A NEW MANDATE FOR DEVELOPMENT IN HAITI
(Huffington Post) - By Chad W. Bissonette, Co-founder and Executive Director of Roots of Development
Wasted resources are easy to come by in Haiti, where a volatile and overwhelmed government presides, and a multitude of NGOs (non-governmental organizations) incoherently work to address the needs not being fulfilled by the government. The amount of waste is evident in the fact that very little has changed since the earthquake. A Haitian colleague and I noted that photographs taken today of public spaces (the homes of hundreds of tent communities) in Port-au-Prince would be almost identical to photographs taken of the same spaces a year earlier (just a couple of weeks after the earthquake). Not only has this generally ineffective response had a negative impact on the hopes of the Haitian people, but it has also caused serious frustrations in American citizens that donated hard-earned money to disaster relief and reconstruction immediately after the earthquake.
These frustrations have already turned into donor fatigue -- a disheartening and damaging circumstance.
Much of the resources that come into Haiti do so through the approximately 10,000 NGOs currently working in Haiti. A significant amount of those NGOs operate with big hearts but with little understanding of what it takes to ensure long-term sustainable development. It is clear that NGOs won't single-handedly solve the multitude of challenges presently facing Haiti. They will, however, continue to have a significant role in the development of the nation until the government increases its ability to handle the needs of the country, and the level of security is improved enough to convince investors it is safe and smart to establish businesses again in Haiti.
With the overall situation in Haiti getting worse, it is time for NGOs to work harder at understanding the complexities of poverty and the importance of community-driven development. The organization I co-founded over three years ago named Roots of Development is dedicated to helping communities complete community projects of their choice (i.e. municipal water facilities and home reconstruction initiatives). We do so though, only after helping these communities organize themselves, learn how to better utilize the resources that already exist around them, and ensure that they, and the projects they choose to complete, will have as little dependency on us as possible.
Amongst many things, poverty means a lack of resources, opportunities, and choices. These aspects of poverty affect the manner in which societies understand their own development. Poor societies are focused on minimizing risk, whereas wealthy societies have the luxury of focusing on maximizing profit. These are fundamentally two very different ways of approaching life. They are direct consequence of each society's circumstances, and it is critical for anyone or any group coming from one of these societies and working in the other to understand. I have seen many good-hearted individuals and NGOs working in Haiti that have become discouraged and frustrated by what they see as a lack of initiative on the part of Haitian communities. Instead, it is a common yet powerful cross-cultural misunderstanding that can often, unfortunately, have a lasting impact on the goodwill of one population to another.
Community-driven development is an essential approach to improving the situation in Haiti. It is about empowerment and genuine ownership over one's own development. Many NGOs claim to promote it, but in reality, few support it to the level at which it is becomes truly effective. In an effort to make the work we support more sustainable, we make sure that every project is selected and prioritized by the community, staffed by Haitians whenever possible, and coordinated with local government officials.
NGOs increasingly mistake construction for development. Development must not only focus on the completion of community goals, but also emphasize the empowerment of community members. This approach to development should happen in two ways:
I. It must be Community-Driven (bottom-up vs. top-down).
Decision-making:
Roots of Development encourages the community itself to identify its greatest need rather than imposing that choice on them. Through a collective decision-making model involving diverse representatives of the community (men, women, old, young, religious and secular), the community identifies and prioritizes their most basic needs. Once a single initiative is decided upon, they collectively move forward to tackle all of the project's objectives. In this way, the people most affected by the decisions being made are the ones making them, thus embedding true ownership as the project evolves.
Funding
The level of priority a project is given, or the way a project is carried out should not depend on the amount of money the supporting organization or institution is willing to allocate to it. Instead, the amount of money allocated to the project should depend on the amount necessary to complete the desired project, in its entirety and in a way that it is most effective.
II. Emphasize the Process in which a project is carried out.
We treat development as a process rather than a series of completed projects. Working closely with community organizations fosters ownership, a key component of a successful development project. Achieving a successful outcome, or final product, in a community-driven development project can improve the standard of living for many, but it does not necessarily make it sustainable.
We work with communities through the entirety of the project as they learn what it takes to walk through the development process. Once the steps become familiar to a community, it is then able to repeat the process and tackle other important initiatives without our assistance. Not only do these communities get the opportunity to come together and manage their own development, but they are then able to use their knowledge and experience to help neighboring communities as well.
The process is crucial to successful development, in that it:
1. Increases the level of sustainability,
2. Decreases the potential degree of dependency,
3. Increases the chances of replicability or furthering of the process,
4. Reduces corruption by increasing transparency and accountability,
5. Leads to an efficient allocation of resources
We at Roots of Development are continuously seeing the successful impact of community-driven development in Haiti. We believe it is paramount that NGOs establish it as a guiding principle of their work. Although the past year has brought controversy surrounding the plethora of NGOs in Haiti, I feel that there is an incredible opportunity for Haitians and NGOs to improve the way they work together. The change is critical to Haiti's development, and the results are long overdue.
Follow Chad W. Bissonnette on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RootsofDevlpmnt
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
ARTICLE - HAITIANS TEAR DOWN MEDIAN CAMP
HAITIANS TEAR DOWN CAMP ON HIGHWAY MEDIAN
(NPR) - By Jason Beaubien
More than a year after the earthquake in Haiti, a group of people living in a camp in the middle of a highway have finally been moved out of the traffic.
Roughly 1,000 people were living on an 8-foot-wide stretch of median on the main road heading south out of Port-au-Prince. In a city where almost half the population remains in camps, this settlement had the distinction of being the narrowest. It was also possibly the most hazardous.
In May of last year, 326 structures stretched in a long line up the middle of a six-lane road. Each structure covered the width of the median. Traffic rushed by both sides of the dwellings.
Residents of the encampment disassembled their makeshift shelters themselves. Late last month, Louisanna Dema, 50, was taking down her sheet metal shack. She said she was very happy to be leaving the camp.
"It was not good because [there was] a lot of dust and we get sick often," Dema said through a translator.
Dema lived for almost a year in this shack with her husband and four children.
ADRA, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, built 160 "transitional shelters" for Dema and the other families from the median.
The new shelters are simple structures with unfinished plywood walls, cement floors and tin roofs. Dema said they're beautiful.
Officials with ADRA say the shelters cost roughly $1,400 a piece to build and should last for three to five years.
Aid agencies had planned to build more than 100,000 such transitional shelters. But they've had difficulty finding land clear of earthquake rubble and where there's a clear title of ownership.
As the residents from this camp tear down their shacks and move into new plywood houses, it's clear that the need for housing remains huge.
Rasheed Magnan also lost his house in the earthquake. He says he still hasn't found a place to stay a year later.
"You know, I live right inside this place by the water. It's like nothing but like metal sheets. So we don't really have a home," Magnan says.
Magnan who spent much of his life in the United States says the only reason no one's giving him a house is because he wasn't crazy enough to move into the middle of road.
"You know. God is great. I'm gonna wait for my turn," he says with a laugh.
But with almost a million people still living in camps around the Haitian capital, its unclear when or if his turn will ever come.
Related NPR Stories
Haitians On The Margins Make Home On A Highway June 3, 2010
(NPR) - By Jason Beaubien
More than a year after the earthquake in Haiti, a group of people living in a camp in the middle of a highway have finally been moved out of the traffic.
Roughly 1,000 people were living on an 8-foot-wide stretch of median on the main road heading south out of Port-au-Prince. In a city where almost half the population remains in camps, this settlement had the distinction of being the narrowest. It was also possibly the most hazardous.
In May of last year, 326 structures stretched in a long line up the middle of a six-lane road. Each structure covered the width of the median. Traffic rushed by both sides of the dwellings.
Residents of the encampment disassembled their makeshift shelters themselves. Late last month, Louisanna Dema, 50, was taking down her sheet metal shack. She said she was very happy to be leaving the camp.
"It was not good because [there was] a lot of dust and we get sick often," Dema said through a translator.
Dema lived for almost a year in this shack with her husband and four children.
ADRA, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, built 160 "transitional shelters" for Dema and the other families from the median.
The new shelters are simple structures with unfinished plywood walls, cement floors and tin roofs. Dema said they're beautiful.
Officials with ADRA say the shelters cost roughly $1,400 a piece to build and should last for three to five years.
Aid agencies had planned to build more than 100,000 such transitional shelters. But they've had difficulty finding land clear of earthquake rubble and where there's a clear title of ownership.
As the residents from this camp tear down their shacks and move into new plywood houses, it's clear that the need for housing remains huge.
Rasheed Magnan also lost his house in the earthquake. He says he still hasn't found a place to stay a year later.
"You know, I live right inside this place by the water. It's like nothing but like metal sheets. So we don't really have a home," Magnan says.
Magnan who spent much of his life in the United States says the only reason no one's giving him a house is because he wasn't crazy enough to move into the middle of road.
"You know. God is great. I'm gonna wait for my turn," he says with a laugh.
But with almost a million people still living in camps around the Haitian capital, its unclear when or if his turn will ever come.
Related NPR Stories
Haitians On The Margins Make Home On A Highway June 3, 2010
ARTICLE - ASSISTANCE - BIRTH CERTIFICATE
IN ASSISTING HAITI QUAKE SURVIVORS, START AT THE BEGINNING: A BIRTH CERTIFICATE
(UNHCR) - www.unhcr.og
PETIT GOAVE – This was the day that Jacqueline and her neighbours in a ramshackle settlement for victims of last year's devastating earthquake were going to be born again.
Jacqueline is one of hundreds of Haitians who have benefitted from a UNHCR project to provide identity documents to vulnerable people who either lost them in the quake or never possessed them. Her inability to prove her identity or citizenship has made it difficult to access services put in place to help those whose lives were shattered by the earthquake on January 12 last year.
"In just 40 seconds, I lost everything – my husband, two children, my house, my possessions, my livelihood. Even our documents were destroyed," she said. "Since then, we have lived in this camp. Without papers I can't do anything. I cannot receive assistance, access services or enroll the little ones in school."
A year after the earthquake struck, an estimated 800,000 people still live in more than 1,000 camps or settlements that emerged in its aftermath. The daily challenge of survival in these conditions can make replacing a lost birth certificate or an identity card a low priority for many.
"After an emergency, having the necessary documentation plays an important role in ensuring that vulnerable people don't slip through the cracks," said Vincent Briard, UNHCR protection officer in Haiti. "In the short term, identity documents allow people to access aid; longer term they can prevent them from becoming stateless. Many of the people we are working with never had these documents and without them they do not formally exist. Providing a birth certificate allows them to regain their rights as citizens."
The documentation drive is one of 43 quick-impact projects that UNHCR has initiated to assist survivors of the earthquake, which killed tens of thousands of people. The other projects address needs such as providing survivors a means of earning an income or protecting women against violence or sexual assault in the camps.
Like Jacqueline, the majority of the 1,500 people who have been assisted by the documentation project are women who no longer have a partner to help them raise a family. Many have taken in children who were orphaned by the quake. Some have given birth in the camps. Without proof of citizenship, children may not be able to attend school or receive medical care. They may also be more vulnerable to human trafficking.
"Birth registration is an essential first step in ensuring a child's rights," said Urbens Dieuveuil, manager of the local non-governmental organization, ACAT Haïti, a UNHCR partner involved in the project. "It provides proof – not only of the rights that come with citizenship, but also proof of their mere existence."
Registering a birth in Haiti was never a simple process. The bureaucratic hurdles can trip up even those who are informed and reasonably well off. For the poor and vulnerable left homeless by the earthquake, the time, distance and money needed to register a child within its first two years – as required in Haiti – can be too great a task.
The right to citizenship is often called the "right to have rights," because of the official status it conveys and the access it provides to basic services and recognition before the law. Working with Haiti's Ministry of Justice, local NGOs and other UN organizations, such as the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN refugee agency plans to expand the registration project in 2011.
(UNHCR) - www.unhcr.og
PETIT GOAVE – This was the day that Jacqueline and her neighbours in a ramshackle settlement for victims of last year's devastating earthquake were going to be born again.
Jacqueline is one of hundreds of Haitians who have benefitted from a UNHCR project to provide identity documents to vulnerable people who either lost them in the quake or never possessed them. Her inability to prove her identity or citizenship has made it difficult to access services put in place to help those whose lives were shattered by the earthquake on January 12 last year.
"In just 40 seconds, I lost everything – my husband, two children, my house, my possessions, my livelihood. Even our documents were destroyed," she said. "Since then, we have lived in this camp. Without papers I can't do anything. I cannot receive assistance, access services or enroll the little ones in school."
A year after the earthquake struck, an estimated 800,000 people still live in more than 1,000 camps or settlements that emerged in its aftermath. The daily challenge of survival in these conditions can make replacing a lost birth certificate or an identity card a low priority for many.
"After an emergency, having the necessary documentation plays an important role in ensuring that vulnerable people don't slip through the cracks," said Vincent Briard, UNHCR protection officer in Haiti. "In the short term, identity documents allow people to access aid; longer term they can prevent them from becoming stateless. Many of the people we are working with never had these documents and without them they do not formally exist. Providing a birth certificate allows them to regain their rights as citizens."
The documentation drive is one of 43 quick-impact projects that UNHCR has initiated to assist survivors of the earthquake, which killed tens of thousands of people. The other projects address needs such as providing survivors a means of earning an income or protecting women against violence or sexual assault in the camps.
Like Jacqueline, the majority of the 1,500 people who have been assisted by the documentation project are women who no longer have a partner to help them raise a family. Many have taken in children who were orphaned by the quake. Some have given birth in the camps. Without proof of citizenship, children may not be able to attend school or receive medical care. They may also be more vulnerable to human trafficking.
"Birth registration is an essential first step in ensuring a child's rights," said Urbens Dieuveuil, manager of the local non-governmental organization, ACAT Haïti, a UNHCR partner involved in the project. "It provides proof – not only of the rights that come with citizenship, but also proof of their mere existence."
Registering a birth in Haiti was never a simple process. The bureaucratic hurdles can trip up even those who are informed and reasonably well off. For the poor and vulnerable left homeless by the earthquake, the time, distance and money needed to register a child within its first two years – as required in Haiti – can be too great a task.
The right to citizenship is often called the "right to have rights," because of the official status it conveys and the access it provides to basic services and recognition before the law. Working with Haiti's Ministry of Justice, local NGOs and other UN organizations, such as the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN refugee agency plans to expand the registration project in 2011.
ARTICLE - NGO'S - QUESTIONS OF EFFECTIVENESS
NGOs IN HAITI FACE NEW QUESTIONS ABOUT THEIR EFFECTIVENESS
(Washington Post) - By William Booth
PORT-AU-PRINCE - In the days after the earth shook and the government collapsed, the municipal nursing home here became one of the most desperate sights in Haiti, as old people lay swaddled in dirty sheets, huddled in cramped tents, begging visitors for water.
But little by little, order was restored. A humanitarian aid group called HelpAge International arrived at the nursing home. They paid salaries for security guards, health- care workers and cooks. The last building left standing was patched, and the elderly residents no longer were bathed with buckets in the yard.
But six months later, HelpAge abandoned the project after it failed to negotiate a new agreement with city hall. The group Project Concern International, which was operating a clinic on the grounds of the nursing home, closed down too after the mayor asked for rent.
The travails at the municipal nursing home illustrate both the promise and the perils of the unprecedented humanitarian aid response in Haiti.
Hundreds, maybe thousands, of nongovernmental organizations, known as NGOs, poured into the country after the earthquake to provide emergency services. The groups - from international brand names like Save the Children to unknown Baptist missionaries from Oklahoma - were supported by overwhelming global generosity, including more than $1.4 billion in donations from Americans.
But the effectiveness of the NGOs is now being questioned, by the groups themselves, and especially by Haitian leaders who complain that NGOs have become a parallel government hobbled by poor coordination, high turnover and lack of transparency.
In the squalid camps where 800,000 people still languish, many Haitians routinely say their misery is exploited by NGOs to raise funds rather than raise them up from poverty. Children throw rocks at photographers from aid groups trying to take their pictures, demanding money.
Haitian officials speak of being "overrun" by "an invasion" of NGOs. Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said that foreign NGOs operate in Haiti with little regard to government planning, and that their presence, while necessary, can actually undermine long-term recovery efforts. By funneling most aid dollars through the NGOs, rather than the government, which struggles with a legacy of corruption, the NGOs condemn the country to a cycle of dependence, he said.
Michel Martelly, the popular carnival singer who has become a top contender in the chaotic presidential election, promised that if elected, his government would rein in the NGOs and change how they do business in Haiti.
"We will allow them to function, but I will tell them what to do and where to do it," Martelly said in an interview. "We are going to impose a system to oversee what is done. We are going to get control of them."
'Overlooked and sidelined'
The Disaster Accountability Project, a nonprofit staffed by law students and interns, solicited data from 196 NGOs operating in Haiti and got responses from 38 organizations, which reported that they had raised $1.4 billion in donations for earthquake relief in Haiti and spent $730 million on the ground.
Of the 196 Web sites operated by the NGOs in Haiti, only eight contained information the group considered "average or better than average" at transparency. "Most of the Web sites rely on anecdotes, aggregations and appeals to emotion," said Ben Smilowitz, the group's founder.
Aggregations are a common tactic in which an NGO or donor government compiles overall numbers - of latrines, meals, tents - and implies that it alone was responsible, when the tallies represent the work done by many.
It is difficult for an ordinary donor who writes a $50 check to know where the money goes.
Alex Cottin, a director for Merlin, an international health charity, issued a report asking "is Haiti's health care better?" after a year of massive aid and concluded: "To be honest, I'd say the answer is mixed."
Cottin said international groups came in and took over services. "What happened too often is that local health workers were overlooked and sidelined. I learned of one Haitian surgeon who reported going to the General Hospital to offer her services only to be told the international team had brought enough foreign personnel with them."
A report by the international aid group Oxfam on the one-year anniversary of the earthquake stressed that Haitian authorities need to show greater strategic leadership but that the international community should do much more to support the capacity of Haitian institutions rather than sidelining them.
Sylvain Groulx, head of the mission for the group Doctors without Borders, said that "it is true that a major, major challenge for the NGO community in Haiti has been coordination. We all need to ask ourselves, honestly, how have we done."
The 12 Haitian members of the Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission sent its co-chairman Bill Clinton a letter in December protesting that they were "completely disconnected" from the decision-making process that helps shape how more than $4 billion in recovery aid is spent.
Of 1,583 contracts given in Haiti from the U.S. government totaling $267 million, only 20, for a total of $4.3 million, went to Haitian-owned companies, according to a review by the Associated Press.
Power struggle
Charity groups have been working in Haiti for decades, supplying a majority of health and human services, but the country is worse off economically than it was during the dark days of the dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, ousted in 1986 and now under house arrest after his surprise return to Haiti two weeks ago.
Donors often prefer to funnel money through NGOs than the Haitian government because they fear the aid dollars will be squandered on cronyism and ineffeciencies. Transparency International ranks Haiti 146 out of 178 countries in its Corruption Perception Index. The lack of faith has only increased in recent months in the aftermath of Haiti's fraud-plagued presidential elections that have left the country with a leadership vacuum.
NGO was here, the old people ate better, they had better care, a doctor came. But I don't think the NGO will ever come back. We are now alone."
Emmanuel Jean, a manager of the nursing home, sat in a barren office tallying figures. "The NGOs come and go, they don't have time to learn from us, the way we do things in Haiti. They don't know what we really need. They tell us what we need. This is why they can't work with us."
"When it was time to sign a new agreement with the mayor about our next phase of work at the home, he refused to work with us unless we paid his staff," said Caroline Graham of HelpAge.
The group also thought the nursing home, located in a tough slum, and now surrounded by gangs and a tent camp filled with earthquake refugees, should be relocated. "We wanted to move them elsewhere, but the mayor would not allow it," Graham said.
For his part, the mayor of Port-au-Prince, Muscadin Jean-Yves Jason, complained in an interview about his former partners from the international aid community.
"They manifested their usual arrogance to city hall, they didn't do what they said they would do, they wanted to take over our nursing home, not help us, but take it over, and I asked them what do you want me to do, give you our old people as a present?" the mayor said.
(Washington Post) - By William Booth
PORT-AU-PRINCE - In the days after the earth shook and the government collapsed, the municipal nursing home here became one of the most desperate sights in Haiti, as old people lay swaddled in dirty sheets, huddled in cramped tents, begging visitors for water.
But little by little, order was restored. A humanitarian aid group called HelpAge International arrived at the nursing home. They paid salaries for security guards, health- care workers and cooks. The last building left standing was patched, and the elderly residents no longer were bathed with buckets in the yard.
But six months later, HelpAge abandoned the project after it failed to negotiate a new agreement with city hall. The group Project Concern International, which was operating a clinic on the grounds of the nursing home, closed down too after the mayor asked for rent.
The travails at the municipal nursing home illustrate both the promise and the perils of the unprecedented humanitarian aid response in Haiti.
Hundreds, maybe thousands, of nongovernmental organizations, known as NGOs, poured into the country after the earthquake to provide emergency services. The groups - from international brand names like Save the Children to unknown Baptist missionaries from Oklahoma - were supported by overwhelming global generosity, including more than $1.4 billion in donations from Americans.
But the effectiveness of the NGOs is now being questioned, by the groups themselves, and especially by Haitian leaders who complain that NGOs have become a parallel government hobbled by poor coordination, high turnover and lack of transparency.
In the squalid camps where 800,000 people still languish, many Haitians routinely say their misery is exploited by NGOs to raise funds rather than raise them up from poverty. Children throw rocks at photographers from aid groups trying to take their pictures, demanding money.
Haitian officials speak of being "overrun" by "an invasion" of NGOs. Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said that foreign NGOs operate in Haiti with little regard to government planning, and that their presence, while necessary, can actually undermine long-term recovery efforts. By funneling most aid dollars through the NGOs, rather than the government, which struggles with a legacy of corruption, the NGOs condemn the country to a cycle of dependence, he said.
Michel Martelly, the popular carnival singer who has become a top contender in the chaotic presidential election, promised that if elected, his government would rein in the NGOs and change how they do business in Haiti.
"We will allow them to function, but I will tell them what to do and where to do it," Martelly said in an interview. "We are going to impose a system to oversee what is done. We are going to get control of them."
'Overlooked and sidelined'
The Disaster Accountability Project, a nonprofit staffed by law students and interns, solicited data from 196 NGOs operating in Haiti and got responses from 38 organizations, which reported that they had raised $1.4 billion in donations for earthquake relief in Haiti and spent $730 million on the ground.
Of the 196 Web sites operated by the NGOs in Haiti, only eight contained information the group considered "average or better than average" at transparency. "Most of the Web sites rely on anecdotes, aggregations and appeals to emotion," said Ben Smilowitz, the group's founder.
Aggregations are a common tactic in which an NGO or donor government compiles overall numbers - of latrines, meals, tents - and implies that it alone was responsible, when the tallies represent the work done by many.
It is difficult for an ordinary donor who writes a $50 check to know where the money goes.
Alex Cottin, a director for Merlin, an international health charity, issued a report asking "is Haiti's health care better?" after a year of massive aid and concluded: "To be honest, I'd say the answer is mixed."
Cottin said international groups came in and took over services. "What happened too often is that local health workers were overlooked and sidelined. I learned of one Haitian surgeon who reported going to the General Hospital to offer her services only to be told the international team had brought enough foreign personnel with them."
A report by the international aid group Oxfam on the one-year anniversary of the earthquake stressed that Haitian authorities need to show greater strategic leadership but that the international community should do much more to support the capacity of Haitian institutions rather than sidelining them.
Sylvain Groulx, head of the mission for the group Doctors without Borders, said that "it is true that a major, major challenge for the NGO community in Haiti has been coordination. We all need to ask ourselves, honestly, how have we done."
The 12 Haitian members of the Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission sent its co-chairman Bill Clinton a letter in December protesting that they were "completely disconnected" from the decision-making process that helps shape how more than $4 billion in recovery aid is spent.
Of 1,583 contracts given in Haiti from the U.S. government totaling $267 million, only 20, for a total of $4.3 million, went to Haitian-owned companies, according to a review by the Associated Press.
Power struggle
Charity groups have been working in Haiti for decades, supplying a majority of health and human services, but the country is worse off economically than it was during the dark days of the dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, ousted in 1986 and now under house arrest after his surprise return to Haiti two weeks ago.
Donors often prefer to funnel money through NGOs than the Haitian government because they fear the aid dollars will be squandered on cronyism and ineffeciencies. Transparency International ranks Haiti 146 out of 178 countries in its Corruption Perception Index. The lack of faith has only increased in recent months in the aftermath of Haiti's fraud-plagued presidential elections that have left the country with a leadership vacuum.
NGO was here, the old people ate better, they had better care, a doctor came. But I don't think the NGO will ever come back. We are now alone."
Emmanuel Jean, a manager of the nursing home, sat in a barren office tallying figures. "The NGOs come and go, they don't have time to learn from us, the way we do things in Haiti. They don't know what we really need. They tell us what we need. This is why they can't work with us."
"When it was time to sign a new agreement with the mayor about our next phase of work at the home, he refused to work with us unless we paid his staff," said Caroline Graham of HelpAge.
The group also thought the nursing home, located in a tough slum, and now surrounded by gangs and a tent camp filled with earthquake refugees, should be relocated. "We wanted to move them elsewhere, but the mayor would not allow it," Graham said.
For his part, the mayor of Port-au-Prince, Muscadin Jean-Yves Jason, complained in an interview about his former partners from the international aid community.
"They manifested their usual arrogance to city hall, they didn't do what they said they would do, they wanted to take over our nursing home, not help us, but take it over, and I asked them what do you want me to do, give you our old people as a present?" the mayor said.
ARTICLE - PRESIDENT COULD EXTEND TERM
US OFFICIALS: HAITI PRESIDENT COULD EXTEND TERM SLIGHTLY IF ELECTION FOLLOWS RECOMMENDATIONS
(CP) - By Bradley Klapper
PORT-AU-PRINCE — President Rene Preval could conceivably remain in power for a few weeks beyond his soon-to-expire term if the election for his successor is deemed to be proceeding fairly, senior U.S. officials said following a one-day visit by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Under Haiti's constitution, presidential terms begin and end on Feb. 7. An emergency law passed four months after last year's devastating earthquake by an expiring Senate said Preval could remain in power for up to three months extra because his inauguration was delayed in 2006.
The key issue is what will happen after he leaves office. Clinton made clear in meetings with Preval, the candidates and officials on Sunday that the United States wants Haiti to follow recommendations that would result in the elimination of the president's chosen candidate, Jude Celestin, from the second round.
The members of the provisional electoral council, which has the final say, were individually approved by Preval.
Following those recommendations, made by an Organization of American States expert team, would leave former first lady Mirlande Manigat, a conservative law professor, and singer Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly, a populist, to meet in the second round.
"We support the OAS recommendations and we would like to see them move forward because we think that's the best way to respect the votes of the Haitian people," Clinton told Haiti's Radio Caraibes.
Leaders of Preval's Unity party said last week that Celestin had rightly won the election but should step down because of pressure from the United States and other countries. Days before the State Department cancelled visas of Haitian officials, nearly all reportedly from Unity, and the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said sustained U.S. support for Haiti depended in part on the OAS recommendations being implemented.
Celestin has not publicly commented since. Unity's co-ordinator did not return calls Monday. His lawyers have continued fighting for him to advance in the race.
The U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing department policy, said that Clinton neither asked Celestin to pull out of the race nor Preval to force him out, and that Celestin gave no indication he would resign.
They characterized the meeting with Celestin at the U.S. ambassador's sprawling estate in Petionville as "very respectful."
The announcement of who will be on the rescheduled March 20 ballot is expected Wednesday.
Five days later comes the day set by Haiti's 1987 constitution for presidential transitions of power: The anniversary of ex-dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier's flight into exile — from which he shockingly returned weeks ago.
Haitian and foreign officials are trying to figure out what to do next.
Preval has said he does not want an interim government and asserts his right to remain in office through May 14.
But he is deeply unpopular, especially in urban areas, after years of continued poverty and following his perceived inaction in response to the earthquake. But officials are also concerned about leaving a power vacuum atop the chronically unstable nation.
"Preval doesn't like the Haitian people. One day he said that he would leave. The next day is that he wants to wait for the next president," said Mona Delcine, a 39-year-old cooked food vendor in Port-au-Prince. "If he can leave on Feb. 7 there will be less problems."
But Jean Pierre, a 28-year-old bread seller whose home was destroyed in the earthquake, cautioned patience.
"President Preval should leave after the elections happen, not before, so there won't be any confusion," he said.
Celestin headed Haiti's state-run construction firm. He is widely seen as a continuation of Preval's policies who would be amenable to foreign investment and could keep Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive — former U.S. President Bill Clinton's partner on the interim reconstruction commission — in power.
Manigat is a social conservative who supports reinstituting a security force to supplement Haiti's struggling police. Her husband was briefly president in the late 1980s under a military junta.
Martelly is a populist whose views are closer to the U.S. right wing and who supports fully remaking the banned Armed Forces of Haiti, in part as a means of addressing rampant unemployment.
"As President of Haiti, I will look forward to a full partnership with the United States," Martelly said in an email Monday.
____
Associated Press writer Evens Sanon contributed to this report
(CP) - By Bradley Klapper
PORT-AU-PRINCE — President Rene Preval could conceivably remain in power for a few weeks beyond his soon-to-expire term if the election for his successor is deemed to be proceeding fairly, senior U.S. officials said following a one-day visit by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Under Haiti's constitution, presidential terms begin and end on Feb. 7. An emergency law passed four months after last year's devastating earthquake by an expiring Senate said Preval could remain in power for up to three months extra because his inauguration was delayed in 2006.
The key issue is what will happen after he leaves office. Clinton made clear in meetings with Preval, the candidates and officials on Sunday that the United States wants Haiti to follow recommendations that would result in the elimination of the president's chosen candidate, Jude Celestin, from the second round.
The members of the provisional electoral council, which has the final say, were individually approved by Preval.
Following those recommendations, made by an Organization of American States expert team, would leave former first lady Mirlande Manigat, a conservative law professor, and singer Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly, a populist, to meet in the second round.
"We support the OAS recommendations and we would like to see them move forward because we think that's the best way to respect the votes of the Haitian people," Clinton told Haiti's Radio Caraibes.
Leaders of Preval's Unity party said last week that Celestin had rightly won the election but should step down because of pressure from the United States and other countries. Days before the State Department cancelled visas of Haitian officials, nearly all reportedly from Unity, and the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said sustained U.S. support for Haiti depended in part on the OAS recommendations being implemented.
Celestin has not publicly commented since. Unity's co-ordinator did not return calls Monday. His lawyers have continued fighting for him to advance in the race.
The U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing department policy, said that Clinton neither asked Celestin to pull out of the race nor Preval to force him out, and that Celestin gave no indication he would resign.
They characterized the meeting with Celestin at the U.S. ambassador's sprawling estate in Petionville as "very respectful."
The announcement of who will be on the rescheduled March 20 ballot is expected Wednesday.
Five days later comes the day set by Haiti's 1987 constitution for presidential transitions of power: The anniversary of ex-dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier's flight into exile — from which he shockingly returned weeks ago.
Haitian and foreign officials are trying to figure out what to do next.
Preval has said he does not want an interim government and asserts his right to remain in office through May 14.
But he is deeply unpopular, especially in urban areas, after years of continued poverty and following his perceived inaction in response to the earthquake. But officials are also concerned about leaving a power vacuum atop the chronically unstable nation.
"Preval doesn't like the Haitian people. One day he said that he would leave. The next day is that he wants to wait for the next president," said Mona Delcine, a 39-year-old cooked food vendor in Port-au-Prince. "If he can leave on Feb. 7 there will be less problems."
But Jean Pierre, a 28-year-old bread seller whose home was destroyed in the earthquake, cautioned patience.
"President Preval should leave after the elections happen, not before, so there won't be any confusion," he said.
Celestin headed Haiti's state-run construction firm. He is widely seen as a continuation of Preval's policies who would be amenable to foreign investment and could keep Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive — former U.S. President Bill Clinton's partner on the interim reconstruction commission — in power.
Manigat is a social conservative who supports reinstituting a security force to supplement Haiti's struggling police. Her husband was briefly president in the late 1980s under a military junta.
Martelly is a populist whose views are closer to the U.S. right wing and who supports fully remaking the banned Armed Forces of Haiti, in part as a means of addressing rampant unemployment.
"As President of Haiti, I will look forward to a full partnership with the United States," Martelly said in an email Monday.
____
Associated Press writer Evens Sanon contributed to this report
ARTICLE - ARISTIDE CAN HAVE PASSPORT
HAITI: ARISTIDE CAN HAVE PASSPORT, HASN'T APPLIED
(AP) -
PORT-AU-PRINCE — Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is eligible for a passport but has not applied for one, Haitian officials said Monday.
That followed a letter from the ousted leader's U.S. lawyer, Ira Kurzban, telling officials at Haiti's foreign affairs and interior ministries that he understood they had agreed to issue Aristide a diplomatic passport.
"I kindly request that his diplomatic passport be issued immediately and that plans for his return commence immediately," he said. The letter was forwarded to reporters.
But Interior Minister Paul-Antoine Bien-Aime said in an official letter, sent later Monday, that no passport had been requested. "It appears that to date, neither ministry had received a request for issuance or renewal of passports from the former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide," he wrote.
Aristide is a former priest and liberation theologist who rose to become Haiti's first democratically elected president. He was overthrown in a coup, restored to power, then ousted again in 2004. His return was forced by the threat of a U.S. military invasion; debate has raged for years over what role the U.S. played in his departures.
His lack of a valid passport has long been given as a principal technical reason impeding his return. Haitian officials say that he would not need a passport to re-enter Haiti, but could need one to pass through other countries on his way back from his exile in South Africa.
Bien-Aime's letter was sent to media in two versions, one French and the other Haitian Creole.
The French version says: "The Government of the Republic gives its assurance that as soon as it is made, such a request will be honored promptly."
The Creole differs slightly: "The government gives a guarantee that if President Aristide requests a passport, it will respond to him quickly."
Fritz Longchamp, Preval's chief of staff, said: "The French version is more accurate than the Creole."
He said government ministers decided last Tuesday to announce that Aristide could get a passport if he applied. Longchamp said this has been a long-standing position of the government, reiterated to "lay to rest all the speculation" that the Haitian government was preventing his return.
Speculation that Aristide might come back to Haiti soared after ex-dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier stepped off an Air France jet in January in a shocking return from nearly 25 years of exile.
If Aristide followed, he would arrive in the midst of a potentially destabilizing political crisis in which President Rene Preval's chosen candidate is deadlocked with a rival for the remaining spot in a delayed electoral runoff.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton came to Haiti on Sunday to meet with Preval and the candidates. Final results from the Nov. 28 first round are expected Wednesday with the vote rescheduled for March 20.
Preval, who was once Aristide's close ally but now regarded as a traitor by his partisans, faces the constitutional end of his term on Feb. 7, though a law passed last year could allow him to stay longer.
Aristide could not participate in the election as a candidate, and has said he does not want to.
But his return would be a bombshell that could change the course of the race by setting off unrest or reawakening dormant political allegiances. He remains popular in many circles but his Fanmi Lavalas party was not permitted to participate in this or other recent elections.
Last week a full-page ad ran in the Miami Herald calling for a new passport and for Aristide's immediate return. It carried 190 signatures including social organizations, political figures such as Jesse Jackson and deputy U.N. Special Envoy to Haiti Paul Farmer, entertainers Harry Belafonte and actor Danny Glover, and names associated with controversy such as the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and imprisoned radio journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal.
U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley posted on Twitter last week: "We do not doubt President Aristide's desire to help the people of Haiti. But today Haiti needs to focus on its future, not its past."
Clinton told Radio Metropole on Sunday: "I don't know what, if any, plans President Aristide has."
Over the weekend, Internet rumors spread citing a Venezuelan news report that Aristide had traveled to the nearby island of Cuba. Kurzban said the rumors are untrue and the ex-president was in South Africa on Monday.
(AP) -
PORT-AU-PRINCE — Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is eligible for a passport but has not applied for one, Haitian officials said Monday.
That followed a letter from the ousted leader's U.S. lawyer, Ira Kurzban, telling officials at Haiti's foreign affairs and interior ministries that he understood they had agreed to issue Aristide a diplomatic passport.
"I kindly request that his diplomatic passport be issued immediately and that plans for his return commence immediately," he said. The letter was forwarded to reporters.
But Interior Minister Paul-Antoine Bien-Aime said in an official letter, sent later Monday, that no passport had been requested. "It appears that to date, neither ministry had received a request for issuance or renewal of passports from the former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide," he wrote.
Aristide is a former priest and liberation theologist who rose to become Haiti's first democratically elected president. He was overthrown in a coup, restored to power, then ousted again in 2004. His return was forced by the threat of a U.S. military invasion; debate has raged for years over what role the U.S. played in his departures.
His lack of a valid passport has long been given as a principal technical reason impeding his return. Haitian officials say that he would not need a passport to re-enter Haiti, but could need one to pass through other countries on his way back from his exile in South Africa.
Bien-Aime's letter was sent to media in two versions, one French and the other Haitian Creole.
The French version says: "The Government of the Republic gives its assurance that as soon as it is made, such a request will be honored promptly."
The Creole differs slightly: "The government gives a guarantee that if President Aristide requests a passport, it will respond to him quickly."
Fritz Longchamp, Preval's chief of staff, said: "The French version is more accurate than the Creole."
He said government ministers decided last Tuesday to announce that Aristide could get a passport if he applied. Longchamp said this has been a long-standing position of the government, reiterated to "lay to rest all the speculation" that the Haitian government was preventing his return.
Speculation that Aristide might come back to Haiti soared after ex-dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier stepped off an Air France jet in January in a shocking return from nearly 25 years of exile.
If Aristide followed, he would arrive in the midst of a potentially destabilizing political crisis in which President Rene Preval's chosen candidate is deadlocked with a rival for the remaining spot in a delayed electoral runoff.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton came to Haiti on Sunday to meet with Preval and the candidates. Final results from the Nov. 28 first round are expected Wednesday with the vote rescheduled for March 20.
Preval, who was once Aristide's close ally but now regarded as a traitor by his partisans, faces the constitutional end of his term on Feb. 7, though a law passed last year could allow him to stay longer.
Aristide could not participate in the election as a candidate, and has said he does not want to.
But his return would be a bombshell that could change the course of the race by setting off unrest or reawakening dormant political allegiances. He remains popular in many circles but his Fanmi Lavalas party was not permitted to participate in this or other recent elections.
Last week a full-page ad ran in the Miami Herald calling for a new passport and for Aristide's immediate return. It carried 190 signatures including social organizations, political figures such as Jesse Jackson and deputy U.N. Special Envoy to Haiti Paul Farmer, entertainers Harry Belafonte and actor Danny Glover, and names associated with controversy such as the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and imprisoned radio journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal.
U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley posted on Twitter last week: "We do not doubt President Aristide's desire to help the people of Haiti. But today Haiti needs to focus on its future, not its past."
Clinton told Radio Metropole on Sunday: "I don't know what, if any, plans President Aristide has."
Over the weekend, Internet rumors spread citing a Venezuelan news report that Aristide had traveled to the nearby island of Cuba. Kurzban said the rumors are untrue and the ex-president was in South Africa on Monday.
ARTICLE - DUVALIER - UN OFFERS HELP
HAITI: UN HUMAN RIGHTS CHIEF OFFERS HELP TO ADDRESS CRIMES UNDER DUVALIER
(UN) - www.un.org
The United Nations human rights chief has offered Haitian authorities technical assistance for prosecuting crimes committed during the 15-year rule of former president Jean-Claude Duvalier, who returned to the country last month from exile.
There are major issues concerning human rights abuses that took place in Haiti from 1971 to 1986 when Mr. Duvalier was in power, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
Stressing that serious human rights violations should not go unpunished, High Commissioner Navi Pillay stated in a news release issued today that there was no statute of limitations under international law for violations such as torture, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and rape.
“Haiti has an obligation to investigate the well-documented serious human rights violations that occurred during the rule of Mr. Duvalier, and to prosecute those responsible for them,” she said.
“Such systematic violations of rights cannot remain unaddressed. The thousands of Haitians who suffered under this regime deserve justice,” she added.
“I call on the Haitian authorities to send a message to the world that their national courts can ensure accountability for serious violations of human rights, even in difficult humanitarian and political contexts.”
Mr. Duvalier, who returned to Haiti on 16 January after 25 years in exile, was reportedly questioned and released by the Haitian authorities just days after his arrival in the country, after being charged with corruption, misappropriation of funds and illicit association.
Noting the pending legal proceedings against the former leader, the independent UN expert on human rights in Haiti earlier this month urged the international community to “allow justice to take its course” in the Caribbean nation. “At a time when the international community strengthens its support for the restoration of the rule of law in Haiti, unwavering support to the fight against impunity for serious crimes would be a good signal to send to the people of Haiti and particularly to victims and victims’ families,” said Michel Forst.
(UN) - www.un.org
The United Nations human rights chief has offered Haitian authorities technical assistance for prosecuting crimes committed during the 15-year rule of former president Jean-Claude Duvalier, who returned to the country last month from exile.
There are major issues concerning human rights abuses that took place in Haiti from 1971 to 1986 when Mr. Duvalier was in power, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
Stressing that serious human rights violations should not go unpunished, High Commissioner Navi Pillay stated in a news release issued today that there was no statute of limitations under international law for violations such as torture, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and rape.
“Haiti has an obligation to investigate the well-documented serious human rights violations that occurred during the rule of Mr. Duvalier, and to prosecute those responsible for them,” she said.
“Such systematic violations of rights cannot remain unaddressed. The thousands of Haitians who suffered under this regime deserve justice,” she added.
“I call on the Haitian authorities to send a message to the world that their national courts can ensure accountability for serious violations of human rights, even in difficult humanitarian and political contexts.”
Mr. Duvalier, who returned to Haiti on 16 January after 25 years in exile, was reportedly questioned and released by the Haitian authorities just days after his arrival in the country, after being charged with corruption, misappropriation of funds and illicit association.
Noting the pending legal proceedings against the former leader, the independent UN expert on human rights in Haiti earlier this month urged the international community to “allow justice to take its course” in the Caribbean nation. “At a time when the international community strengthens its support for the restoration of the rule of law in Haiti, unwavering support to the fight against impunity for serious crimes would be a good signal to send to the people of Haiti and particularly to victims and victims’ families,” said Michel Forst.
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