See more about our work in that first critical year. We know from experience that families affected by a disaster as devastating as the Haiti earthquake need more to help them recover than the lifesaving supplies delivered in the immediate aftermath.
Haiti has been one of most challenging and complex disaster responses ever, and this has required flexibility from humanitarian organizations like the Red Cross. Like others, we had hoped to find land to construct new permanent homes. When land upon which to build was not readily available in places accessible to services and livelihoods, the Red Cross made it a priority to help move the most people possible out of camps.
We and our partners built thousands of transitional shelters that are still standing years later. Many have been expanded into permanent homes and are more durable than many of the homes Haitians lived in before the earthquake. When the Government of Haiti asked us to continue our focus on alternative housing solutions—rather than build new homes from the ground up—we adapted.
And when Haitians living in the neighborhoods where we work asked us to focus on jobs, schools, and continued support to health and water, we adapted to that, too. We have helped more than , people through housing and neighborhood recovery see a full breakdown of our shelter spending and we are continuing to repair schools, roadways, and water distribution points in neighborhoods.
Haiti's government complained after the quake that aid was too slow to materialize. Six months after the disaster, it said it had received less than 2 percent of the promised support , despite pledges by the U. President Bill Clinton, to "build Haiti back better". A study by Tulane University found that while some aid exceeded the population's needs in affected areas, humanitarian efforts did not contribute significantly to making Haiti more resilient to disasters and may even have "caused harm.
It argued the humanitarian response often undermined Haitian organizations due to the poaching of staff, and because they could not compete with larger, international NGOs for support, or lacked access to the decision-making process.
Can't stress this enough. The American Red Cross has said it spent 91 cents of every dollar of that money in programs to help the people of Haiti. In a statement to Reuters, the American Red Cross said it "strongly disputes negative reporting of our past work in Haiti" and had made a significant impact there.
This included investment in more than 50 hospitals and clinics, safer housing for more than 22, families, funding for Haiti's first wastewater treatment plant and support for the country's first-ever cholera vaccination campaign. Controversies linked to foreign intervention have reinforced a sense of public mistrust.
A sexual misconduct scandal that surfaced in centering on Oxfam International tarnished the name of relief workers in Haiti, while a cholera outbreak linked to U. A high-profile celebrity-backed charity is being probed for its use of funds, and some U. In the immediate aftermath of the 7. At a donors conference in New York three months after Port-au-Prince and much of the south was wrecked, nations from around the globe, led by the United States, pledged billions more for the short and long term — to be managed by a commission co-chaired by Bill Clinton and the Haitian prime minister.
The U. Some global development analysts say that the spending structure — with the vast majority of money being funneled through foreign contractors instead of the Haitian government or local outfits — has built-in inefficiencies, compounded by a lack of accountability and transparency. Agency for International Development, which oversees the aid program, says using experienced Beltway-based firms that could move quickly in the beginning was a necessity, but acknowledges that more should go to local entities.
The new goal is to put 17 percent of funding in Haitian hands. The American companies relied on a maze of subcontractors, increasing overhead and obscuring whether the money was being spent wisely, critics said. Barbara Lee, D-Calif. Still, there is no doubt many lives were saved and good work was done, under daunting circumstances and in the face of overwhelming destruction.
Tom Adams, the State Department's special coordinator for Haiti, conceded "it has been a challenge to implement certain parts of our assistance package," but pointed to progress in job creation, health, security and agriculture. The housing program can hardly be branded a success, though.
It's put up about so far.
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