Our Thinking

Posted 02/01/10 by Ann Elise Davison

Building a Sustainable Haiti

Topic(s): Public Affairs/Public Policy Advocacy   

From Capitol Hill to the blogosphere, people are talking about how best to rebuild Haiti. This past week, Senator John Kerry convened a meeting of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to question experts on the best path forward. While both Senators and witnesses were appropriately hesitant to talk about the current tragic state of affairs as an “opportunity,” the consensus was clear. The recent earthquake and resulting devastation opens the door to rethink U.S. and international policy towards the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

Partners in Health Founder Dr. Paul Farmer testified in his capacity as U.N. Special Deputy Envoy for Haiti.  He was joined by James Dobbins of the Rand Corporation and Dr. Rony Francois, a Haitian American public health doctor who has held several high level posts in the United States.

Significant discussion was given to how to best approach to long-term rebuilding of Haiti given the weak internal government infrastructure.  Some Members, particularly Senator Dodd, suggested that a “receivership” approach to Haiti might be required; i.e. the imposition of an outside government to manage internal affairs until domestic infrastructure and leadership could take over the reins. Sounded a bit like the D.C. Control Board that essentially ran local government in Washington from 1996-2001.

However, witnesses were reluctant to embrace this idea. Instead, the three offered an approach to a “sustainable” Haiti – one in which the Haitian government is built-up and fortified rather than essentially overthrown.  Dr. Farmer argued for an “accompaniment approach” in which the Haitian people, business community and government structures are part of the recovery solution.  He repeatedly stressed the importance of putting Haitians to work and giving them opportunities to earn cash to increase economic stability on a micro and macro level.   While the NGOS play a valuable role, Farmer noted, assistance is needed to go directly to local government entities so they can begin to build for the future.
 
Dr. Francois described a series of previous efforts to provide technical assistance to the Haitian government on issues such as emergency preparedness and response.  While those efforts have not previously been particularly successful, he suggested this is a good opportunity to re-evaluate opportunities for direct mentorship and training support between Haitian and American/international professionals in various disciplines.  One interesting suggestion was to pair up specific countries with Haitian government departments.  For example, the Japanese would concentrate their assistance within the Department of Education while the United States would put its back into the Haitian equivalent of the Department of Health and Human Services.

While none of us like to talk in terms of this tragedy as an opportunity, time is of the essence here.  The President should convene an emergency commission including leaders from the NGO and corporate community with a long standing record of engagement in Haiti and representatives of the Haitian government to develop the initial planks in a sustainable growth plan. I nominate Alice Rivlin, a well-respected economist who successfully managed the DC effort, to chair that body.

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