Faces of Recovery: Planting the seeds of recovery

Women farmers in Haiti who were impacted by the August 2021 earthquake are cultivating their land in order to plant the seeds of recovery. Bernadette Charles and other farmers have been supported by a UN Women programme, called FADEKA, which empowers rural women and strengthens their resilience to climate change and other shocks. 

"With the earthquake, in addition to our dead and injured relatives, we rural women have seen our homes destroyed or damaged. The earthquake and the tropical storm that followed damaged our fields. Our agricultural and commercial activities were disrupted. We can no longer afford to pay back our loans.

I am a member of the Organization of Women for the Development of Les Anglais and I lead training sessions to help women farmers redevelop income-generating activities. I also travel to remote areas to bring seedlings, for example fruit and forest trees, to women who otherwise do not have access.  

We help women to start their own business through farming. We don't just grow agricultural products, we also process them. But we need agricultural inputs, workshops and equipment for processing our products, storage facilities, training, financial means and access to markets".