http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/03/08/give_haiti_control_over_its_recovery/

By Monika Kalra Varma and Loune Viaud  |  March 8, 2010

SINCE JANUARY’S dev­as­tat­ing earth­quake in Haiti, well-meaning experts have pro­posed an abun­dance of short-term and long-term recov­ery solu­tions. They ask why aid deliv­ery has been so slow, why pre­vi­ous devel­op­ment plans for Haiti have rarely been suc­cess­ful, and why bil­lions of dol­lars in fund­ing over decades have not improved con­di­tions for the most impov­er­ished peo­ple in our hemisphere.

Some blame the gov­ern­ment of Haiti, while oth­ers, includ­ing the orga­ni­za­tions we rep­re­sent, often point fin­gers at the inter­na­tional com­mu­nity. The sim­ple answer is that those who have the great­est stake in rebuild­ing Haiti, Haitians them­selves, don’t now and never have had a real seat at the table.

While Hait­ian resilience has been duly rec­og­nized around the world, few appear to be inter­ested in talk­ing to Haitians about how to rebuild their com­mu­ni­ties and how the bil­lions likely to be pledged to their coun­try will be used. And no one is talk­ing about what recourse Haitians will have if promised projects are never com­pleted, or worse, pledged money never arrives. Unfor­tu­nately, past fail­ures can be found in every com­mu­nity across Haiti — water projects that were promised but never built, result­ing in water-borne ill­ness and death; food aid that was deliv­ered, but spoiled or sold in mar­kets below the prices asked by local farm­ers; non-government orga­ni­za­tions that started edu­ca­tional pro­grams, but then shifted pri­or­i­ties, leav­ing chil­dren with­out access to schools.

From our per­spec­tives as a Haitian-American and an inter­na­tional human rights advo­cate, both work­ing to pro­tect the most basic of human rights, includ­ing the rights to health, water, and food, we know the peo­ple of Haiti not only deserve, but are enti­tled to bet­ter lives.

The solu­tion is sim­ple, prac­ti­cal, and dri­ven by human rights. Rep­re­sen­ta­tives of donor states, gov­ern­ment agen­cies, NGOs, and inter­na­tional orga­ni­za­tions should meet with Haitians to dis­cuss their com­mu­ni­ties’ needs, be it a water source, a school, a road or health cen­ter, and then deter­mine specifics like where it should be con­structed, how it will be main­tained and when it will be com­pleted so com­mu­ni­ties know what to expect before break­ing ground. If it is behind sched­ule, poorly main­tained, or never built, com­mu­nity mem­bers should be able to report back to an inde­pen­dent body that is part­nered with the Hait­ian gov­ern­ment and can track all such complaints.

In the short-term, the inter­na­tional com­mu­nity and the Hait­ian gov­ern­ment could cre­ate a trav­el­ing body to help com­mu­nity mem­bers track any prob­lems with cur­rent projects. Infor­ma­tion gath­ered through this body would be acces­si­ble to the Hait­ian peo­ple, a crit­i­cal first step toward ensur­ing that the prin­ci­ples of par­tic­i­pa­tion, trans­parency, and account­abil­ity are more than mere slo­gans. In the future, com­mu­nity mem­bers could work with their gov­ern­ment to develop a more per­ma­nent mon­i­tor­ing infra­struc­ture across the country.

This month, all con­cerned eyes will be on the United Nations-hosted donors con­fer­ence con­ven­ing in New York. Experts will gather to dis­cuss devel­op­ment strate­gies and donor coun­tries will make pub­lic pledges of sup­port to Haiti. In addi­tion to the few elected lead­ers and a hand­ful of NGO rep­re­sen­ta­tives who will speak to the donor states, rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the peo­ple we know and work with should be present and heard. These are peo­ple who, after suf­fer­ing untold loss, still live in the streets of Port-au-Prince, starv­ing nearly two months after the earth­quake, or live in rural areas deal­ing with sky­rock­et­ing food prices because of the influx of earth­quake sur­vivors into their com­mu­ni­ties, or are among the mil­lions who suf­fered with­out access to clean water long before the earth­quake hit.

Those who have worked in Haiti and other places around the world and have suf­fered large-scale death and destruc­tion know that suc­cess­ful long-term recov­ery needs to be dri­ven by the peo­ple most inti­mately affected. Beyond the enor­mous fund­ing and inter­na­tional experts needed to rebuild Haiti, it is time to make a new pledge — to heed and sup­port the experts who can truly rebuild Haiti, the Hait­ian people.

Loune Viaud is the direc­tor of strate­gic plan­ning and oper­a­tions at Zanmi Lasante/Partners in Health in Haiti. Monika Kalra Varma is the direc­tor of the Robert F. Kennedy Cen­ter for Human Rights.

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