The Government of Haiti, through the CIAT (Comité Interministériel d’Aménagement du Territoire) is to define government policy on planning, protection and watershed management, water management, sanitation, urban planning and equipment. The “Center” and “Artibonite” regions represent in this sense preferred areas for public investment over the next decade.
The Ring of the Artibonite is one of the flagship projects of this vision of planning and regional development, which focuses on the departments of the Centre, Artibonite and North. Development plans to organize a network of 10 cities connected by a road system. Road networks play a key role in the supply and distribution of goods and food, becoming basic links to ensure food security in the country. These sites basically provide employment and income for many people, and are the country’s most important support for the development of public spaces. They are also essential for the economic system of the Ring, based mainly on agriculture. Amid the Artibonite region, the city of Saint Raphael had received the support of the “Transport and Territorial Development” for the construction of an agricultural market. This project aimed, among others, improving working conditions and safety of operators as well as sanitation and hygiene of fresh products in the micro-region of the North, including the towns of Milot, Dondon, Saint-Raphael, Grande-Rivière and Bahon. Unfortunately, this agricultural market has never been able to offer their services by farmers and consumers in the municipality.
We understand that the construction of urban and rural markets often faces the reality of local social practices, which challenge and call into question a whole part of the “logic of modernization” of the spaces designed for the “negotiation of exchanges”. These practices reflect a set of needs (varied and diverse) of the operators that go beyond the simple act of buying and selling. In this context, the alliance between SPORA SINERGIES and WE WORKING FOR ENVIRONMENT [WE-SPORA] has been commissioned to carry out a study for the improvement of the Saint Raphael market. The purpose of this study has been learning from the experience of the new market of Saint Raphael, built in 2011, to propose improvements to the impact on the physical, social, environmental and economic well-being. These improvements have provided guidance for the design of a standardized market model, and to address both the needs of its users (mainly women), and advance hygiene standards and sustainable territorial development.
