A new (single) office for JEN Haiti!

Once again, JEN Haiti will move its office. Actually JEN Haiti will regroup its 2 offices from the capital Port au Prince and the provincial Grand Goave in only one large in Leogane.

After more than 3 years in Haiti, the reason of keeping 2 offices was actually questionable.
In 2010 in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake of January 12th, the traffic conditions were so difficult that it was obvious the field teams couldn’t keep spending between 3 and 5 hours one way to reach its field of activity.
The time lost in constant huge traffic jams added to the safety risks on the road were more than enough to decide to open a second office in the province in June 2010.
Today the situation has changed quite a lot!
With no more debris on the road, bridges reconstructed and major improvements regarding the condition of the national road heading south, the 70 km trip to Grand Goave has become quite smooth and easy.

On a good day only 1 hour and half is required to reach Grand Goave.
In addition almost all JEN Haiti activities are now in Leogane, located half way!
Regrouping is so the best way to reduce support costs and gain efficiency in logistics and communication between all staffs especially.

Ideally located 250m from the national road, 300m from a MINUSTAH camp, 500m from 2 petrol stations and a kilometre from Leogane centre the new office fits security criteria just perfectly!
Regarding safety on the road we’ll also diminish risks drastically as 17 sites of operation out of 18 are located in within 5 kilometres!
Only Jeanty, in Grand Goave commune would be now more than 10 minutes away when it is now (and until the end of this week) the exact opposite!

Being altogether in the same office will also allow head of office and administration/finance team to visit the sites much more often, facilitating communication and preventing misunderstandings.
It will also facilitate relationship with local authorities and management of the mission when an international staff is on leave or simply sick.
Coordination with the other actors based in Leogane will also be easier and logistics should also benefit from the regrouping as Leogane has many construction shops when Grand Goave has only one.
As for Port au Prince shopping it will only take around an hour to be in the centre of the Capital, which was the time we needed not that long ago to reach the main shops in within Port au Prince!   

After a bit more than 3 years in Haiti, Monday 6th of May will definitely be a new start for the mission, for the better with no doubt!