JSM's BEGGING FOR BAN THREAD #12

Something I found about the current situation in Haiti. It's rather long, but well worth the read.

"A Report from Haiti
Private email | Feb. | Rob Boyer

Posted on Fri Feb 5 10:08:36 2010 by hellbender

I've had a fair number of questions about the relief effort in Haiti and lots of "Where does Haiti go from here?" type questions. I know all of you to be thinkers and students of international affairs and so thought I would take my stab at providing you with some first person perspective of what I saw and observed. I'm also more than happy to take a shot at "Where do they go from here." I don't claim to be an expert on Haiti, but I do spend a lot of time there and have a number of opinions which I will happily share with you here. You may agree or disagree but I think the more people thinking about Haiti the better.

Why has aid been so slow?

First, let me say that for the entire time I was in Haiti I conducted my own very unscientific survey. I asked every Haitian I ran into; "Has there been any food or water distributed in your neighborhood? Do you know anyone who has received any aid? Have you heard any rumors or reports of aid being distributed anywhere?" I posed this question to 30 or 40 Haitians without one positive response. No aid in Delmas; not in Croix des Bouquetts; or Petionville; or Carrefour...nowhere. I did see one Red Cross truck near the airport handing out gatorade to some children but other than that did not personally observe any aid being distributed. There are a number of factors:

1.) Logistics: Without the benefit of the port for food shipments the UN has been limited to the international airport and two convoys per day or food/water from the Dominican Republic. Someone told me that CNN had been reporting round the clock flights into the airport with airplanes stacked up in the holding pattern. I can tell you firsthand that is not true. Where I stayed was near the flight pattern of the airport and I can tell you that we usually had 3-5 C-17 deliveries per day. I also saw a Russian Ilyushin cargo plane on two occasions and a beat up old DC-3 which came in and out most every day. Other than that; the traffic is all small private jets...mostly NGOs from the U.S. delivering or picking up medical teams and supplies. Warehouse Space: There isn't any at the airport and so the UN stores materials off the runway and there's no larger warehouse space for storage. Trucks: Also in short supply although I will say that the fuel situation normalized while I was there. Fuel shot up to around $15.00 per gallon but by the time I left was back down to $3.50 per gallon and was not in short supply.

In short, the airport is a huge bottleneck. Nowhere to store stuff, no trucks to deliver stuff, and when you do go out traffic is horrible as it takes hours to get anywhere.

2.) UN Organizational Structure: Here's how it works. The UN creates what they call "clusters" (I know, aptly named). There are five; food, water, health, logistics, and shelter. Below each cluster are sub-clusters where things like Child Protection and Orphan issues fall. Each cluster is managed by a different agency. World Food Program manages food for example, Unicef manages children, Save the Children the Child Protection Cluster, etc..etc...and so on down the line. The cluster is the right model in that it recognizes that lots of different groups come to the table during a disaster. The cluster attempts to share information and organize all the interested parties into a cohesive vision. The problem is that this structure is not conducive to a crisis with immediate needs. It takes a long time to organize this structure, fill all the open positions, and start moving. When time is critical this is literally...a cluster. My second day in country I sat thru a one hour meeting of a sub-cluster of a sub-cluster of the Child Protection sub-cluster where we discussed input data collection procedures for displaced children. The entire meeting I was thinking, "If we all just grabbed handfuls of food and walked out the main gate we could feed 50 people right now." Instead, in the middle of the crisis and while people were suffering and starving the UN wanted to talk about an excel spreadsheet. There is a time for that and it's important but clearly their priorities were way off. What we needed was a General who could move mountains and what the UN sent was a bunch of bean counters. Mostly young 20 year olds just out of college who have never worked a disaster and were never allowed to go outside the protective walls of the UN and actually observe what was happening firsthand. Cluster.

3.) NGO's have no Plan B: The big aid groups like the Red Cross for example base their relief on receiving containers of food in large quanitites. As I mentioned, the port is not available and so ships loaded with relief supplies are unable to unload in Port au Prince. This fact has left most NGOs completely flat footed. As a result, many of these big name groups are just waiting around until they can either a.) get their stuff into port or b.) get supplies delivered to them from the UN. So as people suffer these groups sit on the sideline waiting for something to happen. This I find particuarly frustrating. There isn't any Plan B and there isn't any "do whatever it takes at all cost" sort of mentality. It may be inconvenient to off load in Cap Haitian and truck stuff 15 hours to Port au Prince. It's equally inconvenient to unload in the Dominican and truck stuff across the border but it's better than the alternative which is to do nothing! It's one thing to be critical of the UN but I also think for all the millions raised from U.S. donors there's been remarkably little activity from the big name U.S. charities. And while I appreciate that the UN is not keeping them in the loop and not engaging them in the process--so what? That does not excuse them from their humanitarian calling. Mike and Joe from Global Orphan Project showed up in country with $50,000 cash. They bought a truck in the Dominican and started shipping tons of rice, beans, and water back and forth to Haiti. There's no excuse for NGO's ten times their size with millions of dollars to not have done the same.

4.) Security Issues: On CNN and on the UN compound in Port au Prince you hear nothing but concerns about security. "We can't leave the compound. It's not safe. We can't hand out food there will be a riot." etc...etc... The security concerns are a bunch of overhyped nonsense. Yes, there are parts of Port au Prince where I would not want to walk at night. There are neighborhoods in Kansas City I don't walk at night either. During daylight hours, I have no qualms going anywhere in the city. I've walked alone, talked with Haitians, and never had so much as an uncomfortable look. On the contrary, more often then not, a Haitian will come up and shake your hand and thank you for being there and for trying to make a difference for Haiti.

5.) Distribution Network: Lastly, the UN is trying to distribute food and water without the assistance of the Haitians. If they would engage local pastors and the members of their local churches to help with distribution it would be much easier...and smarter. The Haitians know who in their community is dead, sick, starving. No one knows better than the Haitians how to help. I talked with one girl who told me that in her part of Port au Prince the neighborhoods had all organized themselves. If the UN worked through the neighborhood leader the needs of that community could be met. In my view, there is almost a mindset which believes that Haitians are these angry, violent mobs that will turn destructive on a moment's notice. That couldn't be farther from the truth and long term solutions for Haiti must engage Haitians at the local level. All these factors are playing into the slow delivery of aid. I think the next two weeks in Haiti are critical. There's a looming public health disaster on the horizon. 1,000,000 people living in the streets without clean water or sewer. Already there is death from disease and infection. That problem will only get worse if the UN can't sort out it's distribution process.

Where does Haiti go from here?

Undoubtedly a lot of ideas will surface about the rebuilding. I believe very passionately that job creation is the best long term solution for Haiti. Everything else is a band-aid. We can build the most beautiful planned communities in the world but without jobs those projects will all eventually fall short. I believe in economic solutions for Haiti and that free market capitalists will want to invest in Haiti if the right reforms can be implemented. Haiti has three huge advantages which make it a very desirable place to do business: 1.) proximity to the U.S. for trade 2.) Availability of cheap labor 3.) Desireable and beautiful real estate

Foreign Aid: The focus of foreign aid should be on infrastructure. Port au Prince should not be re-built in its entirety as that will happen over time and is cost prohibitive. Government buildings should be constructed, the Presidential Palace and National Cathedral re-built. Roads improved, the port modernized, the airport upgraded, some form of sewer system implemented, and some reliable source of electricity. When possible, the international community should exert influence and implement strategies to encourage Haiti to revamp some of their out-dated bureaucratic processes.

U.S. Aid: Propose a Haitian Aid Bill which includes the following (in addition to financial and military aid): Additional work visas for Haitians desiring to work in the U.S.; streamlined process for Americans to adopt Haitian children; a NAFTA like trade agreement which opens Haiti up to import and export of U.S. goods and services; tax incentives for U.S. companies that create jobs in Haiti; require US Aid and other agencies to award contracts whenever possible to Haitian companies or U.S. companies with offices in Haiti that employ Haitian workers to ensure that aid for Haiti is actually spent in Haiti.

Comment: A number of outlets and e-mails have suggested that Haiti should become our 51st state, a U.S. protectorate, or that we should govern them for some period of time. I don't see that as viable under any circumstances. The international community doesn't want that, the Haitian government doesn't want it, and I don't think the U.S. electorate has any interest in spending billions of dollars to fix all the issues in Haiti. Plus, it's been tried. Recall that the U.S. occupied Haiti from 1915-1934 with mixed results. Mixed in that it was mostly good for the U.S.-not so good for the Haitians and ended in a revolt in southern Haiti where marines shot and killed 10 Haitian protestors.

Haitian Reform: This is the most important. Without reform of some basic parts of the Haitian government I fear we are in for a long and disappointing road which leads us right back to disaster. Haiti must become an easier place to do business. Their current system rewards corruption and encourages the creation of road blocks at every stop. Haiti routinely shows up in the bottom 10 on the WorldBank's Ease of Doing Business Index. Now is Haiti's opportunity to reverse that trend.

-eliminate or standardize import/export duties -modernize the legal system; most Haitian legal practices date back to Napoleon. At a minimum, simplify the process for doing business in Haiti. -Simplified adoption procedures -Re-issue land titles to all property. Clarify ownership; simplify process for land transactions -Identify and register businesses. 80% of commerce in Haiti is informal. Etc Etc...I think you get the idea.

There is obviously a great deal to be done. Perhaps in the midst of this great tragedy an opportunity will be created for Haiti to turn itself around.

I thank all of you for your interest in Haiti and for your encouragement and support during the time I was there. I'm lucky to have all of you and that point is never lost on me.

Feel free to share these comments with anyone you think might like to read them. I welcome feedback and am happy to answer any questions which might arise.

Rob.

Rob Boyer Managing Partner C3 Global Growth Fund (913) 915-1140 10900 Lackman Rd. Lenexa, KS 66219"

I included the author's name, as it was included in the post.