From post-disaster solidarity to long-term development: the Haiti-Mexico Joint Committee of Civil Society for the reconstruction of Haiti

The Haiti-Mexico Joint Committee of Civil Society for the reconstruction of Haiti (HMJC) is a South-South development cooperation programme created in 2010 by Mexican and Haitian CSOs after the earthquake. It is convened by Centro Lindavista, a Mexico Citybased NGO which has been active in promoting CSO engagement with Mexican development cooperation. The HMJC operates as a platform for multi-stakeholder engagement, having agreed a five-year comprehensive reconstruction programme with government officials and the private sector and developed a set of criteria and guidelines for reconstruction work. The most successful activities of the project have been the Committee’s agricultural initiatives that have focused on strengthening Haiti’s agricultural and rural economic development through farmer-to-farmer exchanges with Mexico.