ODCC/KOREPA, Kan Kòk (Camp Coq)

Camp Coq is a community with a spirit of environmental preservation and innovation, and is engaged in activities ranging from reforestation to bamboo artisanship to community cleaning.

Camp Coq is one of the section communale of Limbe, approximately an hour and a half west of Cap Haitian along Rt National #1. It lies along a major river, in a mountainous area where there are active goldmines and rumored oil.   The village was discovered by Jean Jacques Dessalines on his travels in the north before the revolution because he happened upon it at dawn when the roosters were crowing, and dubbed it “Champs de Coq”, which has since been changed to “Camp Coq".

The community has several strong organisations, which all collaborate strongly. There is ODCC, which began by organising the community cultivation of blackbeans and yams 

as an activity that helped support social activities such as sending children to school.  Since then the organisation has expanded into other initiatives, such as reforestation, community cleaning, helping send children to school who are unable to afford it, and other social initiatives. One of the most significant activities they are now engaging in is bamboo artisanship. Another organisation, Korepa, has been working with the community to reforest itself since 1989, and engages in a host of other environmental conservation and agricultural capacity building initiatives. Other community organisations have even been able to help Camp Coq build its own police station. 

This community has many valuable things to teach others: reforestation and tree nursery management, soil conservation and river management, bamboo artisanship, and yam production. There is also a lot to be learned from this community about how informal but incredibly collaborative networks of local organisations can more effectively respond to a community's needs.