Friday, April 02, 2010
Q&A-Hopes battle fears in Haiti reconstruction challenge
PORT-AU-PRINCE, April 1 (Reuters) - Nations, multilateral institutions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from around the world have pledged nearly $10 billion for Haiti’s reconstruction following the Jan. 12 earthquake.
World leaders say the commitments expressed at Wednesday’s donors conference in New York give the Western Hemisphere’s poorest state an historic opportunity to escape its poverty trap and “build back better” from the natural disaster.
Here are some questions and answers about the challenges involved in rebuilding Haiti:
DID THE DONORS’ PLEDGING CONFERENCE MEET EXPECTATIONS?
In terms of promised financing, it exceeded them.
The total pledged, $9.9 billion for the next three years and beyond, $5.3 billion for the next two years alone, was well over the initial short-term target of nearly $4 billion being sought by the United Nations, the conference organizer.
Haiti’s government has talked of a global needs figure of $11.5 billion, but donors seem to have heeded the appeal to deliver substantial sums quickly to tackle both continuing humanitarian needs and long-term reconstruction requirements.
Of course promises are one thing and delivery another, as shown by many donor pledging conferences that responded to other world disasters and conflicts.
“These pledges will need to turn into concrete progress on the ground. This cannot be a VIP pageant of half promises,” Philippe Mathieu of Oxfam said in New York.
WHO WILL LEAD HAITI’S RECONSTRUCTION?
The United Nations and major donors have all been careful to stress that the reconstruction will be Haitian-led, respecting the sovereignty of the world’s first black independent republic born in 1804 following a slave revolt.
But this is something of a diplomatic fig leaf as donors recognize that the administration of President Rene Preval, a mild-mannered agronomist, was crippled by the Jan. 12 quake, losing ministries and scores of trained civil servants.
An Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC) is being co-chaired by former U.S. President Bill Clinton, the U.N. special envoy for Haiti, and by Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive.
On the Haitian side, the commission’s members include legislators, government officials, local authorities, union and business representatives.
International members include the Organization of American States, the Caribbean Community and donor states and institutions contributing more than $100 million to the recovery effort. These include the United States, Canada, Brazil, France, Venezuela, the European Union, the World Bank, the United Nations and the Inter-American Development Bank.
The IHRC will operate for 18 months before handing over to a Haitian Redevelopment Authority to be set up by the Haitian government. The World Bank will monitor the Multi-Donor Trust Fund created to pool the financial contributions.
How much say will ordinary Haitians have in the reconstruction? Probably very little. Most quake survivors sheltering in camps in and around the wrecked Haitian capital had no idea the donors conference was even taking place.
WERE WORRIES OVER TRANSPARENCY, ACCOUNTABILITY ADDRESSED?
Yes, but this does not mean these worries will go away.
Over decades of unrest and chaos in Haiti, the specter of corruption has become closely associated with the country’s unenviable image as an economic basket case located just two hours flying time from the richest nation on the planet.
Pressed about this at the post-meeting news conference, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other international figures took pains to stress that the reconstruction plan would have monitoring mechanisms to ensure funds were well supervised and spent.
Ban announced a “robust” Internet-based tracking system to report on the delivery of financial pledges, emphasizing performance and results. Each pledge would be published and assistance flows tracked through the web-based system being established by the United Nations with Haiti’s government.
This should allay some fears over corruption and misuse but they are likely to hang over the reconstruction effort.
WILL THE INITIATIVE FINANCE DEVELOPMENT, NOT DEPENDENCY?
This is the real test of the reconstruction initiative, to turn Haiti from an aid-dependent “Republic of NGOs,” as some derisively call it, into a viable sovereign state that can feed itself and stand on its own two feet economically.
Suggested strategies abound, including emphasizing the private sector in the reconstruction, but whether these can really unlock Haiti from its poverty trap remains to be seen.
“We need investment in the private sector in Haiti, both within Haiti and also from the diaspora, and also foreign investment,” President Preval said in New York.
Regine Barjon of the Haitian-American Chamber of Commerce believes the army of foreign NGOs that have dominated development efforts in Haiti for decades should make way for private entrepreneurs, or concentrate on job-creating economic projects in agriculture or energy renewal.
Some fear Haiti’s reconstruction may trigger a free-for-all scramble by foreign companies looking to snap up lucrative rebuilding contracts in rubble removal, water and sewage, health, communications and other areas.
“If you don’t control the profiteering, some things will get done, but most money will go into non-Haitian pockets, or go only to some Haitians,” said Dr. Enrique Ginzburg, chief medical officer of the University of Miami’s Medishare and Global Institute initiatives.
The University of Miami has operated a multi-purpose intensive care unit in Haiti since the quake and has a proposal to rebuild the country’s health system. One of the university’s doctors, Barth Green, has suggested a cap on profits for reconstruction projects so Haiti can reap the major benefit.
There are doubts too about whether Haiti’s government can absorb and handle a flood of rebuilding contract proposals.
ARE ORDINARY HAITIANS OPTIMISTIC ABOUT RECONSTRUCTION?
They are hopeful but wary. Too many are used to seeing past foreign aid disappear into the pockets of corrupt politicians or pay the salaries of foreign consultants and experts.
“We hope the money will be used to really rebuild the nation ... Otherwise, we’ll be saying the New York conference never took place,” said Alvin Morisseau in Port-au-Prince.
“I’d like to see Haiti transformed, with houses, roads, and all Haitians living better and together,” said St. Cyr Guerline Occeda, a nurse. But she added: “Only God can change Haiti.”