The attached Country Engagement Strategy (CES/the Strategy) sets out the strategic direction for the Caribbean Development Bank’s (CDB/the Bank) engagement with the Government of Haiti for the period 2023-25. The Strategy responds to Haiti’s urgent development needs while the Bank continues to position itself to better engage its only fragile member state. The CES is guided by the objectives of Haiti’s Strategic Development Plan (2012-2030) to propel Haiti towards emerging country status by 2030, and the recovery needs identified in the Southern Peninsula Integrated Recovery Plan 2021-25.

The CES maintains the strategic pillars of the previous country strategy, whose implementation was adversely affected by severe and successive crises; an approach agreed on through consultation with GOH. The four strategic pillars are as follows: (a) Enhancing Food and Nutrition Security and Productivity; (b) Increasing access to Sustainable Energy Options; (c) Improving Human Capital and Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (MSME) capacity; and (d) Strengthening Environmental Resilience and Disaster Risk Management, and cross-cutting areas and themes including gender equality and good governance.

The proposed programme of assistance is designed to achieve the following development outcomes: (i) increased investment in the agriculture sector and higher farm production; (ii) increased production and use of sustainable energy; (iii) improved human capital and MSME capacity; and (iv) increased environmental resilience to climate change and disaster risks. A resource envelope of thirty-two million two hundred thousand United States dollars (USD32.2 mn) of Special Development Funds Tenth Cycle (SDF-10) grant resources has been allocated to fund the indicative programme of assistance identified in the CES.