Spending The Billions of Dollars For Haiti

Editor’s correction: The donors conference will be held on Wednesday, March 31.

The International Donors Conference Towards a New Future for Haiti will kick off tomorrow, Tuesday in New York City. Haitian President Rene Preval and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will serve as the conference’s co-hosts.

According to the UN, more than $11 billion will be required for “smart rebuilding” of the country after the devastating January 12 earthquake killed an estimated 230,000 people.

“That is our challenge in New York – not to rebuild but to ‘build back better,’ to create a new Haiti,” the Secretary-General said in an op-ed in The Washington Post.

The UN claims that it has provided food and tents to 75 percent of the people in need. The figure hasn’t been independently confirmed.

WHO WILL GET THE MONEY?

It’s unclear at this point if the US and the UN will create a new agency in Haiti which will manage the funds for its reconstruction. There are justified fears that the Haitian government could mismanage the money as they have in the past.

Red Cross’ disaster recovery manager, Alastair Burnett, told Reuters that the concerns are real:

“It’s difficult to sensibly spend large amounts of money in what are potentially insecure, often chaotic environments that lack infrastructure and lack resources,” Burnett said.

The same Reuters article estimated that “Americans alone had donated $519 million and were on track to give more to Haiti.”

With so much money at stake, the countries of the world want to have a role in the reconstruction, either by donating money or assisting with manpower.

Contractors along with NGOs are also lining up to get a piece of the pie. NGOs that have been on the ground in Haiti since before the earthquake have already spent thousands if not millions of dollars in providing assistance to the people. Contractors, on the other hand, are seeing this as a opportunity to do business. Already the US has contracted a Florida-based company to handle the rubble from the destroyed buildings.

According to UN’s budgetary projections for the next 18 months, debris management in Haiti is expected to cost $265 million.

WORK FOR THE HAITIAN PEOPLE?

Haiti’s lack of infrastructure has cheated the people from the opportunity to learn basic things about construction, agriculture, etc. Government organizations like USAID has provided Haitians with jobs clearing the rubble and debris. Between 20,000 to 50,000 Haitians were expected to work doing this at the country’s minimum wage of $5 a day.

The UN’s Action Plan for Haiti includes job creation programs for the Haitian people, and $30 million will be spent in literacy programs as well.

THE DONORS CONFERENCE AGENDA

The one-day conference on Haiti will include things like a “Presentation on Haitian Plan and Needs” and “Response by International Institutions.”
At least 5 “pledging sessions” will take place throughout the day.

According to the UN’s Action Plan for Haiti, the country is expected to become “an emerging” country by 2030.

Dolores M. Bernal maintains Eye on Haiti, a new blog by the News Junkie Post on news and information about the reconstruction of Haiti.

Follow Dolores M. Bernal on Twitter

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