HAITI AT A CROSSROADS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Haití needs to be rebuilt in a sustainable way that considers the long-term future of the country and the people. This needs to be a Haitian-owned process, led by the Government of Haiti, but circumstances demand strong and strategic support from the donor community. Five months after a devastating earthquake struck Haiti on January 12, 2010, leading to the deaths of approximately 230,000 people and the displacement of millions, there are worrisome signs that the rebuilding process in Haiti has stalled. Haiti is at a significant crossroads, with limited time to enact key policies and programs that will allow the country to build a more sustainable and prosperous future. As the sense of immediate crisis has subsided, so has the sense of urgency to undertake bold action—the ‘‘reimagination’’ of Haiti hoped for months ago—and the commitment to prevent a return to the dysfunctional, unsustainable ways of life past.

The donor community, working with a  devastated and often overwhelmed Government, has done a remarkable job in the relief phase, forestalling potentially disastrous humanitarian consequences, and providing consistent access to food, water, medical supplies, shelter and other basic services. The U.S. Government response in particular has contributed to the overall success of international humanitarian efforts—it is important to acknowledge the tremendous time, effort, and energy expended getting people into safer conditions in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake.

However, the reconstruction remains uncertain. Rubble is still strewn all over the streets, the majority of buildings are damaged if not collapsed, and informal tent settlements—in penurious conditions— have sprouted everywhere. Emblematic of the stalled rebuilding effort is the Presidential Palace, which remains conspicuously in ruins, without any signs of scaffolding or construction. Plans for moving the displaced population out of tent cities and into more durable shelter, not to mention permanent housing, remain in early draft form. This is particularly alarming given the onset of the hurricane season. Even a modest hurricane could kill many thousands. The current rainy season also threatens lives by increasing the spread of communicable diseases, particularly in the squalor of the camps.

Even before the earthquake, Haiti faced significant developmental challenges. Fewer than 30 percent of Haitians had access to electricity, with roughly half of users tapping into the national grid illegally. There were longstanding problems with garbage and solid waste removal. Clogged canals presented serious and recur ring risks of flooding. As one official noted, it is hard to separate what is due to the poverty levels that predated the earthquake and what is due to the earthquake itself, in a country where approximately 80 percent of the country lived on less than $2 a day, even before the earthquake. The enormous difficulties that confronted Haiti for decades have only been compounded by the devastation of the earthquake, adding urgency to the critical issues that have the potential to derail the effort to rebuild the country if they are not adequately addressed in the coming weeks. 

TEN CRITICAL ISSUES FOR HAITI’S REBUILDING 

1)  Establish a feasible, comprehensive rebuilding strategy:While the Haitian Government’s Action Plan for National Recovery and Development in Haiti represented a good start, much more work is needed to translate broad concepts into implementable programs that will catalyze and guide the rebuilding process. Haitians are waiting for more concrete guidance on everything from where displaced persons can resettle and how the education system will be rebuilt to plans for economic decentralization and private sector investment.  Fundamentally, Haitians want to know how they are going to be able to earn a living and send their children to school. Right now these questions remain unanswered. The lack of a plan and the failure to build political support for one makes even small obstacles seem difficult.

2) Build leadership and capacity in the Government of Haiti:The Government of Haiti was decimated by the earthquake, losing civil servants, senior leaders, the Presidential Palace and most of the ministry buildings. Haiti and its leaders remain in shock and mourning, and there is a sense of national exhaustion and frustration caused by the fact that the earthquake hit just as certain positive trends were developing. It is understandable that having lost so many of its own personnel in the earthquake, the Government of Haiti has limited capacity, but Haitians need to be reassured that their Government is resolutely leading the rebuilding process and is executing a well-thoughtout plan. Likewise, the donor community needs a viable partner who will lay out priorities, appropriately guide reconstruction activities, and make the political commitment necessary for success.

3)  Empower the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission: While many details still need to be sorted out about how the IHRC will function, this should not be an excuse for delaying its full establishment and allowing it to become fully operational. The IHRC represents perhaps the country’s best near-term prospect for driving rebuilding. While an acting executive director has been designated for the short term, a search is ongoing for a permanent executive director, and the Commission needs to be staffed up as soon as possible with technical and administrative experts. Further, donors need to line up behind the IHRC and quickly achieve consensus on how it will operate. The Commission represents an opportunity to change the way of doing business in Haiti—an expertise-based approach that builds political consensus—and it is essential that it operate with focus, discipline, and decisiveness.

4) Address the resettlement issue: Addressing the hundreds of thousands of Haitians trapped in temporary or informal settlements is the major recovery issue. This already is an emergency situation, and it threatens to get much worse. Everyone recognizes that the status quo is unacceptable and unsustainable, yet key land-policy decisions have been inexplicably delayed. Solutions need to be offered for moving displaced people out of the dozens of tent cities that have cropped up. There is land available, but land tenure issues must be resolved. The longer haitians continue to live in makeshift camps, the harder it will be to reintegrate them into communities and take down the camps. Security challenges in the camps have been manageable because people have hope for a better future, but risks will increase if a sense of desperation sets in.

5) Hold elections expeditiously: It is imperative that Haiti’s fragile democracy is not imperiled further by the January earthquake, or by the necessary postponement of parliamentary elections originally scheduled for last February. A Presidential decree formally initiating a process for Presidential and parliamentary elections in November is apparently imminent, but the tasks ahead are immense, including registering voters in a country where so many government records were lost. A legitimate and democratically elected government is an essential precondition for laying a strong, sustainable foundation for Haiti’s future.

6)  Donors need to speak with one voice and improve coordination: There is too much fragmentation in the donor community and too much disagreement. Conflicting messages are going to President Preval and the Government, leading to confusion and mixed signals on important issues. The donor community needs a unified and consistent voice to represent its interests with the authority to make necessary decisions to push the process forward. Many agree that the U.N. Special Envoy, former President Bill Clinton, may be in the best position to assume this role. The donor community also needs to confront significant coordination problems and determine the best way to align its priorities within an overall rebuilding framework. Current donor efforts are marked by excessive fragmentation and a proliferation of approaches and strategies that are undercutting recovery and rebuilding.

7) Coordinate U.S. assistance efforts with the Government of Haiti and other donors: As the U.S. Government puts together its development strategy and begins to program money for different rebuilding priorities, it is important that our efforts complement other donors and support the Government of Haiti’s development framework. In other contexts, there has been a tendency to operate outside the main development framework, leading to redundancies and overlap. Because the United States is such a big player in Haiti’s rebuilding, it is important that U.S. efforts are well-coordinated internally (this includes imminently naming an overall coordinator for assistance to Haiti), and that we continue to provide vital leadership to the donor community and support to the Government of Haiti.

8) Rebuild Haiti’s decimated civil service:  Haiti’s bureaucracy and civil service suffered a triple blow from the earthquake. Almost all the ministry buildings were damaged or destroyed due to their proximity to the epicenter of the quake, immediately killing a huge number of civil servants and shattering the backbone of Haiti’s Government. As of today, most ministries are operating out of makeshift offices, including basic tents. Computer systems are not functioning, electricity is threadbare, and basic supplies are hard to come by. Moreover, most civil servants have yet to receive any salaries since the earthquake struck. There is a significant risk that many will begin leaving the government and searching for alternate sources of income if salaries are not restored soon, further diluting the government’s capacity. Stabilizing Haiti’s public sector must be a top priority, and donors should work with the Government of Haiti to get payments flowing again to the civil service, including to critical personnel such as doctors, nurses, and teachers, many of whom have not been paid since before the earthquake.

9) Maintain security gains: The successes of the U.N. security mission and police training programs have been widely recognized. Right before the earthquake struck, security was one of the success stories in the country, with neighborhoods such as Cite´ Soleil having gained significant stability. The challenge of maintaining security has become more difficult and an increase in gang violence has been noted in recent months. It is vital that the Government and international community continue to build the capacity of the Haitian National Police and that key justice sector reforms are pushed forward. These include addressing indefinite pretrial detentions and confronting alleged prison and human rights abuses. Continued international support for the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) is essential, though the international community must ensure that MINUSTAH’s mandate is not stretched beyond an achievable and definable set of objectives.

10) Bring the broader Haitian community into the rebuilding process: While many look to the Government of Haiti to provide guidance and leadership for rebuilding, it is equally important that Haitian civil society and others outside the government participate in the reconstruction. Rebuilding the country should not be politicized, but should be an inclusive process that attempts to build a functional, equal, and responsible society. The Government of Haiti must embrace civil society, Haitian nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector as it rebuilds; without broader inclusion of Haitian stakeholders, the formation of a ‘‘reimagined’’ Haiti will be difficult to achieve.