Aid and NGOs in Haiti

This document is pretty surprising. It shows which areas of Haiti are being served by various NGOs (Non-government organizations). The sheer number is pretty stunning.

In an email that I saw this link in, this point was raised:

here is a development mystery about Haiti, perhaps not unique in the Third World, we should solve without delay. namely, with all the apparent intervention, what accounts for the continuing and seemingly worsening situation? which factors are most influential, which less so, etc.? what posture and departure from history should the Haitians and intervenors now take to change course?

Certainly, there's been a lot of writing about the role of NGOs in Haiti and how they've often been very partisan actors. Groups like "Rights and Democracy" and "NCHR-Haiti" appear to have been funded to perpetuate stories of human rights abuses under the Aristide government (and were silent about human rights abuses under the Latortue government). The Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade has an issue of their zine, Press for Change that talks about this role of NGOs in Haiti.

One of the reasons that I like Médecins Sans Frontières is that they engage in a political evaluation of a country before beginning their aid operations. For Haiti, they have declined CIDA funding. (I can't speak for why, but I'm inclined to think that the money is tied to partisan objectives).

Shorter Harper: "At least you're not Haitian!"

Harper, in turn, assured a large partisan crowd that he feels for people making the transition from one job to another. "We know that some Canadian workers are transitioning between jobs. that's never easy and I don't want to minimize it, but we should never lose sight of how solid our fundamentals are and more importantly how fortunate we are to live in this country," he said.

He then talked about how he travelled to a desperately impoverished slum in Haiti and how the people there looked hopeless, in stark contrast to Canada, which he described as "a land of above all else, boundless hope."

— Canadian Press

What are these "fundamentals"? Is that language to obfuscate "our oil companies are doing well"?

Liver for Dinner... if You're a Vulture

Part of the problem in Haiti is that the American managed coup against President Aristide was a coup against democratic community organisations as well. The Haiti Democracy Project, USAID and John McCain’s International Republican Institute calculated that they would fatally undermine Aristide by destroying the grassroots organisations. What they did was to destroy the Haitians’ capacity to help themselves.

— "The Children of Prometheus" by John Maxwell