Quenching Thirst, Building Stability: Providing Clean Water in Conflict-Affected Haiti

By Daphna Berman and Ivy Kuperberg

From his roadside store in southern Port-au-Prince, Marc Arthur Lamarre sells more than 550 bottles of water a day. Haiti doesn’t have piped water and the prevalence of water-borne disease, including a series of recent cholera outbreaks, has left many Haitians wary of untreated rainwater. The result is that Lamarre has become one of the largest providers of potable water for his community, a collection of squat homes and apartment buildings in the capital’s Tabarre neighborhood.  

For Lamarre, and the majority of Haitians, much of daily life is unpredictable—from barricaded roads to fuel shortages to frequent school closures that have left his three children stranded at home. With so much uncertainty, the steady supply of safe drinking water that Lamarre is able to provide his community has been a much-welcome source of stability.

“Selling clean drinking water is a source of pride for me,” he said recently, enjoying a rare lull in foot traffic in his otherwise bustling store.

Just 60 percent of Haitians have access to safe drinking water, and in rural areas, the number drops to 40 percent.

“The situation is pretty dire when it comes to quality drinking water and so the vastness of the problem requires the involvement of all players, especially the private sector,” said Tamara Guerin Barrau, the Chief Financial Officer of Caribbean Bottling Company (CBC), one of Haiti’s largest beverage companies and a market leader in drinking water.   

CBC is the oldest provider of potable water in Haiti, where it is sold under the international brand Culligan.  A 2019 investment from IFC  is helping the company expand its production to better serve communities like Lamarre’s. The US$5 million investment is supported by IFC and the IDA Private Sector Window (US$2.5 million each), which enables IFC and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) to accelerate their investments in the most challenging markets.  

A key focus of the investment is the implementation of two new bottling lines, which on any given day will see hundreds of CBC’s flagship Culligan brand water bottles pass by on a conveyor belt, filled with 20 ounces of potable water the company’s customers have come to expect. These new production lines are essential to meeting market demand and will increase CBC’s bottling capacity by nearly 80 percent—the equivalent of an extra 110 million liters per year—with 50 percent less potable water wastage. An IFC advisory project is also supporting CBC with the installation of solar energy panels to help the company go green and become more resilient given frequent fuel shortages, brought on by port disruptions and border closures.

“IFC has been an important partner in our ability to continue working, expanding, and investing in our resilience,” Guerin Barrau said. “We know a better future is coming and that’s what keeps us here and going, despite all the challenges.”

Haiti has been hit hard by political instability and natural disasters. The last six years have witnessed a series of unrelenting challenges, as gang violence, a presidential assassination, and steep economic decline have compounded the day-to-day difficulties of a population living in a country classified by the World Bank as being one of the most conflict-affected in the world.   Known as “peyi lok” or “country lockdown,” the period of crisis has meant extreme restrictions on the movement of goods, services and people in Haiti due to threats of violence.

According to World Bank estimates, the economy has contracted for five consecutive years, and is forecasted to experience another year of negative growth in 2024, with estimates of a 1.8 percent decline amid heightened instability. The initial surge of investment following Haiti’s 2010 earthquake tapered off following the acceleration of political violence and sharp increases in gang activity, leaving international investors wary. The domestic private sector, meanwhile, has prioritized maintaining operations amid an increasingly perilous operating environment.

One bright spot, however, is local beverage production. About half of all food in Haiti is imported, though beverages—which are heavy and costly to transport—are manufactured locally. The local beverage sector is one of the largest employers in the formal private sector and a leading source of tax revenues: The top five beverage companies in Haiti are among the top 30 tax contributors, accounting for almost US$100 million in taxes in fiscal year 2020-2021.

The private sector is a critical source of safe drinking water in the face of insufficient public infrastructure. And demand is high, because as Guerin Barrau noted, “despite all the problems, people still need to drink water.” However, water options are limited—and often unsafe. There’s an extensive network of kiosks with filtration systems, but they require regular maintenance—which isn’t always performed— and the plastic water jugs commonly used to store water are difficult to properly clean and sanitize. Many poorer Haitians also rely on purchasing small sachets of water, which come in inexpensive eight-ounce bags, but the plastic used isn’t meant for food storage and water quality can deteriorate rapidly.  

CBC, meanwhile, is ISO 9001 certified, with a quality management system that meets international standards. In addition to the 20 oz water bottles sold in retailers throughout the country, the company’s large five-gallon containers are ubiquitous in schools, hospitals, and office buildings throughout Port-au-Prince. Both the individual water bottles and five-gallon containers are also easily recyclable, and trash collectors rely on discarded individual bottles as a source of income. The five-gallon bottles are also cheaper per ounce, as well as better for the environment than the popular sachets—which are a significant source of pollution, clogging up rivers and waterways throughout the country.

CBC is therefore meeting growing urban demand for safe and trusted water—with regular delivery to stores like Lamarre’s despite the instability. Lamarre, for one, says the company’s dependability is key to ensuring community trust in his business. “When there have been major shutdowns or incidents that have not allowed us to leave our homes for days at a time, I have been able to maintain close contact with the CBC team and they reschedule my water deliveries as soon as possible,” he said.

The political and economic uncertainty continues to be challenging, Lamarre says. His plans to open an auto parts shop nearby are now on hold. Still, he’s optimistic. “I live in Haiti because I feel positive about the future,” he said. His children had recently finished a school year fraught with disruptions and shutdowns, and his community has weathered waves of unrelenting gang violence. But he says they continue to be resilient. “Everybody cannot just leave: There needs to be people investing and working to improve the country. Companies like mine and CBC are here for the long term and to make sure things improve.”

“Haitians love life,” he added, as he coordinated his stock for the week ahead.  “All we want to do is live.”

High levels of political and economic instability have hampered private sector growth in Haiti for decades, but at the same time, the current situation necessitates private sector solutions to address some of the most pressing developmental challenges, particularly given scarce government resources. While the Haitian banking sector is fairly robust with strong ties to international markets, they have to accommodate the extensive risks of investing in a fragile and conflict-affected market. As a result, access to capital for local businesses is scarce, especially for businesses like CBC Haiti. Blended concessional financing support from the IDA Private Sector Window is proving effective at enabling investments like CBC Haiti, which would not have otherwise proceeded given the market risks. The structure of IDA PSW’s concessional loan improved the project’s risk profile, allowing CBC to secure long-term financing needed to scale up its business, charting a path to commercial sustainability. Based on IFC estimates, CBC has already created approximately 400 direct and indirect jobs for the Haitian population.

Through its success, CBC Haiti is demonstrating the viability of financing beverage manufacturing and agribusiness projects in Haiti, encouraging sustainability practices for larger players in the local market and enticing other local financial institutions to invest in the sector. While the current political and security situation in Haiti creates a challenging context for private sector investment, the experience of IDA PSW demonstrates that investments in FCS can be viable – and that the World Bank Group can stay engaged in even the most challenging markets in the Western hemisphere.

Read more on the IDA Private Sector Window