ARTICLE - HAITI'S WINGS NEED TO SOAR

HAITI'S WINGS NEED TO SOAR
(Toronto Star) -

Many Haitians are having a hard time keeping up their spirits as they prepare to mark the second anniversary of the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake that levelled much of Port-au-Prince, killed 220,000, caused $8 billion in damage, left a million homeless and shattered a desperately poor country. While time has marched on, reconstruction has not.

A surge of help from Canada and other donors saved untold lives, got Haitians through the initial crisis and eased the misery. That’s a narrative of success, not failure. But when it comes to rebuilding the nation of 10 million there’s more lead than lift in Haiti’s wings, as Le Nouvelliste newspaper commentator Michel Carlin put it this past week. Almost everything remains to be done.

Much of the capital is still in ruins. Some 500,000 people are still living rough in tents or under tarps, Oxfam Canada reports. Cholera is endemic. As many as 4.5 million face the spectre of hunger. Seven in 10 are jobless.

Meanwhile much of 2011 was wasted getting President Michel Martelly and a cabinet installed, and wrangling about land titles and where to relocate the displaced.

Now, money is becoming an issue. In 2010 the 15 major aid agencies in Haiti had $460 million to spend, reports the Humanitarian Coalition, a grouping of key Canadian aid agencies including CARE, Oxfam, Plan Canada and Save the Children. This year they’ll be lucky to have half as much. That’s something Canadian donors want to keep in mind in the coming months.

It’s depressing that the United Nations had to appeal recently for $230 million next year in humanitarian aid for Haiti, much less reconstruction money. The tent cities are short on food, drinking water and toilets.

Amid this gloominess, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government gets high marks from the UN for pledging more than $1 billion in help for 2006-12, and for delivering more than 90 per cent of the nearly $300 million earmarked for 2010-11. Unfortunately, others are lagging. The United States and oil-rich Venezuela each pledged more than $1 billion for 2010-11, but have delivered less than a third of that. And they’re not alone. Overall, the UN reports that donors have delivered just 53 per cent of the $5.5 billion they pledged for 2010-11.

As a key player in the Haiti Reconstruction Fund, Canada has the credibility to urge the laggards to pony up and to pledge more help for Haiti’s rebuilding in the years to come.

Where should efforts be focused? A few areas stand out.

The still-fragile Martelly government needs technical expertise, investment and material support from Canada and other developed countries, to increase its capacity, professionalism and transparency. The government needs to set up a national panel to shepherd reconstruction, with a clear program and timetable to resettle the displaced.

Haitians themselves have identified jobs, education and housing as their key priorities, in that order. Port-au-Prince needs a $3-billion-plus fixup, including government offices, hospitals and schools. Martelly is investing in three job-creating areas: housing, tourism and farming. Ports, roads, sewerage and other infrastructure also need upgrading.

Above all, the poorest need work. Just last month Ottawa announced a $2.4 million program with Habitat for Humanity for community-managed projects that will employ 3,400 people building housing and infrastructure in Port-au-Prince and Léogane. By supporting micro and small enterprises such as these, the international community helps build Haiti’s economic future.

The important thing is that Haiti not slip off the world’s agenda, two years on. It’s good to see Canada delivering on its promise to help.