Government Partners Join SOIL to Advance Sanitation in Cap-Haïtien

On September 30, 2025 — the last day of both SOIL’s and the Haitian Government’s fiscal year (no coincidence, but indeed a planned synchronicity) — leaders from across Haiti’s public sector gathered in Cap-Haïtien for a workshop to strengthen sanitation access in the North and advance the national goal of eliminating open defecation.

Hosted by OREPA Nord with support from the National Directorate for Potable Water and Sanitation (DINEPA), the workshop convened a powerful coalition of actors from the Ministries of Agriculture, Environment, and Public Health, the municipal governments of Cap-Haïtien and Limonade, and the IDB–DINEPA WASH project. Also in attendance was OREPA Sud Director Philippe Eliscar, who traveled from Les Cayes to explore replication opportunities in the South.

Opening the session, Pierre Bernadin Poisson, Director of OREPA Nord, reflected on SOIL’s long-standing collaboration with the government, which began nearly a decade ago and has since evolved into an evidence-based model for how public and private actors can co-create safe, regenerative sanitation systems. 

Sindy Farah Cyprien, Coordinator for the IDB–DINEPA WASH initiative, followed Director Poisson with an overview of IDB’s WASH project objectives: ensuring that coordinated investments in water and sanitation improve public health and climate resilience across Haiti’s northern corridor, while laying the foundation for sustainable, government-led service delivery.

SOIL’s Sasha Kramer then shared a presentation on the EkoLakay household sanitation service and its alignment with these goals. In neighborhoods without sewer connections, EkoLakay offers a rapidly deployable solution — one that changes both social behavior and public perception of sanitation through reliable service delivery and measurable quality-of-life improvements.  In this way, EkoLakay serves as a bridge between open defecation and the development of ecologically sound sewer networks throughout Cap-Haïtien.

Each EkoLakay household contributes to bolstering neighborhood health while strengthening the public case for investment in sanitation. As communities demonstrate that SOIL's sanitation service is both wanted and achievable, the path toward public adoption becomes clearer — and more cost-effective at scale.

Through innovative mechanisms like Results-Based Financing (RBF), SOIL is building the technical and financial pathways that will enable Cap-Haïtien to transition toward well-maintained, government-funded sanitation services. In Phase II of this RBF initiative (2025–2027), DINEPA has pledged to cover the public-sector costs of sanitation for approximately 1,400 families on the EkoLakay service, ensuring that government financing directly supports service provision.

This milestone — a public sector contract for non-sewered sanitation service provision —— has been decades in the making marking a fundamental shift from short-term project support to sustained public investment.

In a closing reflection of the workshop, DINEPA Coordinator General Edwige Petit and OREPA Director Poisson emphasized that sustainable sanitation requires institutional ownership. Both reaffirmed their commitment to working alongside SOIL and municipal governments to design a unified approach for Cap-Haïtien and the wider Grand Nord region with the ultimate goal of expanding access to CBS in cities across the country.

The meeting ended with an energetic open discussion, where ministries and local leaders identified ways to align plans and budgets for more coordinated urban development. Participants left with samples of SOIL’s compost and a summary of the CBSA Mainstreaming Guide — tangible reminders of how innovation and policy can work together to close Haiti’s sanitation gap.

Together, DINEPA, OREPA Nord, SOIL, and philanthropic partners are working to ensure every household has access to a safe, dignified toilet — and that Haiti’s cities are equipped to sustain that access for generations to come.