The UN Development Program (UNDP) cash-for-work initiative in Haiti is picking up speed with 30,000 Haitians currently helping with reconstruction efforts in small working schemes, the UN chief of mission said Monday.

"30,000 are now working on streets -- cleaning the streets, picking up rubble participating on reconstruction efforts," Edmond Mullet, acting special representative of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, told reporters in a video teleconference from Port-au- Prince.

"When they get home at night, they have some resources and cash to assist their own families," Mullet added.

Coordinated by the UNDP as part of its Emergency Relief and Recovery Framework, the program is working to put 100,000 workers on the street as fast as possible.

The workers are involved in small working schemes, such as cleaning up public facilities, helping with repairs in infrastructure and supporting efforts in water accessibility, among many projects.

"We have hired 30,000 and we expect to scale this to 100,000 in one month," said Kim Bolduc, the humanitarian coordinator in Haiti, in a video conference from the Haitian capital.

According to Monday's UNDP press release, the workers are paid 180 gourdes, or roughly US$4.50 at current rates of exchange for six hours of labor.

The program has a variety of funding from such sources as the governments of Italy, Japan, Norway and Spain.

Currently the program has received US$6.1 million with an additional US$13.2 million, read the UNDP press release.

(Xinhua News Agency February 2, 2010)