10 Years School Construction in Haiti: Technical Learnings from a Multiple Construction Program

In the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti's earthquake, the Government of Haiti faced massive reconstruction needs in all sectors. As part of the response of the Government of Haiti to the massive reconstruction needs, from 2010 to 2020, the IDB designed a series of grant operations plus seven co-financings designed to support a wider School Reconstruction Program. These operations achieved the (re)construction of 90 public schools countrywide, which resulted in the creation of approximately 1,000 classrooms and 40,000 seats, providing a safer and comfortable learning environment for approximately 60,000 children each school year. The journey to complete the construction of the schools was not an easy one to achieve. From the onset, the education sector faced two big challenges: a technical one, how to design and build cost-efficient schools that are both hurricane and earthquake resistant; and an operational one: how to identify a strategy that permits to up-scale construction countrywide while assuring quality and controlling costs. This publication aims to present the lessons learned from the 10-year school construction program in Haiti.