As the discussion around armed intervention in Haiti continues to grow, Vélina Élysée Charlier, Alexandra Filippova, and Tom Ricker just published a piece on the Six Ways the US and the International Community Can Help Haiti Without Armed Intervention, which covers practical recommendations that Haitian civil society and U.S. based advocates have discussed and proposed multiple times over the past year or more. Read More
Aid Accountability and Transparency
ICYMI: Report “Broken UN Promises Lead to Haiti Cholera Resurgence”
HAWG members IJDH and BAI recently released a press release stating that Broken UN Promises Lead to Haiti Cholera. In this piece, the two organizations call out the UN for their failure to keep their promise of investing $400 million to cover the cholera epidemic.
Since its outbreak in 2010, the UN-imported cholera has killed over 10,000 people and infected nearly 1 million between 2010 and 2019. Read More
With New Global Fragility Act, US Must Avoid Past Mistakes and Let Haitians Control Their Own Democracy
HAWG members have been organizing and participating in consultations with the U.S. government surrounding the implementation process for the Global Fragility Act, a framework now called “Strategy to Prevent Conflict and Promote Stability” (SPCPS). This hopefully fruitful work will continue in coming months.
HAWG member IJDH staffer Sasha Filippova just published this op-ed on the hopes and cautions of this work. Read More
Report from CEPR: Twelve Years After Haiti’s Devastating Earthquake, New Report Recommends Key USAID Reforms
From HAWG member Center for Economic and Policy Research comes the public release of this critical report.
Washington, DC — Twelve years after the 2010 earthquake that devastated Haiti, a new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) examines US aid failures in Haiti, identifies several core reasons why US aid has not resulted in measurable and lasting improvements, and proposes several reforms that could be made to how the US Agency for International Development (USAID) operates in Haiti. Read More
Op-ed: International response to Haiti’s earthquake must avoid 2010 mistakes
International response to Haiti’s earthquake must avoid 2010 mistakes
From Brian Concannon and Kathleen Bergin, contributing to The Hill
Excerpt
As the death toll and displacement from Saturday’s earthquake in Haiti mounts, the United States must urgently mobilize to provide help. But we must, just as urgently, resolve to avoid mistakes we made following the 2010 earthquake that left Haiti even more dependent on foreign aid. Read More
Can Haiti’s Peanut Value Chain Survive US Generosity?
Research by PAPDA (the Haitian Advocacy Platform for Alternative Development) and Oxfam found that peanut value chain actors in Haiti face a number of serious constraints, including nonexistence of state support; weak organization; use of traditional production methods; and lack of access to irrigation and inputs, including herbicides to control aflatoxin, all in a context of poverty and vulnerable livelihoods. Read More
Oxfam publishes assessment of AVANSE
USAID’s AVANSE Project in Haiti: An assessment of its conformity with aid effectiveness principles.
In 2013, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) launched Appui à la Valorisation du Potentiel Agricole du Nord, pour la Sécurité Économique et Environnementale—Aid to Realize the Agricultural Potential of the North, for Economic and Environmental Security, or AVANSE—in northern Haiti. Read More
Gender Action report on IFI spending in Haiti
New Gender Report on IFI Spending in Haiti
Gender Justice Scorecard: IFIs in Haiti analyzes the gender sensitivity of Inter-American Development Bank and World Bank investments from 2013-17. The two IFIs spent nearly $1.5 billion in Haiti during this period, substantially less than during 2010-13 following the 2010 earthquake (see our report Building Back by Half or BBBH). Read More
1804 Institute launches new report on corruption
Stronger Institutions in Haiti: Can transparency and accountability make a difference in Haiti?
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Corruption! Embezzlement! Poverty! The Senate’s report on Petro Caribe provides a glimpse into the depth of the culture of corruption that seems to have characterized Haiti’s governance for the past ten years. This is a crucial time for Haitians to begin a serious dialogue about the role that transparency and accountability can play in strengthening their public institutions. Read More
A marathon worth running: Haiti seven years on
After seven years there’s much to be hopeful about in Haiti, and still much work to do.
Seven years ago today, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake rocked Haiti. Its epicenter was not far from the Port-au-Prince metro area, home to one of every four Haitians. Read More