In an almost comical turn of events, more second-hand and counterfeit goods are on their way to Haiti. These sorts of efforts, while certainly well intentioned, are not constructive. They do not contribute to real reconstruction and recovery efforts.
For a more well developed take on the issue, see here.
Filed under: Haiti Earthquake Relief
Below is a summary of recent positive signs in Haiti’s political and economic development. They come from testimony by Mark L. Schneider, Senior Vice President, International Crisis Group to the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee hearing on International Development and Foreign Assistance, Economic Affairs, and International Environmental Protection on Haiti’s Reconstruction: Smart Planning Moving Forward, 4 February 2010, Washington, DC
- Reforms were taking hold within the civilian police; in fact a 2009 poll showed over 70 percent of the population approved of their performance, a far cry from the past.
- The first glimmers of judicial reform in 50 years were seen with the opening of an academy to train judges, and passage of key laws to set merit-based standards and salaries for judges and to establish a monitoring commission to vet existing judges and provide professional assessment of their performance.
- The first class of trained corrections officers had graduated and a plan to build new and restructure older jails was underway.
- The HOPE II legislation had boosted employment by close to 25,000 and recruitment by former President Clinton had brought investors to Haiti. The transition from showy pledges to actual capital investment projects underway, including on a $55 m. Royal Caribbean Cruise expansion of the Labadee resort and a new industrial park on the outskirts of Port au Prince, thanks to a $25 m. commitment from George Soros, a member of Crisis Group board of trustees.
- Haiti had a fully functioning legislature, which after risking stability by ousting a competent prime minister Michele Pierre Louis, at least demonstrated a marked readiness to act by approving the new Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerives, his slate of ministers and their program in record time, when the same process last spring took months.
- Haiti’s budget for the current fiscal year — contrary to that of the United States — was actually passed on time; the previous budget had not been approved until eight months into the fiscal year.
- In October, the United Nations extended its mandate for another year and Latin American nations swiftly reaffirmed its leadership, contributing some 4000 of MINUSTAH’s 7000 formal military members.
- For three years, the Preval administration had met its fiscal targets, reduced inflation, and maintained a stable monetary structure. Despite the devastation caused by four consecutive storms in 2008 and the global economic crisis, Haiti was one of two countries in the region to post positive economic growth (2.4 percent) in 2009. The progress prompted the IMF and World Bank to endorse the cancellation of $1.2 billion of Haiti’s multilateral debt, more than half. The earthquake not only justifies — but truly demands – that the last half of Haiti’s debt be written off.
I continue to be overwhelmed by the acts of solidarity I am witnessing. My former Peace Corps community, Batey 8, a Haitian and Haitian-Dominican village and itself one of the poorest settings in the Dominican Republic, is sending volunteers into Haiti and to the Haitian-Dominican border town of Jimani to assist with the relief efforts.
For the past six days, those Batey residents with medical training – a handful are nursing students at a state-run university nearby – have been in Haiti attending to injured survivors. The community itself is sending food, clothes, and medical supplies each day in the back of a pickup truck, and many others are along the border at Jimani translating Haitian Creole to Spanish in the Dominican hospitals tending to Haitians.
When understood in the context of the longstanding hostility between Haitians and Dominicans, and the grinding poverty of the Dominican’s Bateys, these courageous acts of solidarity are all the more inspiring.
The sad truth is that the international community does not have a long attention span. Humanitarian relief efforts galvanize millions, even billions of dollars in the short-term, only to lose steam once the cameras turn off and the reporters go home.
In this regard, it’s crucial that we support organizations that were present in Haiti before the earthquake and that will be present long after. Fonkoze is Haiti’s foremost microfinance institution with hundreds of thousands of Haitian clients, many of who rely on Fonkoze to sustain their businesses and livelihoods.
Join with those who know Haiti best and support Haiti’s long-term recovery with Fonkoze – http://fonkoze.org
