Evaluations and Impact Analyses: Economic Impact of Relief and UN Work

A host of documents for today on the economic (and social) impact of relief work, including UN peacekeeping work, in Haiti and other counties.

1. Peace Dividend Trust puts forth a call for relief projects in Haiti to adopt a "Haiti First" policy on purchases.
2. In a somewhat similar vein is this 2005 assessment at Prevention Web.Net of the benefits of Cash for Work (CFW) programs run by Mercy Corps during its efforts in Aceh after the tsunami. The report finds that cash for work programs could be implemented rapidly in emergency situations and had the benefited individuals as well as their communities socially as well as economically. The report only studied short-term CFW programs, however, while Haiti could likely benefit from sustained jobs programs, something President Clinton has suggested several times.
3. Regarding the impact of UN operations, the first report for today is a sobering look at the impactof UN peacekeeping operations (including the operation in Haiti) on prostitution and the trafficking of women. This report, from 2009, is from MICROCON at the University of Sussex.
4. The second report on the UN is a fairly exhaustive and thoughtful 2006 study of an extensive range of concerns about the social, bureaucratic, and economic impact of UN operations in nations. The goal of the study:  "Although the body of literature related to the economic dimensions of peacekeeping operations is wide-ranging and diverse, there has been very little analysis of the extent to which mission policies and choices can affect the longer-term development of the places where they deploy. This project set out to help fill this gap by gathering data that could permit more systematic projections of longer-term impact and by analyzing how such impact might be harnessed to support the fundamental international objective of locally sustainable peace and security."  Everything from the impact of local hiring and pay scales to use of air conditioners is reviewed. The report is by the Peace Dividend Trust and Stimson Center. Fascinating stuff even if you don't always agree with their analysis.