ARTICLE - WHY GOVERNANCE IS KEY

WHY GOVERNANCE IS KEY TO HAITI'S RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT
(ReliefWeb) - Source: Institute of Development Studies (IDS) - By Markus Schultze-Kraft

There is increasing concern and evidence that Haiti's reconstruction process is faltering. One year after the devastating earthquake it is paramount that Haitians and the international donor community focus on establishing a more effective and inclusive governance framework for reconstruction and development.

Large pledges, slow reconstruction
Despite international pledges to support Haiti's reconstruction to the tune of US$ 10 billion over the course of a decade, a year after the devastating earthquake the country and its people remain locked in the direst of circumstances.

As disappointment and despair mount, there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel. Tent cities housing more than 1 million quake victims have become semi-permanent sites of desolation, witnessing rising crime and sexual violence against women and girls. A cholera epidemic has killed thousands and is spreading across the Americas' most vulnerable nation.

The mixed Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission (IHRC), co-chaired by Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive and Bill Clinton, has been mandated to lead and enable the first reconstruction phase until October 2011, when it is scheduled to hand over responsibility to a new, fully Haitian-run Haiti Development Authority (HDA). Yet so far the IHRC has not lived up to the challenges of improving donor coordination, building state capacity and implementing aid resources.

While disbursement of assistance funds has been lagging, overall coordination between donors has not improved. It is hard to detect a clear sense of direction in the IHRC's work. Haitian civil society organisations do not have a vote in the Commission and are angry that they are not being consulted about reconstruction projects that may directly affect the lives of their constituencies.

The outgoing administration of President René Préval - damaged by the contested November polls, a weak response to the post-quake crisis, and the cholera epidemic - has been largely unable to play its role in the IHRC.

A growing lack of legitimacy
Haiti's reconstruction risks being undermined by an increasing lack of legitimacy affecting both the national authorities and the international donor community.

One year on it is paramount that more attention be paid to how decisions about the allocation of assistance funds are taken and who participates, and in what capacity, in the implementation of reconstruction projects. Failure to improve reconstruction governance, along with making the pledged funds available and effectively responding to priority needs, could lead to yet another, potentially violent human and political catastrophe.

The governance factor
To make headway, Haiti urgently needs legitimate public authority for reconstruction and longer term development. In the absence of sufficiently strong Haitian institutions in the post-quake setting, such public authority can only be built on the basis of enabling and promoting efficient, inclusive and transparent relations between the government and state, civil society and the international donor community.

The IHRC and its successor, the HDA, have important roles to play in this respect. However, establishing a functioning governance structure for reconstruction and development requires revamping the Commission and setting up the HDA in such a way that they support, rather than hinder, constructive three-way interactions between the government, civil society and the international community. Outreach, consultation and information sharing are important but it is becoming increasingly evident that by themselves they are insufficient.

The focus should now be on designing a governance framework capable of shifting or influencing the incentives and interests of these three sets of actors in favour of a national and truly Haitian-owned project of reconstruction and development. This is all the more important in view of the fact that Haiti's new government will likely not be a strong one, Haitian civil society is fragmented and the international donor community is not united.

Markus Schultze-Kraft is IDS' Governance Team Leader.