Port-Au-Prince, Haiti — Solar streetlights are being installed throughout Haiti as part of an innovative program that aims to catalyze the decentralization of government services. The Minister of Interior and the Collectivities, Thierry Mayard Paul, has launched a program to mount lights in towns such as Leogane, St Marc, Miragoane, and Ft. Liberte that will soon expand throughout Haiti. Under the auspices of Katye Pam Poze, the installation has brought light for the first time to town squares, marketplaces and streets in a country where most citizens have no regular access to electricity.

Minister Mayard Paul says that the Katye Pam Poze program “aims to improve the living conditions of thousands of Haitians through simple, inexpensive measures. My intention is to continue until the town squares in at least one city in each of Haiti’s ten departments are lit at night.”

Haiti suffers from the lowest coverage in the Western Hemisphere where barely 12.5% of the population has regular access to electricity. The country has an installed capacity of only 270 watts and nearly all of it is generated by three large thermal plants. Alternative energy sources in Haiti have been contemplated for several years and more so following the January 12, 2010 earthquake.

Citizens in the towns where the lights were installed claim that they feel much safer at night. A man in Leogane whose motorcycle broke down on the very night the lamps were being installed said, “thanks to the lights the mechanics were able to work very late to fix my bike in a zone that was long considered very unsafe.”

Local officials are also pleased with the arrival of the lamps. According to Alexis Santos, the Mayor Leogane, “the lights allow residents to frequent areas that they had rarely visited at night because they were so unsafe.”

Haiti is not alone, similar solar lighting projects are being tried the world over. In India the government has installed solar lamps in 54 villages throughout the country. More recently the Mexican government installed solar lamps just in time for a major international gathering. Solar lamps have proven to be an effective way to respond quickly to citizens who have both energy and safety issues affecting their quality of life.

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Water.org is the charitable organization co-founded by Matt Damon and Gary White in 2009. The organization has worked in many developing nations including Haiti, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Honduras, Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, and India. They work to not only provide the communities they help with potable water but also better sanitation; however, the power of these projects is put in the hands of the communities themselves.

While working in Haiti, water.org tries to work with local non-profit organizations that know the local, usually rural communities and can better understand their cultural, political, and environmental needs. The local partner will also know what the best technologies to use for that region are based on the environmental needs of the community and whether or not the parts for repair are easily obtained in that region or country.

Additionally, water.org does its best to work with the Haitian government and DINEPA, the organization responsible for water regulations in Haiti. Recently DINEPA has been addressing the cholera epidemic that began in October 2010 after the earthquake, monitoring water quality throughout the country, and decentralizing water and sanitation so that there are regional representatives. This decentralization works well with the water.org system

Water.org has been in Haiti since 2009 and has helped to sustainably provide 18.000 people – mainly in the Pignon region of Saint-Raphael – with potable water; their goal is to reach 50.000 by March of 2014.

In addition to providing drinkable water, water.org does its best to encourage better sanitation practices. They will analyze what sanitation barriers are in place and what the needs of the community are. Currently in most of Haiti only fifty-one percent of individuals are using some kind of latrine as opposed to the eighty-three percent of people who have and use these sanitation measures in communities aided by water.org. However, Laura Ralston, International Programs Manager, states, “you will always find people who are not necessarily going to be on board [with sanitation measures] for whatever reason.” Unfortunately these seventeen percent of people are still affecting the health of the rest of the community.

Ralston stated that in one community she visited recently, the water sanitation committee put together by water.org was “at their wit’s end” trying to get the last few households to get latrines. The families did not have financial difficulty, but simply did not see the need. According to Ralston, some individuals do not see a need for the latrines even after they are given presentations and explanations.

Perhaps the most important aspect of water.org’s work is the community involvement. Water.org is, of course, essential for the projects, but they only get involved with communities who reach out to them through their local non-governmental organizations or charities. Then the community forms a committee to oversee the water and sanitation projects and to collect the maintenance fees for the well. The communities will also decide the rules and regulations regarding the wells and what kind of savings threshold they want to meet every month as a community. Only when these communities have trouble does water.org intervene with advice and as a facilitator of conversations. Ralston claims that “it’s [the communities] prerogative to meet those thresholds.”

As of now all of the communities in Haiti are meeting their savings goals. Some communities are even saving enough money to consider getting a solar panel for their well or another well for the purposes of irrigation. It is very important to water.org, according to Ralston, that these projects are sustainable for the community financially and technically so that when water.org leaves the community will not have to worry about the well breaking and the funds or parts not being there to fix it.

Most of the projects in Haiti use wells but there are some that capture water from springs. Before determining which type of construction needs to be done, water.org and the local partner will do hydrological and sometimes geological assessments. It is also important for them and the community to know if the spring they are using is in a delicate watershed.

The community is also responsible for the water quality treatments from the wells and springs. Most of these water supplies will require chlorine treatments before human use and the community can decide whether they want some kind of automatic dispenser or if they would prefer to do the treatments manually.

Since the devasting Haiti earthquake in 2010, over 4500 people have died from cholera. The main source of this contamination was the Artibonite River. The journal Nature published an article that claimed Haiti’s limited resources should be spent not on vaccinations but on sanitation and access to clean water. Obviously, water.org has been working towards these goals and begin their projects with surveys and assessments. After the communities have taken over the responsibilities of sanitation and clean water some have continued to do surveys and gather data on how many are sick and they are seeing improvements in fewer numbers of cholera cases.

Some projects are not always successful. Although water.org may start a project in a location, the project can be halted for several reasons such as a lack of any kind of water resource, or human interference. Human reasons are the main reason for the cancellation of projects such as social reasons, rivaling groups, or political disputes. According to Ralston the problem boils down to “money always complicates things.”

Water.org will continue its work in Haiti until it hopefully reaches its 2014 goal of 50000 people with potable water. Although water.org has other projects elsewhere around the globe Ralston claims the direst situations at this time are in Haiti so this is where they will focus.

Find out more on how to get involved and support the Water.Org project by visiting Water.Org or Facebook.

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January 12th 2010, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti and reduced much of its capital, Port-au-Prince, to rubble. February 27th, a devastating 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck Chile, setting off a tsunami which threatened a quarter of the globe. March 11th 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake occurred in northern Japan and resulted in a major tsunami.

The same phenomenon but three very different post-disaster scenarios. Here is an example of why a cause-and-effect relationship is a very simplistic explanation for the events that occur in the complex world we live in. Why have Japan and Chile almost recovered while Haiti remains a no-man’s land?

In the days after a humanitarian catastrophe, we worry about the people who have lost their family and the scarcity of food, water and medical aid. Nevertheless, though this is important in the short-term, in countries with huge political instability such as Haiti, the priority in the mid-long term should in fact be to stabilize and reconstruct the political system. It is said that natural disasters do not exist, but rather poor management of natural phenomena is the true disaster.

Few days after the earthquake in Haiti, UN affirmed that is was “the worst disaster the organization has had to face in terms of logistic, due to the complete collapse of the local government and infrastructures.” Logistics, as defined by Cambridge dictionary, is “the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation” and plays a key role in the distribution of humanitarian aid.

But, as the UN pointed, infrastructures and a strong political system are needed to guarantee that help could travel safely from one point to another. And both requirements failed because infrastructures and government, already in ruins before the earthquake, both literally and symbolically collapsed after the shake.

Since Haiti’s birth in 1804, it has been up hill all the way. Despite being the world’s first black-led republic and the first independent Caribbean state, Haiti is now known for being the poorest and the most environmentally devastated country in the Western Hemisphere.

Before the earthquake, it was already one of the worst ranked countries in the Failed States Index of Foreign Policy and at the Corruption Perception Index of International Transparency. For two centuries, violence and instability have stopped the development of a country which has a long standing background of authoritarian political regimes and exploitation of blacks by whites, first, and blacks by blacks after.

Since the end of the Duvalier era in 1986, Haiti has been engaged in a lengthy and arduous political transition. Despite the 1987 Constitution’s commitment to representative and participatory democracy, political turmoil became the norm. Numerous coups, counter-coups and widespread violence during the past two decades dampened popular enthusiasm and optimism for reform. From 1991 to 2004, eight UN peacekeeping missions were deployed in Haiti.

After President Aristide’s fall in 2003, the UN established the Mission for the Stabilization of Haiti (MINUSTAH), which launched the current Security Sector Reform (SSR) programme. Three of its four main objectives were stabilizing the country, guaranteeing free elections and disarming guerrilla and delinquents groups. Despite considerable international investment in reform, Haiti’s security system remains dysfunctional in many areas and none of these goals have been achieved.

While donor aid to the justice sector has focused primarily on training, equipping and strengthening administrative structures, the judiciary suffers from deep-seated corruption and serves only a small portion of society. Lack of independence of magistracy, the absence of civil service security and the rather low salaries contributes to the development of corruption within the judicial personnel.

Prison conditions have improved, but overcrowding, poor health and sanitation conditions and extended pre-trial periods continue to plague the system. In addition, French is the language of use in official law whereas the Haitian population mostly speaks Creole. Given this background of weaknesses in the formal Haitian judicial system, an informal justice tends to take place.

Corruption and anarchy have especially endangered women and children. Prior to the earthquake, levels of violence against women were already high and 1.2 million Haitian children were extremely vulnerable, according to the UN. Because of the earthquake, many children were separated from their families and became easy targets for criminal networks engaged in human trafficking.

Many were kidnapped and brought to the neighboring country, Dominican Republic, and other countries for illegal purposes. Despite the increase of international judiciary cooperation to fight human trafficking, the border between Haiti and its neighbor is today very porous.

The fourth MINUSTAH’s objectif, the strenghtenen of the administration and the economic and fiscal system has nor been achieved. After the earthquake, many people were wounded or killed, and security institutions were unable to react out adequately. The affected population was left to seek shelter, food and protection on their own and large numbers resettled into makeshift urban camps; which posed further security challenges to newly weakened national institutions.

Currently, over 70% of the population lives below the poverty line, the informal economy represents a significant percentage of GDP and foreign aid almost accounts for half of the national budget.

The chaotic scenario described above and the failure of international financial institutions facilitated the establishment of many NGOs in the country after the earthquake. Since 2010, Haiti has increased its dependance on external aid and the large and disorganized presence of NGOs has contributed to maintain corruption instead of fighting it. NGOs constitute a kind of parallel state, more powerful than Haitian government and aid groups, which provide 80% of social services.

It creates an environment in which Haiti never develops and remains dependent on others. The wide presence of NGOs has “infantilized” Haiti, creating a vicious circle: the government lacks the money and has been historically unable to provide social services; so NGOs provide these services and desincentivate the government to improve.

The international community’s approach towards Haiti might be wrong. MINUSTAH have launched a Security Sector Reform programme, but to have a reform you must have a base, something you can build on. Since its foundation, Haiti’s judicial system, which was imported from France, needs to be rethought; we should talk about constructing a Haitian justice system before talking about a reform. The state security apparatus is as much a source of the problem as a solution.

The Haitian National Police (HNP), thin, poorly equipped, minimally trained and unable to confront any regional smuggling threats, is in dire need of reform. In addition, the fact that the reform agenda is imposed from outside limits local ownership of the process.

Nevertheless, the problem it’s not only economical or political; but also cultural. In Haiti, the resteavek (to stay with, in Creole) practice is very common and accepted; a modern form of slavery where children are forced to serve the families they’ve been sent to by doing domestic work.

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In meeting with members of the UN Security Council, Haiti’s Minister of the Interior, Thierry Mayard-Paul, reiterated the top concerns of his office which are focused on implementing President Martelly’s vision for decentralization as a key to job creation throughout Haiti.

Outlining the steps the Martelly administration is taking to build a strong platform for constitutional rights and democratic governance in Haiti, the Minister stressed that his highest priority is to ensure the safe and stable climate required for foreign investments that will drive job creation.  “In order to carry out the vision of the President to create jobs through sustainable economic development and to empower local communities throughout Haiti via decentralization, we must consolidate democratic governance,” he said.

With safety and national security a top concern, the Minister pointed out that over the course of the last year, Haiti has meticulously studied the issue of the prolonged stay of MINUSTAH in the country.  Viewing the subject within the context of safety, election results, and other factors, he said the 2011 elections provided an exceedingly large mandate for the Martelly administration for the next five years, a reference to Martelly’s commanding 2 to 1 victory over his opponent.

“As a result, we are convinced that Haiti must assume the tasks of public safety and national security.  This is a long-term task that in our view begins and ends with civilian control over any security force to ensure ongoing disaster preparedness and to heighten the effectiveness of disaster mitigation efforts.”

To that end, President Martelly has established a Commission to study, in detail, the rehabilitation of Haiti’s armed forces in detail.  This Commission will provide recommendations once it has compiled its findings.

Mayard-Paul stated that the members of the Commission are not only conducting their own assessment regarding reinstatement of the armed forces, but are also consulting recognized international experts.  “We have also been speaking with heads of state and other elected officials and policy makers about this issue,” he said.

To that end, the Minister of the Interior has been visiting other Latin American and Caribbean countries to review Best Practices for Public and National Safety that have worked in the region.  “When the Commission presents its final report, we believe we will have a long-term roadmap that will enable us to achieve democratic sovereignty,” he remarked.

Other topics discussed with the visiting UN team included resolving border issues and accelerating the process of reconstruction.  The Minister expressed his appreciation for the UN peacekeeping force saying, “I’d like to thank the MINUSTAH, on behalf of the Haitian people and our government in particular, for their many years of collaboration with Haiti.”

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More than 150 families left homeless by the 2010 earthquake took possession of their new permanent homes in Habitat for Humanity’s Santo community in Leogane, 18 miles west of Port-au-Prince and considered to be the epicenter of the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake.

“This is an exciting day for the partner families, Habitat for Humanity, donors, partners, volunteers and supporters who have made this all possible,” said Mark Andrews, vice president of Haiti recovery for Habitat for Humanity International. “Together, we have built a new community that will bring lasting hope, health and well-being to these families for years and generations to come.”

The Leogane development has the potential to house up to 500 families, or approximately 2,500 individuals. To date, 155 homes have been constructed thanks to Santo project donors, including the Multilateral Investment Fund of the Inter-American Development Bank, donors and volunteers of Habitat’s 28th annual Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project, and volunteers from Haven, an Irish non-profit. Partner families contributed more than 150 hours of “sweat equity” to help build their homes.

Habitat plans to construct another 100 houses this year when the Carter Work Project returns to Haiti. More houses will be constructed, pending additional funding.

In addition to a new home, each family has their own compost latrine and has access to clean water at one of the 14 water points constructed throughout the development. Solar-powered street lighting is also provided. As part of the multi-year project, the plan is to provide needed services, including a community and health center, a school, church and safe play areas.

Speaking at Wednesday’s celebration, Claude Jeudy, Habitat’s national director for Haiti, said, “We have looked forward to this day with great anticipation to recognize what faith, perseverance and true partnership can create. This community is a testament to the inspiring work of the many people who have come together to make a difference in Haiti.”

Since the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti in January 2010, Habitat for Humanity’s five-year disaster recovery program to provide 50,000 families with pathways to permanent housing has helped more than 40,000 families or approximately 200,000 individuals in Port-au-Prince, Leogane and Cabaret.

In addition to its permanent houses in Santo, Habitat has distributed more than 24,500 emergency shelter kits with partner organizations, constructed more than 5,000 transitional or upgradeable shelters, conducted 12,000 house damage assessments, and repaired or rehabilitated more than 350 houses. Habitat’s primary focus over the next three years will be to partner with more Haitian families to build permanent housing.

The earthquake damaged nearly 190,000 houses in Haiti, of which 105,000 were completely destroyed. Of the more than 2 million affected survivors, 550,000 are still displaced, according to the International Organization for Migration. Land tenure continues to remain the biggest roadblock to reconstruction. The process of identifying land ownership was vague before the earthquake, and now it is even more of a challenge.

To address this problem, Habitat has created and fostered the Haiti Property Law Working Group, a diverse coalition of Haitian government officials, lawyers, academics and business leaders, along with representatives of the World Bank, USAID, the Inter-American Development Bank, the government of France, the Organization of American States, Architecture for Humanity, the Clinton Global Initiative, foundations, development partners and other nongovernmental organizations engaged in reconstruction and development.

The goal of the Haiti Property Law Working Group is to support the government of Haitiin the recovery effort through the appropriate development of property for job creation, housing and other purposes by defining each step of the current processes applicable to land transactions and recommending improvements to be incorporated in future policies.

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In an effort to identify best practices in Democratic Governance, Haiti’s Minister of the Interior, Thierry Mayard-Paul, initiated a series of information-gathering sessions on successful government programs implemented by Latin America and Caribbean countries. Of particular interest to Mayard-Paul are public safety, national defense and natural disaster management, areas that directly impact the quality of life for Haitians.

In the Dominican Republic, Mayard-Paul held informal meetings with his counterpart, Minister of the Interior and Police, Ramon Fadul, who is responsible for the country’s Democratic Security Plan, and with Attorney General, Radhames Jimenez, who leads the Dominican Republic’s Safe Neighborhood program.

During the meetings, Mayard-Paul and Dominican officials discussed the possibility of collaborating between their respective ministries to design and implement a public security program inspired by the Dominican Republic’s Safe Neighborhood or Barrio Seguro program.

“In exploring regional best practices that can be applied in Haiti, we were  impressed with the Democratic Security Plan implemented by our neighbors in the Dominican Republic,” said Mayard-Paul,  pointing out that in eight years, the plan succeeded in lowering crime rates throughout the country.

Mayard-Paul’s emphasis on national security is aligned with the overall vision of President Michel Martelly to develop Haiti as an equitable, independent and decentralized nation with a sustainable economy based on investments and job creation.

To that end, the Martelly administration is working to create an appropriate legal framework to ensure democratic governance, rule of law and appropriate tax incentives. “Issues of national security are critical to our larger goals,” Mayard-Paul remarked. “We want to ensure the best conditions for our foreign investors and for the welfare of the entire Haitian population.”

Pointing to the friendship and solidarity of Dominicans in supporting Haiti’s efforts to achieve sustainable development after the devastating 2010 earthquake, Mayard-Paul expressed the deep interest of the Haitian government in further strengthening mutual cooperation between the two Caribbean neighbors.

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Two years after the Haiti earthquake, the American Red Cross is helping people rebuild their homes and their lives and improving communities with health, water and sanitation projects.

In a two-year update, the American Red Cross highlighted its emergency work after the 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti on January 12, 2010, as well as its recovery efforts over the past year. Recovery activities have included building homes, giving people opportunities to earn money, providing access to clean water and sanitation systems, supporting the delivery of health care, and teaching communities how to prevent the spread of diseases and be better prepared for future disasters.

“The money donated to the American Red Cross provided life-saving relief to millions of Haitians after the earthquake and is now being used for longer-term solutions such as helping people move from camps to permanent homes and communities,” said Gail McGovern, president and CEO of the American Red Cross.

“Although progress is not as fast as we would like, recovery is well underway,” McGovern said, adding “for example, the pace of home construction has increased rapidly, with the American Red Cross and the rest of the global Red Cross network providing housing to more than 100,000 people at the two-year mark.”

Other highlights of the past year include:

• Providing clean water and sanitation services to more than 369,000 people
• Providing health services and hygiene education to more than 2.4 million people
• Reaching more than 3 million people with cholera treatment and prevention
• Teaching more than 436,000 people how to better prepare for disasters
• Providing livelihoods assistance – grants, jobs and other help – to 114,000 people

The American Red Cross received about $486 million in donations following the earthquake, and has spent and signed agreements to spent $330 million on Haiti earthquake relief and recovery efforts in the first two years. The largest portion of spending has gone to food and emergency services, followed by housing, water and sanitation, health, livelihoods, disaster preparedness, and response to the cholera outbreak.

“In the coming year, the American Red Cross will focus on programs to renew communities, which include constructing and repairing homes, providing clean water and sanitation, health education, livelihood support and disaster preparedness programming,” McGovern said. “We also continue to support hospitals and clinics that are critical to providing access to needed medical treatment in Haiti, and we will maintain our efforts to combat cholera and teach people how to prevent diseases.”

Housing is a priority, and the American Red Cross is shifting its focus from providing transitional homes to building permanent homes and repairing damaged homes so people can return to their former neighborhoods.

Further information on Red Cross work in Haiti, including a copy of the two-year report, can be found at www.redcross.org/Haiti

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