U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE • OFFICE OF THE HAITI SPECIAL COORDINATOR • JANUARY 12, 2012
Haiti: Two Years LaterTwo years after a powerful earthquake devastated Haiti, significant progresshas been made, particularly over the past year. There is much left to do, and thesuccess of Haiti’s recovery will ultimately be up to the Haitians themselves. TheUnited States Government (USG) and its international partners are working closelywith the Government of Haiti (GOH) to improve conditions for people throughoutthe country and create prospects for a better future.The earthquake that shook Haiti on January 12, 2010, was the worst naturaldisaster in the history of the Western Hemisphere. Hundreds of thousands of Haitians were killed or injured; an estimated 1.5 million people were left homelessor displaced; and more than 300,000 buildings, including many schools, hospitals,and government offices, were destroyed or severely damaged. The human costwas staggering, and material losses totaled 120 percent of Haiti’s 2009 GrossDomestic Product. In the days, weeks and months following, the United States andothers launched the largest international humanitarian response ever undertaken.In the course of the year, as the most immediate crisis needs were met, the balanceof assistance shifted increasingly to reconstruction and development. The report
Haiti: One Year Later
, which can be found at www.state.gov/s/hsc/rls/154255.htm,
details the results of those efforts as of January 2011. This document highlightsdevelopments since the earthquake, with a focus on the past 12 months.In 2011, Haitians elected a president and members of parliament. Followingseveral months of negotations, the National Assembly approved a prime minister,who in turn presented the government’s program and a full slate of ministers.Haitians now have a new government in place to make the challenging decisionsnecessary for the country’s recovery. President Michel Martelly and PrimeMinister Garry Conille have made it clear that working as a team with internationaldonors, including the USG, is a priority.The USG and its international partners are implementing programs in foursectors or pillars in Haiti including: 1) infrastructure and energy; 2) food andeconomic security; 3) health and other basic services; and 4) governance, rule of law and security. In each of those areas, progress has been made over the past 12months.
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE • OFFICE OF THE HAITI SPECIAL COORDINATOR • JANUARY 12, 2012
Infrastructure and EnergyIn response to the earthquake, the USG has committed investments in excessof $400 million to help the Haitian people build the productive base from whichHaiti can grow and prosper. These investments are supplemented by an additional$400 million from the IDB, World Bank and the private sector that will join USGpartnership initiatives in energy, ports, housing and industrial development.Together those projects stand to transform Haiti’s economy and create a new set of opportunities.The USG broke ground in October on a new settlement in Haiti’s North tooffer housing for around eight thousand people in line with Haiti’s vision to drawfamilies away from the overcrowdedcapital. This is one of several suchhousing developments implemented jointly with the IDB and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).In energy, the USG partnered with theGOH, the World Bank and the IDB tomodernize Haiti’s inefficient publicutility ‘EDH’, which was beenidentified as a national priority twodecades ago. The GOH has appointednew Haitian leadership and aninternationally respected turnaroundmanagement team funded by the USG. In the first three months, the newmanagement has helped the utility company improve its operations, itstransparency and its fiscal efficiency, identifying more than $1.6 million inmonthly savings. The new management will not only improve and expandservices, but also help reduce the substantial government subsidy for EDH’soperations, freeing those resources for other critical needs. Another big constraintto the economy is Haiti’s costly and inefficient ports sector. To raise the island’scompetitiveness as a regional trading partner, the USG is completing the feasibilitystudy for a competitively bid public-private partnership for a modern container portin northern Haiti, two sailing days from Miami.Throughout our investments in Haiti, the USG followed closely theprinciples of the Presidential Policy Directive on Global Development and theFramework for Aid Effectiveness laid out at the High-Level Summit in Busan,
A construction worker observes the progress at the site of afuture power plant at the Caracol Industrial Park.
Photo copyright Kendra Helmer/USAID
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE • OFFICE OF THE HAITI SPECIAL COORDINATOR • JANUARY 12, 2012
South Korea. The Caracol Industrial Park, a $300 million public-privatepartnership among a diverse set of stakeholders to establish the necessaryinfrastructure for a globally competitive 250 hectares full-service industrial park,demonstrates this. Encouraged by increased U.S. trade preferences under the HaitiEconomic Lift Program (HELP) Act adopted May 2010 by the U.S. Congress,Korean apparel manufacturer Sae-A committed to create 20,000 direct jobs andinvest $78 million over six years to build a leading-edge manufacturing complexwith on-site fabric mills, printing and embroidery. An estimated total of 65,000direct jobs could be created with the arrival of other tenants, with additional jobsexpected for vendors, repair shops, farmers and other small businesses. The Park is scheduled to open in March 2012.The partnership highlights what can be accomplished if donors provideHaitian experts with the resources they need. The project is led top to bottom byHaiti’s Technical Execution Unit in the Ministry of Economy and Finance, whonot only conducted the competitive international bidding, but also implemented abroad USG-sponsored information campaign that introduced this transformativeinvestment to the local population. The Park, which includes housing,electrification, schools and health facilities for nearby communities, along withinvestments in ports, environmental preservation and vocational training, is one of the largest investments in Haiti’s history and currently the country’s biggestconstruction site.The USG has continued to respond to rebuilding needs and has been activein the housing sector, which President Martelly has identified as a priority. As of December 2011, nearly 50 percent of the 10 million cubic meters of rubble createdby the earthquake had been removed. By that same date, the USG has removedmore than 2.2 million cubic meters of rubble or 44 percent of the total amountremoved, and has provided temporaryemployment to thousands of Haitians inthe process. The USG has also, as of January 2012, constructed 28,600temporary shelters (t-shelters) housingapproximately 143,600 people. TheUSG has financed the repair of 6,000damaged houses (yellow houses) toshelter 40,500 people, and has trainedmore than 1,000 Haitian engineers andmasons in damage assessment and repair techniques as part of yellow house repair
Judette Leurbours, trained in heavy machinery operationthrough a USG- funded program, talks with a colleague.
Photo copyright Kendra Helmer/USAID
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Haiti: Two Years Later (2012)
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/180725.pdf
OFFICE OF THE HAITI SPECIAL COORDINATOR
January 12, 2012
OFFICE OF THE HAITI SPECIAL COORDINATOR
January 12, 2012
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