Port-au-Prince, April 10, 2022 --- The young civil engineer Mitlie Sanon, 24 years old and mother of a daughter, is demanding to be reinstated in the “Building Assessment” project conducted by the Ministry of Public Works, Transportation and Communications with funding from the World Bank and in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).
“I was not selected for the South allegedly because they had previously recruited my husband”, said Sanon on March 23, 2022, in Les Cayes, at the launch of the project called “Strengthening the protection and resilience of communities in areas where road infrastructure are being expanded in the Deep South, in the fight against gender-based violence and sexual exploitation and abuse”.
“I’d like to know how you can help me so that I can participate in the remaining work being done”, she adds.
The “Building Assessment” project is implemented in the three Departments that were affected by the earthquake of August 14, 2021, namely Nippes, Grande Anse and the South. “It should last two years”.
Mitlie Sanon must be reinstated in the project, emphasizes the South Departmental Coordinator of the Ministry for Women’s Affairs and Women’s Rights. “If you found a woman with the required skills for a position, I don’t see why you didn’t hire her,” says Dichlie Sylvain.
The Head of Gender Issues at the MTPTC’s Central Implementation Unit informs that the complaint mechanism will be launched. Eveline Larrieux encourages her to file a complaint with the competent authorities.
Do you have the professional capacity to work and provide the required services compared to others who applied? That’s the important question they should be asking themselves, according to participants at the project launch.
They did not meet the 30% quota for women’s participation, according to the civil engineer. Mitlie Sanon says they only have one woman for the South Department, an engineer working with MTPTC. They told her she could not receive two paychecks. In Nippes and Grande Anse, they hired four women.