Assessing damage and moving forward

This post is drawn from the remarks made by Robert Maguire, Randolph Jennings senior fellow, United States Institute of Peace, and associate professor of international affairs, Trinity University, Washington, D.C., one of five panelists who spoke at Risk, Suffering and Response: The Earthquake Crisis in Haiti 2010. He provided written notes on his presentation which are provided here. The panel was videorecorded and will be available for viewing on the Elliott School of International Affairs website. (Link to follow when it is posted.)

Professor Maguire said that he has been asked by top officials from the U.S. government, the government of Haiti and the United Nations to assess the damage “from afar” as input to the donors meeting in Montreal. He discussed several areas of “damage” that preceded the earthquake:

1. The effects of decades of misrule by predatory governments and a rigid system of socio-economic dominance by Haiti’s elites, factors which have resulted in extreme disparities between rich and poor
2. The long-term denigration of Haitians by outsiders, from televangelists to misinformed “experts” who label Haiti as a “basket case” or “failed state”
3. Misinformed development policies and programs over several decades that used Haiti as a source of cheap labor, have led to severe population concentration in Port au Prince and neglect of land in rural areas, and promoted since the 1980s a Taiwan-style form of development based on urban industries which neglected rural areas and overlooked the fact that Haiti did not share with Taiwan crucial factors such as land reform, improved agriculture, and education
4. Lack of public investment in services because of uncaring, corrupt governments
5. By the 1990s, Haiti had become a republic of NGOs

He went on to lay out specific priorities that will help address such underlying “damage” and establish a more balanced country demographically, economically, and socially:

1. The tragedy offers a context in which one can work to “rebalance” Haiti
2. Pay attention to the migration out of Port au Prince and work with the migrants to help provide work, services, and restored dignity for them
3. Institute a decentralized system of “Welcome Centers” in towns and villages to assist and integrate the returnees including providing medical care and continuing education
4. Equip the Centers to set up a Civic Service Corps to provide work for cash in several sectors such as public works/environmental restoration
5. It is essential to invest in the rural areas in order to stem the flow of likely return migration to a rebuilt Port au Prince

Image: before-and-after screenshots of the Presidential Palace and an area of Port-au-Prince, from Google.