In September 2004, four major hurricanes and storms, including Ivan and Jeanne, caused extensive damage in the Caribbean, particularly in Grenada, Jamaica, and Haiti. Figure 1 shows the paths of Hurricane Ivan and Tropical Storm Jeanne and describes the extent of damage in the three countries. USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) provided emergency relief, such as food, water and sanitation, and shelter, to address the urgent needs of those affected by the storms. Following OFDA’s relief efforts in response to Hurricane Ivan, USAID directed existing agency funding to Grenada and Jamaica—$3.2 million and $7.3 million, respectively—for immediate recovery activities, including clearing farmland, cleaning up communities, and repairing houses and schools, that were carried out through June 30, 2005. Soon after Tropical Storm Jeanne struck Haiti, the U.S. government provided $11.8 million for immediate emergency relief and recovery assistance, including emergency food and water, as well as for cleaning up communities. Of the $100 million supplemental assistance that Congress approved for hurricane recovery and reconstruction activities in the Caribbean, USAID allocated $92.4 million to Grenada, Jamaica, and Haiti. Figure 2 shows the amount and percentage allocated to each country. Lacking a mission in Grenada, the agency administered the Hurricane Ivan Program from its Jamaica mission and Barbados satellite office, and it administered the Tropical Storm Program from its Haiti mission. Using a new approach to its program staffing, rather than reassign USAID staff or hire personal services contractors, the agency hired Wingerts Consulting to manage and oversee project activities in Grenada and Jamaica. Wingerts’s responsibilities included monitoring program activities, reporting progress to the USAID mission in Jamaica, and coordinating USAID’s efforts with the Grenadian and Jamaican governments and with other donors. USAID created special objectives for each country that defined the target areas for the recovery and reconstruction funding. For Grenada and Jamaica, the supplemental funding expanded the initial emergency, or a short-term response and aimed to help people quickly rebuild their communities, enhance and improve their skills, provide limited income support, and resume their path of sustainable development through activities that provide immediate income, skills training and employment opportunities. In Haiti, supplemental funds aimed to meet the immediate needs of Haitians affected by the tropical storm, help them regain sources of economic activity, and help them prepare for future natural disaster threats. According to USAID, recovery and reconstruction programs are essentially development programs with short time frames but share the same objectives of sustainable growth and prosperity. USAID completed many activities it implemented in Grenada, Jamaica, and Haiti by December 31, 2005. Of the $92.4 million allocated for recovery and reconstruction across the three countries, the agency expended $71.3 million. The agency implemented a variety of non-construction-related activities—for example, providing business rehabilitation grants in Grenada and Jamaica and implementing community cleanup activities in Haiti—and met or exceeded its targets for these projects within the 1-year time frame. In addition, it implemented a number of construction-related projects, such as repair and building housing and infrastructure. However, although USAID reduced targets, in part because of cost increases for these projects in all three countries, USAID contractors did not complete many of them by December 31, 2005—in particular, new housing construction—and required extensions to finish these projects. As of December 31, 2005, USAID had expended approximately 77 percent of the $92.4 million that it allocated for recovery efforts in the three countries. Figure 3 shows program allocation and expenditure by country. USAID implemented a variety of non-construction-related activities to help hurricane and storm survivors in Grenada, Jamaica, and Haiti recover from the disasters, completing most of them within the 1-year time frame. USAID generally reached or exceeded its targets for nonconstruction recovery activities, despite having raised many of these targets after initiating the activities. We visited a total of 37 non-construction-related sites to observe USAID’s progress and interview beneficiaries. Table 1 shows a selection of USAID’s initial and revised nonconstruction targets and its completed activities, in Grenada, Jamaica, and Haiti as of December 31, 2005. In all three countries, USAID provided assistance to revitalize businesses and agriculture. In addition, in Haiti, USAID also helped communities clear away flood debris and take steps to prevent similar disasters in the future. Following are descriptions of several USAID nonconstruction activities in the three countries: In Grenada, USAID provided grants averaging about $6,300 to small businesses (those with 5 to 24 employees) and grants averaging about $15,000 to medium-sized businesses (those with 25 to 75 employees) to reimburse them for hurricane-related repairs. We visited five grant recipients, each of whom reported using the grants to pay for repairs or purchase equipment. According to a survey conducted by the contractors that implemented these grants, about half of the businesses receiving assistance estimated that they reopened at least 6 months sooner than if they had had to finance the repairs themselves. Fisherfolk received grants averaging about $1,900 to replace fishing gear and equipment and repair boats. Many of the farmers and fisherfolk also received technical assistance—for example, farmers were taught techniques for turning backyard yam production into commercial production. In Jamaica, USAID grants to poultry farmers allowed them to buy egg grading and cold storage equipment, which in turn will enable them to increase production and incomes. We visited six horticultural farmers who received grants from USAID consisting of a technology package, such as seedling nurseries, drip irrigation systems, or integrated pest management systems. According to USAID staff, they were able to provide an unexpectedly large number of grants (11,478 versus the revised target of 2,451) to small and medium-size enterprises because the implementing team decided to make several grants to individual beneficiaries as an incentive for beneficiaries to continue to adopt various new technologies and practices. According to a November 2005 USAID report, agricultural production for farmers who received grant and technical assistance through the program was estimated to have increased by 41 percent compared with pre-Hurricane Ivan production levels. USAID also conducted workshops that taught artisans how to improve and develop products, procure goods and services, and package and label their merchandise. In addition, fisherfolk in Jamaica received grants and disaster preparedness training. For example, training courses in “Safe Seamanship and Environmental Management” were delivered to 295 fisherfolk. In Haiti, USAID cleared streets of mud and improved urban drainage that had been damaged from flooding. In addition, USAID implemented a cash- for-work program that paid local workers about $2 per day for assisting with various activities throughout the program, including road and schools repair, mud removal, and clearing of urban drains (see fig. 4). Further, USAID funded training in disaster preparedness and response that, according to a report by a USAID contractor, aimed to “raise disaster awareness, reduce risks, and prepare for contingencies in vulnerable local communities and municipalities.” Among the topics covered were forming community emergency response teams, designating first responders to coordinate emergency activities, and developing risk management and mitigation plans. USAID initiated construction-related projects to repair or replace hurricane and storm-damaged structures in each of the three countries. However, USAID contractors did not complete a number of these projects, although USAID reduced its targets for many of the projects. According to USAID staff and contractors, rising costs in all three countries were a factor in USAID’s decision to reduce construction targets. According to an April 2006 Regional Inspector General (RIG) audit of the Hurricane Ivan Program, the high cost of housing construction was due, in part, to the contractor’s unfamiliarity with the local market, which led to the negotiation of unfavorable subcontracts. The report also indicated that the cost of houses financed by USAID in Grenada was 37 percent to 49 percent higher than comparable houses built by the Grenadian Housing Authority; and, in Jamaica, USAID-funded houses were more than double the cost of houses built by the Jamaican government. In addition, in Haiti, USAID staff indicated that a detailed needs survey found that the costs of material and labor needed to make repairs had more than doubled since the initial estimates. Table 2 shows a selection of USAID’s initial and revised construction targets and its completed activities, in Grenada, Jamaica, and Haiti as of December 31, 2005. In Grenada and Jamaica, USAID negotiated 6-month extensions of the bilateral agreements with the respective host governments in December 2005 and, subsequently, granted contractors extensions of varying lengths based on the expectation that they could complete activities by June 30, 2006. In Haiti, USAID granted the contractor an 18-month extension in September 2005 to complete major infrastructure repair on a road and bridge; however, USAID officials managing the program said they expected to complete these activities by June 2006. In Grenada and Jamaica, USAID’s construction efforts have focused primarily on repairing and rebuilding houses and building new homes, and in Haiti, on repairing infrastructure, public facilities, and houses. Following are descriptions of several of USAID’s construction-related projects. In Grenada, USAID is building 55 new houses on the sites of homes that had been destroyed by the hurricane. The new houses consist of lumber over a concrete slab and include septic systems and electrical connections. Of the 55 homes, 36 have an area of 400 square feet and 19 have an area of 650 square feet, with the size of the house depending on the size of the household. We visited 11 housing construction sites in August 2005 and revisited five of them in December, at which time, for the most part, construction was just beginning. In addition, USAID has initiated repairs of houses, tourist sites, and schools, among other buildings (see fig. 5).