a new food system. The photos were taken by Nikhil and Maria during their recent trip to the country.

Feeding Dependency - A Decade-Old Report That Could Have Been Written Today

Nearly a decade ago, original research conducted by Grassroots International showed that international aid programs in Haiti were creating dependence on food imports and interfering with the production of local food crops and sustainable agriculture. It has taken many years to see some improvement made by NGO's in their policies towards Haiti. For example, last fall CARE made the courageous decision to reject almost $45 million in U.S. government food aid funding, and in Haiti decided to change the way they run their food aid programs. But sadly, the recent news of demonstrations against skyrocketing food prices show that this report is as relevant today as it was when it was first written. Programs and policies such as the ones described in the report continue to contribute to the current food crisis in Haiti You can read the report by Laurie Richardson here.

Sponsor a Creole Pig!

For generations, the Haitian Creole pig was a poor Haitian family's most important economic asset. But in the early 1980's, under pressure from the U.S. pork industry to stem a swine flu, the Haitian government eradicated the Creole pig. Today, Grassroots provides financial support to a national peasant organization, the MPNKP, to bring back the pig herd, strengthen local capacities to solve local problems, and unite peasants around a common struggle. Please sponsor a pig and host a pig party!

Food Price Crisis: A Wake-Up Call for New Policies to Eradicate Hunger

In recent weeks, several UN agencies have issued warnings about impending food riots because of the acute hike in prices of rice, corn, wheat, and other staples.

Morocco, Guinea, Egypt, Mexico, Haiti, Yemen, Mauritania, Senegal, Indonesia, and Uzbekistan have already been rocked by mass protests. The World Food Program (WFP), which feeds 73 million people in almost 80 countries, has called upon donor governments to close a $500 million funding gap by May 1, 2008 or it may not be able to make its food aid commitments. Worst affected by resulting hunger are the poor, surviving on less then $2 a day, in developing countries. For more details, read the press release issued by The Oakland Institute.

Building Alliances: Maria Aguiar

Maria Aguiar, our Director of Global Programs, wears many hats. She builds relationships between Grassroots International and its partner organizations across the Global South, oversees our grant-making program, and works with U.S.-based allies seeking to influence American policies that affect human rights, food sovereignty, and economic justice in communities worldwide.

"The two things that have most energized me to do this work have been my visits with the MST [the Landless Workers Movement in Brazil] and participating in the 4th International Congress of the Via Campesina [in June 2004]," she says. "The Via Campesina is truly a global movement with representation from all across the world, made up of people addressing the challenge of how to make a living as small-scale farmers. It has been very meaningful to hear them speak in their own voices about their challenges and victories."

Maria, 57, has been at Grassroots since 2001. She previously worked in community-based settings with women at high risk for HIV/AIDS. Although she has lived in the Boston area for many years (she is currently in Brookline Village), she was born in Brazil and still sees herself as Brazilian. And outside of her work at Grassroots, she is enjoying life with her two young grandsons!