Haiti Earthquake Research Paper
Corruption
Despite all the foreign aid, recovery in Haiti has been a very slow process. It is currently now five years later and Haiti is still struggling to rebuild infrastructure and shelter for the 80,000 people who are still homeless. The Main reason for this is because of local (Haiti’s government) and international corruption. By 2013, an estimate of $3 billion in individual donations and another $6 billion in governmental agencies have been donated to Haiti but too little has been accomplished. Much of the problem is that the international community and non-government organizations has bypassed Haitian non-governmental agencies and the Haitian government itself. The Center for Global Development analyzed where the money went concluded that overall less than 10% went to the government of Haiti and less than 1% went to Haitian organizations and businesses. A full one-third of the humanitarian funding for Haiti was actually returned to donor countries to reimburse them for their own civil and military work in the country and the rest went to international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and private contractors which was the …show more content…
majority of the money.
In addition to inadequately planned relief and development efforts, the level of inconsistency in management of NGOs and private contractors over financial accounts has further hindered reconstruction efforts.
The gold rush of aid following the earthquake has transformed Haiti into an attractive business opportunity for the private sector; in such instances, the Haitian government is unaware of how many NGOs operate within the country. A recent review on relief aid distributed to Haiti by the New York Times reveals that “post-disasters idealism came to be undercut by the enormity of the task” where “operations cost were enormously high compared to the domestic cost”. Furthermore, the review gave accounts on development projects overseen by NGOs and private contractors that were over funded, financial mismanaged, and poorly
executed.
In 2012 the Haitian Reconstruction Relief Watch (HRRW) requested information from the United States Agency of International Development (USAID) regarding aid disbursements to NGOs and private contractors.[14] The report furnished by USAID was the first report on aid transparency since the earthquake. The report revealed that the U.S. private contractors, Chemonics International, received $173.7 million in aid, when it had spent only $1.9 million to construct a building for the Haitian Parliament. The Haitian government has remarked that building is nothing more than a “shell” which would cost the government more money while diverting precious resources and time away from more fundamental areas.[15] Another example of questionable development projects are of the unfinished housing projects surrounding Port au Prince, where in Morne à Cabri, 3,000 housing units remain vacant. The housing development has been intended to provide permanent residents for victims of the earthquake. However, funding for the community remains clouded in mystery about its long-term future. [16]
Despite all the foreign aid, recovery in Haiti has been a very slow process. It is currently now five years later and Haiti is still struggling to rebuild infrastructure and shelter for the 80,000 people who are still homeless. The Main reason for this is because of local (Haiti’s government) and international corruption. By 2013, an estimate of $3 billion in individual donations and another $6 billion in governmental agencies have been donated to Haiti but too little has been accomplished. Much of the problem is that the international community and non-government organizations has bypassed Haitian non-governmental agencies and the Haitian government itself. The Center for Global Development analyzed where the money went concluded that overall less than 10% went to the government of Haiti and less than 1% went to Haitian organizations and businesses. A full one-third of the humanitarian funding for Haiti was actually returned to donor countries to reimburse them for their own civil and military work in the country and the rest went to international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and private contractors which was the …show more content…
majority of the money.
In addition to inadequately planned relief and development efforts, the level of inconsistency in management of NGOs and private contractors over financial accounts has further hindered reconstruction efforts.
The gold rush of aid following the earthquake has transformed Haiti into an attractive business opportunity for the private sector; in such instances, the Haitian government is unaware of how many NGOs operate within the country. A recent review on relief aid distributed to Haiti by the New York Times reveals that “post-disasters idealism came to be undercut by the enormity of the task” where “operations cost were enormously high compared to the domestic cost”. Furthermore, the review gave accounts on development projects overseen by NGOs and private contractors that were over funded, financial mismanaged, and poorly
executed.
In 2012 the Haitian Reconstruction Relief Watch (HRRW) requested information from the United States Agency of International Development (USAID) regarding aid disbursements to NGOs and private contractors.[14] The report furnished by USAID was the first report on aid transparency since the earthquake. The report revealed that the U.S. private contractors, Chemonics International, received $173.7 million in aid, when it had spent only $1.9 million to construct a building for the Haitian Parliament. The Haitian government has remarked that building is nothing more than a “shell” which would cost the government more money while diverting precious resources and time away from more fundamental areas.[15] Another example of questionable development projects are of the unfinished housing projects surrounding Port au Prince, where in Morne à Cabri, 3,000 housing units remain vacant. The housing development has been intended to provide permanent residents for victims of the earthquake. However, funding for the community remains clouded in mystery about its long-term future. [16]