The Haitian Project’s blog has a story on their web site what I think has several good lessons on how to provide relief in a dignified manner (emphasis mine; ellipses representing cut text):
I also want to point out that we—staff, students and volunteers—carried these bags [of relief supplies] to the houses in the neighborhood and handed them directly to families… There were no lines, shoving or question as to who received the food support. It was given to people with whom we live and work daily, in an orderly and dignified manner. I mention this because we had denounced a disorderly ad hoc distribution done on our street two days before. Those involved in the earlier distribution took notice of the order and dignity of ours. In fact, the leader of the other distribution came in person to state that he now understood our concern and criticism of what had transpired on Wednesday. Sometimes it is not just what you do, but how you do it.
It is important to note that this food is more economic assistance than simple hunger relief - as we have stated previously, there is no real food shortage. The supply is in place at all levels, from wholesale to local markets, for those who have the funds to purchase it. This is why THP/LCS continues to look for ways to employ members of the community in the relief effort. We will be reporting on our house-building project next week. This program produces not only housing, but also jobs, making a double impact. We appreciate the relief funds that have been donated for housing and look forward to reporting on that effort.
While providing relief is not the core mission of the organization, I think a lot of decentralized work like this could help Haiti if these groups received some training and management support to make sure they do the most good they can. There are some tent cities not far from the school campus of The Haitian Project; it would be interesting if, with—again—some training and support, they could use their connections in the neighborhood and some of their older (and very bright) students to make life significantly better there.
[I once worked for The Haitian Project at their schools site in Santos, an area outside of P-a-P.]
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