In a packed hearing yesterday of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Chairman Kerry reminded us that prior to the earthquake, Haiti had actually begun to show some signs of progress, with violent crime declining and increased access to the U.S. market. Indeed, this week a CNN report, examined the garment industry, which before the quake employed 130,000 people, with workers earning $4 a day (more than half of Haiti’s minimum wage) and new investments fueling a potential resurgence of the sector. Much of this gets lost in the flood of stories about how the earthquake has destabilized a “basket case” of a country. But I digress.
U.N. Deputy Special Envoy for Haiti, Dr. Paul Farmer, turned our attention to a new set of health concerns, such as outbreaks of cholera and water-borne diseases in the newly formed tent cities. He also urged a focus on quickly establishing safe schools, hospitals, and storm-resistant housing. Wreckage must be cleared, students need to be back in school, and life -- as wretched as it appears in the present -- must continue. Dr. Rony Francois detailed the massive infrastructure challenges. Among them is assessing the structural integrity of the remaining buildings. We know that many people, even with homes intact, are loathe to return to them. He also called for a long-term plan to decentralize Port-au-Prince and reinvest in agriculture, food security, jobs, roads, and the like. James Dobbins of Rand Corporation pointed out that as post-conflict environments go, Haiti is “no Somalia, Iraq, or Afghanistan.” So we don’t need American troops in Haiti for the long haul, but we do need to focus on creating jobs, alleviating poverty, and enhancing Haiti’s capacity to govern. We should also pay Haitians to build back their own country as my colleague discussed earlier this week.
In light of the billions anticipated for recovery and reconstruction, all commentary led back to what Farmer described as the failed “aid machinery” and how to do it better than it has been done in the past. The AP reported this week that of the $379 million the U.S. spent on earthquake relief in Haiti, less then a penny of each dollar is going to the Haitian government in cash. See the full article for a breakdown on how this money has been spent. To date, $2 billion in relief has streamed into Haiti, almost all into the hands of NGOs. With more NGOs per capita than any other country in the hemisphere, this is no surprise.Some creative measures were put on the table, such as coordinating Haitian-American volunteers into small groups linked with their former hometowns and institutions in Haiti; creating a multilateral recovery fund and new ground rules for NGO involvement in Haiti; and my favorite, appointing a U.S. Haiti “czar” comparable to the role Ambassador Richard Holbrook now plays in Afghanistan. This could raise the profile of the recovery effort and help improve coordination among U.S. agencies. But there were no easy prescriptions for engaging the Haitian government, other than the acknowledgment that yes, there is corruption and weak capacity, but a “better” Haiti is one in which strengthening governance, civil institutions, and the economy is central.


