(MissionNewswire) Hendrix Pineda, a program officer with the Salesian Missions Office for International Programs, recently returned from Haiti where he was exploring a possible food-for-development project to be funded under Title II of the Farm Bill managed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The project would focus on agriculture education and diversification, water and sanitation, and school feeding.

While in Haiti, Pineda met with local Salesian missionaries, USAID representatives and officials from the Haitian government’s National Center for Food Security. He also toured the Plumpy’Nut (Medika Mamba) manufacturing plant of the nonprofit Meds and Food for Kids (a potential project partner dedicated to the treatment and prevention of childhood malnutrition in Haiti). The Salesians’ proposed project focuses on: enhancing food security by improving agricultural production and productivity in agriculture schools in Cap Hatien, Fort Liberte and Gressier; cholera prevention through education and water and sanitation techniques; and addressing malnutrition in the poorest slum areas of Port-au-Prince such as Cité Soleil through a direct feeding program.

Salesian Missions, headquartered in New Rochelle, NY, is the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. The Salesians Missions Office for International Programs was assigned the task of coordinating international Salesian relief efforts immediately after the January 2010 earthquake. The Salesians have served Haiti for nearly 75 years, operating schools, feeding programs, orphanages, youth programs and building educational infrastructure. For more information, go to SalesianMissions.org.

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