NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

One week after the devastating quake that struck Haiti in January 2010, journalist Mark Danner wrote a New York Times op-ed that warned the outpouring of international sympathy and support, although remarkable, would buoy unrealistic expectations about the prospects for rebuilding “a new Haiti.”

Danner had covered the country’s tumultuous transition to democracy in the 1980s and 1990s. He knew that foreign interventions have a long history of mixed results and consequences that outsiders often overlook.

“Like the ruined bridges strewn across the countryside – one of the few traces of the [US] Marines and their occupation nearly a century ago – these attentions tend to begin in evangelical zeal and to leave little lasting behind,” he wrote.

How little? Until now, it has been hard to quantify. But a study of development programs in fragile countries – conducted by Peace Dividend Trust (PDT) – found that, on average, international agencies spend less than 5 percent of the money donated for post-disaster and post-conflict rebuilding programs in country, preferring instead to buy supplies from foreign companies.

And that cuts out a lot of opportunity for growth within the country; growth that could build an economic infrastructure that lasts after the aid organizations go home.

One of Danner’s suggestions for promoting lasting change in Haiti would be for “the United States and other donors [to] make a formal undertaking to ensure that the vast amounts that will soon pour into the country go not to foreigners but to Haitians….”

That’s the end goal of Haiti First, PDT’s “buy local” program that aims to identify Haitian entrepreneurs and link them up to the major international agencies overseeing projects.