OPK, Karakol (Caracol)

Karakol is a section communale of the commune Grand Riviere du Nord with 6744 inhabitants. Karakol is the site of a hydro-electric dam, but besides that they have very few services available to them, and the population has been more or less left to themselves. This has made the inhabitants of Karakol very self-reliant.

Karakol has an organization called OPK (the Organisation of the Peasants of Karakol). They have a cocoa nursery in the community, and use the profits from the nursery to support a local community school. They maintain the nursery with the contribution of 5 gourdes that members give every meeting, and also when they sell cocoa saplings to other organisations such as CECI. Because they are close to a river, they have sought out training in disaster risk reduction with Oxfam and the Red Cross.