Research for Haiti

Rebuilding Haiti’s Schools – March 2010 Panel at The George Washington University

This link provides a brief article and a link to the First Lady’s comments on education in Haiti. Unfortunately, it does not include the entire panel discussion which was about 90 minutes long: Rebuilding Haiti’s Schools - The George Washington University

White House Video of Presidents Preval and Obama

Here’s today’s footage: Standing Together with Haiti | The White House.

People of Haitian Ancestry in the US by State: 2006-2008 American Community Survey Data

While talking with some people the other night at a showing of the movie Poto Mitana Haitian-American woman mentioned how surprised she was at the number of Haitians she ran into while traveling through Georgia. So, using the American Community Survey, I created an Excel file of the Haitian population by state (2006-2008) (28kb). Note that this is based on self-reported data, so it certainly undercounts the numbers. Also, the data is a few years old. However, since the "undercounting" is likely fairly even across states, the relative sizes by state are interesting to see.

I was surprised to see the population in FL double that of NY and NY, in turn, double that of MA. Also, due to the margins of error, you could say that MA and NJ nearly tie for third. GA, PA, and CT all tie for fourth. Given the number of Haitians in Maryland, I was surprised that VA has so much fewer, and that it lost out to both IL and CA!  Again, it is unknown what number of Haitians do not report ancestry. I will see if I can ring up somebody at Census to get their thoughts on estimating that number.

Here's a summary table of the top states (the file linked above has all states) :

Geography	Universe: TOTAL ANCESTRY CATEGORIES TALLIED FOR PEOPLE WITH ONE OR MORE ANCESTRY CATEGORIES REPORTED: Haitian (Estimate)	Margin of Error (+/-)
Florida	359,197	9,766
New York	181,808	7,121
Massachusetts	60,210	4,121
New Jersey	56,816	4,650
Georgia	19,642	2,651
Pennsylvania	18,455	2,608
Connecticut	16,864	2,483
Maryland	10,626	2,253
Illinois	8,938	1,932
California	8,355	1,422
Virginia	5,010	1,191

The Nonprofit Quarterly: Haitian Leaders Angry About Being Left Out Of Aid Decisions

The Nonprofit Newswire remarks on a recent AP story about the difficulties flood of money in Haiti is presenting for governance. The storing notes that:

U.N. and U.S. officials say they are closely monitoring NGOs that receive funds. Groups receiving money are required to report to the the U.S. Agency for International Development every two weeks detailing how they are using these funds and whether they are in keeping with their plans.

It’s not clear who the “their” is in the last sentence, nor how this reporting works. Anybody have ideas on where these reports go and if they are public?

Standards in the INGO Industry: Guidelines and Annual Reviews for Haiti?

The international relief and advocacy group Tearfund, begun in the UK as a Christian disaster relief group, has a great set of links related to standards in international relief work. I do not know anything about Tearfund’s work, but the links provide some interesting language and ideas for early thoughts on how standards in the INGO industry should by applied in Haiti. Of course, essential to having standards is the establishment of external reviewers to ensure that the standards are given some meaning through planning and accountability.

An avenue for the government of Haiti regarding governance and the NGO and INGO sector that may be worth exploring is to establish a discussion with the sector and aim for a public declaration of guidelines and values for the industry (yes, the nonprofit sector is made up of industries) when working in Haiti. The standards should outline how the industry is accountable to their donors and to the Haitian people, as well as to professional standards. This could be followed up annually with a general review of the industry by an outside panel and with reviews of the largest groups.

The Callie Crossley Show (WGBH) on Haiti: Laurent Dubois and Fabienne Doucet

The March 4, 2010 Callie Crossley Show, produced by WGBH in Boston, features Laurent Dubois, history professor at Duke and author of Avengers of the New World, and Fabienne Doucet, a Haitian-American assistant professor at NYU in education.  Both professors have lots of interesting links and resources on their home pages.

Prof. Doucet mentions an interesting idea (starting near 47 minutes into the broadcast) about how to develop a body of Haitian professionals that can play leading roles in the INGO sector in the nation. A downside to this is that it may pull talented Haitians away from working with their government, but there could be ways to develop government staff, too.

Report by Refugees International: “Haiti: From the Ground Up”

Refugees International has released Haiti: From the Ground Up, a brief report critical of the international response in Haiti. The report chastised the effort for not involving more Haitian NGOs, among other observations. From their summary policy recommendations:

The US and UN must urgently connect and coordinate their humanitarian, reconstruction and development initiatives with Haitian civil society groups. UN agencies should create liaison positions to these groups.

Of course, the INGOs, the UN, and foreign governments may say that they had few staff or connections with Haitian organizations but that shows just how poorly informed and grounded the international aid and development agencies are when it comes to community leadership in Haiti.

Additionally, they recommend that relief focus immediately on making communities outside of Port-au-Prince attractive to displaced persons so that they do not return to the city (something I have been emphasizing in discussions elsewhere). Again, from their report:

The mayor of Saint Marc has identified specific needs to increase city services, housing, extension of cultivated land, and infrastructural development for the influx of people. … If support is not channeled quickly into the provinces, the displaced will return to Port-au-Prince. This would only compound the challenges of distribution and coordination across the city, where at least 75 percent of the buildings have been destroyed and the ability to provide humanitarian assistance while protecting IDPs is overstretched. If support is invested in provincial communities, it will create a draw for those living in the Port-au-Prince camps to the provinces, lessening the strain in population-dense Port-au-Prince, while allowing for decentralized coordination and support of the displaced and host communities. Refugees International interviewed a man who explained: “Of course I want to go back to my village, but what job will I be able to get there?”

Several weeks ago there were reports of people returning to Port-au-Prince from the countryside as there was little to do there to make money. Cash-for-work jobs and amenities that will attract commerce (e.g., rebuilding market places, improving roads, and bringing in electricity) should be organized in secondary and tertiary cities with local commune officials, parishes, and cooperative associations immediately. It takes time to get these going, but many communities already have self-help initiatives from prior to the earthquake which can be built open with the support, monitoring, and guidance of local intermediary bodies.

Pre-Quake Analyses: Summaries of Recent Texts (Part I)

This is the first in a series of posts that summarize and quote from recent texts (books, book chapters, reports, etc.) on Haiti by various analysts prior to the January 12, 2010 earthquake.

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In the US, when a new administration heads to the White House, it has become common for think tanks (and sometimes publishers) to pull together an essay or collection of essays regarding what the new president should do in this or that policy arena. These notes are from the chapter on Haiti by Daniel P. Erikson (of Inter-American Dialogue and author of The Cuba Wars ) in the book The Obama Administration and the Americas (2009, Bookings Institution Press). Later I will write up notes on another chapter on Haiti in the same book. 

According to Erikson, Haiti presents an environment “where no single action or set of actions can be guaranteed to put the country on the path toward long-term stability and economic progress.” Thus, he advises that it is “crucial to focus on generating tangible results for the Haitian poor and the short-term.”

Critically, Erikson notes that the

United States has a mixed track record in supporting pro-poor policies in developing countries: Washington typically favors strategies that focus largely on enhancing trade and expanding the private sector, a formula that does not necessarily fit all national contexts. In Haiti, for example, the formal private sector is currently based in Port-au-Prince and has failed to generate much employment, and the informal sector is not positioned to take advantage of new trade initiatives.

Because of Haiti’s economic weaknesses, Erikson believes that “the United States should focus on concrete pro-poor social policies” and advocate for such policies strongly on Haiti’s behalf in front of the international bodies. What would these policies look like? Unfortunately, Erikson does not say. He alludes to other authors, without stating who, that support a “pro-poor social contract” but offers little in the way of specifics except to note that:

In the future, the US strategy for Haiti should rely less on grand planning schemes delivered from the top down, and more on bottom-up development processes that can be incubated with international support and made self-sustaining over time.

While this would represent a dramatic shift, it is a shame that the readers are not pointed to literature about such policies (this is especially disappointing since the book was published for a broader public and not just for discussions among insiders—who, frankly, may also not know what policies Erikson is alluding to!).

Erikson does, however, list some very general policies that the US should promote in Haiti, including “a more progressive tax system, expanding the network of education and health services available to the poor, and extending infrastructure projects to underserved” areas. Sadly, but I fear accurately, he also notes that “extreme reluctance on the part of potentially threatened classes to accept new policies” may continue to threaten policy reform in Haiti. (Perhaps the earthquake changes that equation entirely but it remains to be seen what will happen with the hundreds of millions raised in Haiti’s name in January and how politics in Haiti change as a result of the disaster and the presence of INGOs that have budgets that outsize entire ministries in Haiti.)

Two other quick areas of discussion in this chapter worth noting:

1. Erikson rightly notes that it has been very hard for Haiti to hold all the elections that the constitution requires: “the basic tasks of logistics, security, and maintaining and updating the civil registry are almost entirely in the hands of the international community, and upwards of $15 million in international funds are required to hold an election.... Haiti simply cannot be expected to move toward democratic stability if it lacks the capacity to hold regular elections.” The author suggests a more permanent international structure for funding the elections so the government is not “scrambling” to fund and run the elections each and every time. This seems sound (although the latest crisis may make elections extremely difficult this year as hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced from what would be their political jurisdiction).
   
2. Erikson also calls for a greater thickening, so to speak, between legislators and their constituents. In particular, he suggests that “the United States could help to ensure a louder voice for the poor in the policymaking process.” This, I hope it is obvious, would be rather controversial. As somebody that has worked as a labor and community organizer in the United States and observed and worked with community organizers in Haiti, I am all for increasing the ability of the poor to communicate with and hold accountable their elected officials. However, the US track record in this area is far from positive and many commentators feel democracy building in Haiti has often been anti-poor. Suggesting more democracy building in Haiti without a deeper investigation into why US assistance institutions fail so remarkably in this area is risky. Erikson, rightly so, does note that some accountability may increase simply by providing politicians with tools and training necessary to stay in contact with rural populations more frequently. General training in policy management may also generate this effect.