This week the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced that the international community has pledged $9.9 billion to Haiti over the next three years. This number far exceeds the $3.8 billion Haiti requested over the next two years. Donors, however, are demanding transparency to make sure that they know exactly how their money and resources are being used, given the history if corruption in the country. To that end, the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC) will be in charge of coordinating and paying out aid money. The IHRC will be co-chaired by former President Clinton and Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive. The commission will also include local authorities, and representatives from donor countries like the U.S., Canada and the European Union, as well as representatives from the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank and the United Nations. The magnitude 7 quake that hit Haiti January 12th killed between 217,000 and 300,000 people and left 1.3 million homeless.
MOMism: “Trust, but verify.” While this is a wonderful example of the international community putting its “money where its mouth is” by showing that humanity comes before all else, it’s also a good lesson in being careful about in whom or what you put your trust. The Haitian people deserve our compassion and committment to its full recovery and donors deserve full disclosure.
It is great to see the world come together in a time of need. I just wish that same level of togetherness translated from day-to-day. Good luck Haiti! Hopefully there will be some good that has come out of their tragedy.