What You Can Do to Help Haiti
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The best options for helping the Haitian people recover from the devastating January 12 earthquake.
Reports from Haiti indicate massive trauma and casualties from the January 12 earthquake. Outside help is needed for people who were already the poorest in the western hemisphere. But the wrong kind of help can feed corruption, dependence on outsiders, and even exploitation.
How can we support the right kind of aid, the kind that builds local self-resilience, strengthens the local economy, and fosters local leadership?
Here are some of the groups that have a track record of offering the right kind of support:
Partners in Health. Paul Farmer, founder, has been offering medical care to the poor in Haiti since 1983. The PIH team has sent an urgent request for help.
Oxfam's Latin America emergency response team is headquartered in Haiti, so they are well positioned to respond quickly. And they have a strong track record of supporting local rebuilding rather than funneling money to outside contractors.
Grassroots International has set up an emergency fund to assist their Haitian partners—local organizations that have been working for years for a sustainable future for Haiti.
Action Aid, which is working around the world to end poverty, works in Haiti and is looking for help for both short term response and long-term rebuilding.
Doctors Without Borders, which already had medical teams in Haiti, has begun treating earthquake victims. According to a staff member, most medical facilities in Port-au-Prince are not functioning.
Any of these groups will use your donations effectively. Please spread the word. Comments are welcome on these and other opportunities to help.
This piece was written by Sarah van Gelder for YES! Magazine, a national media organization that combines powerful ideas and practical action towards a more just and sustainable world.
Helping Haiti
Two things are on my mind:
One is that the Developed Nations' impact for the past two centuries in Haiti has been to set up the conditions that have made this earthquake the absolute catastrophe that it has been. I worry about support for further ideas from Clinton and Bush. So far, between them they have engineered a coup and an economic program that has led to utter destitution for the people of Haiti.
The other thing is that Haiti has been crawling with NGOs for decades. Tracy Kidder, in a New York Times Op-Ed, criticizes them for their inability/unwillingness to work with each other and with the public institutions of Haiti. The result of all this NGO activity has not been acceptable.
Partners in Health and Oxfam have been on most lists I have seen from people knowledgeable about Haiti. Another organization is the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund.
Another consideration is that we might want to split our giving into two parts: money is needed urgently now, but will be needed also in 3-4 months when international attention fades.