Next steps for Haiti

Each Sunday, one week after another, Lt. Kelly Rozenberg-Payne hears singing across the wall at the Canadian Forces camp in Port-au-Prince. There, a makeshift church welcomed worshippers in the midst of the devastated Haitian capital.

All but a few Canadian military personnel are expected to pull out of Haiti by mid-March.

She says that memory, of people who have lost everything but still congregate to sing and worship, will stick with her. 

"These people have been through so much. They've seen so much in the past month and they still had the energy and the courage to go on and just sing. And it was the most beautiful thing."

Lt. Rozenberg-Payne is one of 1,600 members of the Canadian military still in Haiti. Canada's mission to Haiti, Operation HESTIA, began winding down when HMCS Halifax left Haitian waters Feb. 20, arriving back in Halifax on March 2.

All but a few dozen soldiers are expected to pull out by mid-March.

Lt. Rozenberg-Payne says she'll leave with mixed emotions.

"We've worked hard while we were here," she says. "Seeing the change has made it all worthwhile and working with our partners who we know are going to continue that good work makes it a little easier [to leave]."

Those partners include aid organizations such as CARE Canada, whose work is far from over. Even as the international community begins reacting to a new disaster in Chile, governments and aid agencies are thinking about the next phase in Haiti's reconstruction.

Rural revival

Kevin McCort, president of CARE Canada, arrived in Haiti this week. Speaking from Léogâne, 25 kilometres west Port-au-Prince, McCort says he has begun identifying gaps that will be left when the Canadian forces leave, pointing to shortages of equipment needed to clear rubble.

We can help people rebuild their houses. . . But, really, what's going to keep all that going is people having their jobs and incomes

These immediate gaps, though, are just part of the story.

"What Haiti really needs is economic interaction," McCort says. "We can help people rebuild their houses. We can help people re-establish their water supply and sanitation. But, really, what's going to keep all that going is people having their jobs and incomes."

An important starting point, McCort says, is in agriculture.

A decade-long trend away from donor support for rural development led to a declining agricultural sector in Haiti, he says.

"It means the country is less able to deal with this kind of crisis they just hit," he says. "If you neglect the agricultural industry, the time you really need it, it's not there to rely on."

CARE Canada plans to focus efforts on renewing Haiti's rice sector with irrigation and cash-for-work programs aimed at Haitians who left urban areas following the earthquake.

Delivering the goods

Kevin McCort, President of CARE Canada says his organization is looking toward the next steps in Haiti's reconstruction.

Apart from the direction of aid, Carlo Dade, who heads up the Canadian Foundation for the Americas, an Ottawa-based think-tank, suggests donor governments should be rethinking how aid is delivered.

The United States, Canada, Spain and France are just a few of a dozen major donors each with their own series of projects.

"It doesn't sound like too much, but then you think each project, each donor has a project officer, has an accountant, has technicians," he says.

This duplication in project structures not only soaks up resources from donor countries, but also makes heavy demands on a chronically weak Haitian government, which must perform a variety of co-ordinating and liaison tasks.

He points to Tanzania, which two years ago introduced a one-month moratorium on new international aid projects.

"They did this because . . . the staff at several ministries were spending literally all their time driving out to the airport picking up someone from a development agency."

The solution, Dade says, is a common pool of international funds directed by a donor country-approved plan. The idea has the support of Paul Collier, an Oxford University economist and former special advisor on Haiti to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. Even so, it might run afoul of political optics.

"The problem, though, is that no donor wants to toss its money in a pool, because the prime minister can't go down and say, 'this government centre is built 15 per cent by the funds from our nation,’" Dade says.

Haitians, though, are not waiting for a latter-day Marshall Plan. Amidst the rubble of ruined buildings, the makeshift churches are being joined by other reminders of normal life.

"People are selling food and vegetables," McCort says. "You've got small businesses starting back up."

"People are doing the best they can to get on with putting a house back together and get their life back together. But you cannot imagine how tough it looks. It looks like endless challenges, day-to-day."

Voices from the field

Lt. Kelly Rozenberg-Payne arrived with the DART team on Jan. 16 and is scheduled to leave on March 15.

Mark Fried, Policy Coordinator at Oxfam Canada, was in Haiti a week after the earthquake and was there for two weeks.

Kevin McCort arrived in Haiti this week to tour CARE Canada's operations.