On
Oct. 10, less than a week after Hurricane Matthew ripped
across Haiti, the United Nations launched an emergency
appeal for $120 million. As of this report on Oct. 24,
donors have failed to fill the need, contributing just
over 20% of the funds deemed necessary. But whom is the
money being raised for? What planning or coordination
went in to the $120 million ask? Are donors right to be
hesitant?
An analysis of
UN Financial
Tracking Service
data shows that the vast majority of the funds raised
are destined for UN agencies or large, international
NGOs. Reading press releases, government statements, and
comments to the press, it would seem that many lessons
have been learned after the devastating earthquake of
2010: the importance of coordinating with the
government, of working with local institutions and
organizations, of purchasing goods locally, and of
building long-term sustainability in to an emergency
response.
But, as one Haitian
government official posed it to me, “we all learned the
lessons, but have we found a solution?” Based on the UN
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA) appeal, the answer is: not yet.
Perhaps this should
be of little surprise, the flash appeal is designed
specifically to “fund United Nations aid activities” for
the next three months, not to raise money for local
organizations, the Haitian government, or for long-term,
sustainable projects.
But the analysis is
nonetheless revealing.
Funding Destined for UN and Foreign NGOs
The appeal
is largely based on individual projects from individual
organizations and does not appear to have been launched
with input from the Haitian government. As can be seen
below, the vast majority of funding is destined for UN
agencies.
Looking at
the above chart, one sees that 85% of the funding
requested is for the UN’s own agencies and that, of the
$28 million provided so far, 79% has gone to these same
entities.
Of the remaining
$17 million for other organizations, it is
overwhelmingly allocated to large foreign NGOs such as
CARE and Save the Children. Haitian organizations or
institutions appear to have an extremely limited role in
the appeal, if one at all.
Importance of Coordination and Long-Term Sustainability
There has
also been an acknowledgment that more must be done to
both coordinate with the Haitian government and the
various actors on the ground and to focus earlier on in
building long-term capacity. But the OCHA appeal does
not have an emphasis on either.
As can be
seen, about 50% of the total requirement is for the food
security, nutrition, and emergency agriculture sector.
There is no doubt that agriculture production and food
security are some of the largest concerns going forward,
but most of these funds, $46 million, is for short-term
food assistance through the World Food Program (WFP). On
the other hand, just $9 million will go towards
“restoration” of “rural productive capacity.” The WFP
program has already received $7.4 million, while the
restoration project has only received $800,000.
Again, this is not
to say that emergency food assistance is not needed, but
it must be a part of longer-term sustainable projects to
rebuild agriculture capacity as well. The OCHA appeal,
while focusing on emergency needs, could also raise
funds for needed capacity building. Funds from donors
and private individuals come mostly after a disaster,
but if all the money raised simply goes to emergency
needs, there is nothing left to build for the long term
when donor funds will be even scarcer.
Coordination and
support services, on the other hand, is only the target
of 1.2% of the overall appeal. However, this appears to
be one of the most significant bottle necks in the
distribution of assistance right now in Haiti. The
Haitian government has pledged to take the lead in
coordinating the international and local response, but
lacks the necessary capacity – or willingness from
donors – to make that a reality. The OCHA appeal does
attempt to raise funds to support the government’s
coordination efforts, but only $193,000, and that would
go through the UN Development Program. That project
remains 0 percent funded as of now. In fact, despite the
low targets for the sector, no funding has thus been
channeled in to this important area.
On his visit to
Haiti last week, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
expressed
“disappointment” with donors, who had yet to commit
funds. “I know there is some fatigue from certain
countries, but the current situation, the current
disaster that hit this country through Hurricane Matthew
is beyond description,” he said.
“The United Nations
stands by your side. We will mobilize all resources to
help you,” Ban continued. Speaking on Oct. 23 directly
to donor governments, Ban once again criticized the slow
response,
saying
“We urgently need more resources.”
Provisional
president of Haiti Jocelerme Privert struck a slightly
different tone in his remarks with Ban in mid-October:
“There will always be hurricanes, there will always be
catastrophes. We need concrete actions to mitigate the
damage from the next hurricanes that have not hit yet,”
he said.
Those are the types
of actions that failed to materialize after the 2010
earthquake and that do not appear to be addressed
through this latest UN appeal for funds.
Everyone learned
the lessons, but Haiti still needs solutions.
*Flash Appeal funding data is as of Oct. 21, 2016.
An earlier version of this article was
originally published
on the Haiti: Relief and Reconstruction Watch blog of
the Center for Economic and Policy Research. |