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Open letter from Mario Renaud, Executive Director of CECI, published in La Presse on January 8th, 2011

Keeping hope alive for haiti in 2011 

During the holidays, many of us thought about our brothers and sisters in Haiti, many of whom have, for a year now, been living in direly primitive conditions in camps, tents, and temporary shelters. After one of the worst catastrophes in history, followed by a devastating hurricane and now a cholera epidemic sweeping across the country, the state of emergency remains a fact of life for far too many Haitians. How can it be that despite all these hardships, and with the added logistics of organizing elections under such conditions, so many of them turned out to vote on November 28? Yet they did. It is a testament to their indomitable hope for change, for a marked improvement in their standard of living.

Will their hopes be frustrated yet again? Are we prepared to go on to something else now, and leave them to their fate? With reports of some disorganization hampering international aid efforts, and with the considerable delays in rebuilding institutions and moving ahead with the reconstruction, Canadians’ solidarity has understandably been put to the test. The fact remains, however, that the Haitian people still need our tangible support in order for their hopes to be fulfilled. Haitian Canadians will be doing their utmost to make sure that disinterest and unconcern do not set in here in Canada.

And make no mistake, it’s in our own interest to keep hope for Haiti alive. The international community has to make sure that the forthcoming political process will be democratic, transparent, fair, and equitable in order to establish the legitimacy of the next government beyond reproach. This is an essential foundation for any subsequent reforms that will be undertaken. It is the basis for ongoing efforts to rehabilitate and reconstruct the country’s physical, social, and institutional infrastructure. An open, transparent democracy and a stable government accountable to its citizens, one capable of responding to their essential needs and aspirations, are critical to the well-being of the Haitian population and to stability in the region. Canada and the international community are investing huge sums in Haiti as a future trading partner – it’s the second-largest Canadian development assistance recipient after Afghanistan – and we cannot afford to be indifferent to the outcome.

The next Haitian government, though, does not have the resources to do the work all by itself. For one thing, civil servants were themselves hard-hit by the earthquake; for another, many proceeded to leave the country in search of employment. The Haitian government needs a solid, effective partnership with Haitian and diaspora civil society organizations and with international organizations if it is to consolidate the national reconstruction plan within a framework of sustainable, equitable, participatory, and inclusive development. It will have to exercise true leadership as it guides and coordinates action priorities over the coming years. The international community will be called on to support and assist these efforts by building (or in many cases rebuilding) the capacity of government and civil society to carry out their plans and priorities.

With our support, a tremendous amount of work has been done by our Haitian partners since 12 January 2010, but much remains to be done. In the hours after the earthquake, and in the weeks that followed, hundreds of volunteer doctors, nurses, engineers, architects, and others, the great majority of them from the Haitian Canadian community, swung into action to support Haitians delivering the emergency response.

In this initial humanitarian phase, an outpouring of international solidarity made it possible to provide survival kits, medical supplies, medication, water, food (largely purchased from local producers in Artibonite and on the Central Plateau), and temporary shelters to some 500,000 of the most vulnerable people. In addition, 6000 small businesswomen were given financial assistance to help them recapitalize their micro-enterprises, reopen for business, and recover their autonomy and dignity as the breadwinners for their families.

These operations were not limited to Port-au-Prince. In Artibonite, on the Central Plateau, and elsewhere, we supported families who took in displaced people and provided them with shelter, water, food, work (irrigation and rehabilitation of farm infrastructure), and access to basic health care and education. In the towns of Léogâne and Gressier and in the nation’s capital, work got underway in cooperation with the local authorities and residents to clear debris, install flood protection works, and rebuild orphanages, schools, and municipal infrastructure. Disaster risk reduction plans and infrastructure were implemented in conjunction with the civil protection units, with a view to enhancing public preparedness for the natural disasters that will undoubtedly occur in the future. And when the cholera epidemic broke out, several of these projects were adjusted to support the local authorities in dealing with this new crisis.

The emergency response and humanitarian action work of CECI and other NGOs has been supported by a large volume of monetary contributions from Canadians, their governments (through CIDA and Quebec’s Ministry of International Relations), and from international and US institutions (USAID/OFDA), and we are deeply grateful to these donors. We have a duty to be accountable for this money and to provide the oversight that goes along with it. CECI’s efforts to support our Haitian governmental and nongovernmental partners throughout the emergency and during the reconstruction phase are part and parcel of our longer-term programming, particularly in rural and urban areas situated outside the capital. These ongoing projects have become even more crucial as the numbers of the displaced have swelled after the earthquake. We must pursue this long-term structural work in order to stabilize the displaced people within their new surroundings and, in so doing, take some of the burden off the capital.

In short, well before the earthquake hit, we were witness to the efforts of the Haitian people to improve their lives in the face of all kinds of difficulties. We share their hope for better days to come. There is really no reason why Haiti cannot get on the path of bona fide development, why the country’s rural and urban economies cannot soar, why the population cannot have access to quality health care and education. The potential is there for productive family farms, for a processing and service industry that creates safe, fairly paid jobs (unlike the sweatshops operated for the benefit of a small number of foreign investors), and for a responsible, fair-trade tourism industry – after all, Haiti like its neighbours has magnificent stretches of inviting Caribbean coastline.

For this to happen, the country needs democratic will and the leadership of a legitimate government, one that builds the capacity needed to take steps in this direction, with the support and assistance of its own people and the international community. Working together, we can make it happen. That is the hope that we share with our Haitian brothers and sisters. It is our wish for this new year and for many years to come.

Mario Renaud
Executive Director, CECI