The international NGO community “must get it right. This time is different. There is a greater investment and there must be greater impact in Haiti”, said Cheryl Mills, Chief of Staff for Hillary Rodham Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State, who delivered the keynote address at the closing plenary luncheon on Friday, June 4, 2010. While Haiti has long had a “huge number of NGOs on the ground, with even new ones coming in, the Haitian government must lead and NGOs must figure out how to be effective partners in leading Haiti to sustainability,” Mills said.
“NGOs must allow themselves to be coordinated so that capacity-building activities lead to a real transfer of skills”, Mills said. Ultimately to help Haitians, NGOs must align their projects to be consistent with what Haiti wants. The earthquake on January 12, 2010 has refocused the community not only on disaster preparedness and response, but also on how to be better partners in development with the people of Haiti and the Haitian government.
The panel that followed Mills remarks also highlighted the reality that NGOs are at a crossroads in Haiti. Following the right path can lead to a model for future international development activities. In a special video message from the UN Special Envoy to Haiti, former President Bill Clinton said, “We know we have succeeded in Haiti when we have worked ourselves out of a job.”
Florence Guillaume, MD, Haiti Country Director for Management Sciences for Health (MSH), an international health organization and an InterAction member organization, said that people want to see the pace of reconstruction speeded up and more local participation.
Sam Worthington, InterAction’s President and CEO, stated that lessons learned stress the importance of local outreach. Paul Weisenfeld, Director of the Haiti Task Force at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), said there is agreement among all stakeholders in Haiti on the priority sectors: Infrastructure, including Housing, Agriculture, Energy, Health and Education.
Carolyn Miles, Executive Vice President and COO of the Save the Children Federation said that ultimately to build Haiti, the lives of children must be improved.
