The History of Haiti, Role of NGOs - Research Paper Example

?Contents 0 Chapter Introduction 2 1 Background 2 2 ment of Research Problem 3 3 Research Questions 4 4 ment of Key Concepts 52.0 Chapter 2: Literature review 6 2.1 Introduction 6 2.2 Conclusion 8 3.0 Chapter 3: Methodology - Research Strategy 8 References 10 Collier, Paul. The crisis in Haiti shows we need a new approach to NGOs. New York: SAGE, 2010. Print. 11 Schwartz, Timothy. Travesty in Haiti: A true account of Christian missions, orphanages, fraud, food aid and drug trafficking New York: SAGE, 2008. Print. 12 1.0 Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Background The early history of Haiti was full of drama. The island was claimed by Spain in 1492. In 200 years later, France forced the Spanish out and practiced farming there, which was aided by slave laborers, most of whom came from Guinea in West Africa. By 1791, the slaves pulled efforts together to oppose colonial rule. Towards the end of 1803, the French armies under the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte ceded power and Haiti became independent in 1804. Immediately after the independence, the nation experienced serious problems of leadership and governance that has continued to destabilize the country up to date. The United States and other international community kept shifting between periods of engagement and non-engagement, but they did not offer Haiti any long-term solution its problems (Schwartz, 2008: 235). One of the most memorable leaders who have played a remarkable role in the country’s history is Aristide, who was ousted out of power in a coup by General Cedras Raoul in February 2004. Afterwards, a U.N. Security foreseen installation of interim force to restore order and form transitional government. Later, in 2006, Haiti held elections, but they were marred by violence after a run-off was called. In view of this background, it is clear that the crisis that is experienced in Haiti is mostly as a result of poor governance. This is especially as a result of lack of governmental capacity to serve the public effectively and efficiently. In particular, the government is left without the capacity to fight poverty or address the country’s most harmful impacts such as education and health, entrusting most of these functions to NGOs (Schwartz, 2008: 236). 1.2 Statement of Research Problem Most of Haitians are very poor, living on less than $2 a day, a situation that has been worsened by the inability of the Haitian government to provide basic services such as health care and education. This level of inefficiency by Haitian government was made evident in 2006, when the World Bank biennial ranked it in the bottom 6 percent on government effectiveness and bottom 2 percent of countries on corruption (Buss, 2008: 256). Many NGOs commissioned by the international development community have attempted to bring Haiti on its foot, though they lack confidence in the government in performing its mandate especially regarding alleviation of poverty and improving the lives of Haitians. Similarly, the government circles raise complains that they are not consulted by the NGOs when choosing their projects. Most critics argue that many NGOs have failed to provide a long-term solution with their development projects, and rather opted to operate as relief agencies, providing temporary solutions such as giving poor citizens food on a daily basis (Haggerty, 1989: 25). With so many NGOs operating in Haiti, the role of government has been ignored, and the Haitian people have over relied on organizations that they did not elect into office. More so, the relationships between the NGOs and their donors has continued to challenge the rights of the people of Haiti, yet these organizations have continued to amass a lot of wealth in the name of fighting poverty. One of the reasons given for the donors not dealing directly with NGOs rather than the government is the perception of widespread corruption in Haiti. There has been a discussion that the ongoing impression of widespread of corruption in the government can only be eliminated through promotion of good governance and transparency (Gurt, 2005: 10). Provision of humanitarian emergencies is shared between the donor states and the affected state. Considering the fact that allocation of humanitarian aids is usually inspired by politics, the transfer of aids can only take place when the donating state and the receiving state expect some political interest. In fact, the donor ends up benefiting more than the recipient (Bueno de Mesquita, 2007: 261). The provision of aids by donors results to government parallel structures that provide services such education and health care. Most importantly, these parallel structures promote dependency, since the donors with the help of NGOs are contracted to performing the roles that are normally provided by the governments of poor states like Haiti. Consequently, the delivery of services by these teams leads to creation of unaccountable and financially unstable practices as well as cost structures (Farmer, 2011:11). Therefore, by means of entrusting the NGOs to provide aids on their behalf of the donors, this establishes a particular interest - making them essential in provision of the core functions of the state. Key concepts: (1) Role of NGOs (2) Corruption (3) State’s independence (4) Community welfare (5) Donors 1.3 Research Questions 1. Do the donors with the help the NGO help alleviate suffering of the citizens of Haiti? 2. Does the exclusion of the state in the system that donors and NGOs use to in issuing their aids make it more problematic for the government to exercise its mandate? 3. What is the relationship between donors and NGOs in Haiti, and how does it contribute towards execution of the mandates? 4. How does corruption in the government and among the NGOs affect distribution of aids in Haiti? 5. Are the NGOs in Haiti reliable in managing and executing aids from donors? 6. Does the donors and NGOs operating in Haiti serve the interest of Haitians or do they just serve their own interests? 1.4 Statement of Key Concepts 1) Role of NGO’s: It is believed that NGO’s are charged with the role of providing humanitarian services to communities that need help, for example those who are devastated by natural disasters and hence requiring urgent reprieve from well-wishers. However, critics of the volunteering services offered by these organizations have claimed that they are counterproductive because they prevent countries from developing since their services are disincentive to the government’s development commitment. Their role also encourages hypocritical orphanage in the society. 2) Corruption: corruption is the unethical act of misappropriating donor money by government officials, which prevents the aid from serving the purpose it was initially intended for. These acts have made the work of NGO’s appear useless. 3) State’s independence: Independence of a state is whereby a sovereign state is left to independently make its decisions without being blackmailed, threatened, sanctioned or done any act to that could discourage it from enjoying its sovereign status. Unfortunately, if a nation overly relies on aid, there is likelihood that it will be forced to lose its independence to the donor states. 4) Community welfare: Community welfare is whereby the members of a certain community are in a position to enjoy good status of living, which premise is observed if developments can actually help them improve their living conditions. It is argued that many NGO’s are not able to improve the community welfare because their donations do not have long-term effects. 5) Donors: these are the bodies that contribute funds to help states that are experiencing humanitarian problems such as disasters and poverty. 2.0 Chapter 2: Literature review 2.1 Introduction In the Western Hemisphere, Haiti has been cited as one of the poorest nations, a situation that is characterized by excruciating poverty and lack of infrastructure – a problem that makes it extremely difficult to address its disheartening earthquake disasters that have confounded the country for many years, including the most devastating that occurred on January 12, 2010. Apparently, the critical role of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Haiti was brought to fore during the 2010 earthquake, but some authors have criticized them, especially because of issues related to accountability. Despite the key role that the NGOs have played in Haiti, it has been cited, in different literature, that their effectiveness is at the mercy of numerous hitches, including lack of ownership, lack of strategy, and conflict over the role with the incumbent government among many other issues. This part will involve a review of the literature that reveals how the relationship between the donors and NGOs contribute to ineffective provision of humanitarian services in Haiti. Although Fisher (1997: 441), amongst other researchers, has asserted that agreeing on a single definition of NGOs is not easy, USAID has provided a simple definition as: “an NGO will be defined broadly to include a wide range of local organizations in countries, which are recipients of U.S. foreign assistance” (quoted in Schuller, 2007: 97). Despite, the numerous benefits that many authors have associated with NGOs, still other authors have perceived them in a more negative approach. Reich (2006: 6) explains that one of the biggest problems with the NGOs in Haiti is lack of ownership especially considering that the donors fund and leave them to operate the way they wish. Reich, however, adds that this problem can be eliminated by integrating the local NGOs into the decision-making process and a design of a program, or project. This is particularly because the domination by the international NGOs is believed to impede the effectiveness of the local as well as the international NGOs themselves. Whenever an earthquake strikes Haiti, many NGOs are known to rush very quickly to risque the situation. They are mainly involved in facilitation of schooling and health care. However, as the role of the NGOs scale up, the capacity of government of Haiti is usually decimated. Unfortunately, Collier (2010: 25) maintains that though their role is essential, the balance that is created has far reaching consequences on the long-term development of the nation. Although the donors deliberately sidestep the state to fund the NGOs directly, they purport to be focused on building an effective state. By this they use a model whereby they directly run education and healthcare, subjecting the concerned ministries to exist in form than substance (Collier, 2010: 25). The NGOs operating in Haiti have a larger financial capacity than the government itself since they are funded directly by the donors. They have as a result created a parallel system than operates in a more effective manner than the government. Majority of the Haitian population living in poor conditions rely on these NGOs for their livelihood. This worsens the situation because they develop a low level of confidence in the state in providing them basic needs such as health care and education. Furthermore, the donors also develop a low confidence level in the government and continue channeling the funds directly through the NGOs. This parallel system that is created by the NGOs makes Haiti to be referred to as “The Republic of NGOs” (United States Institute of Peace, 2010: 2). Regrettably, NGOs are not by their donors to operate with little accountability and oversight - this leads to fragmented and uncoordinated work. Despite the much criticism, several scholars, including Bailey (1998: 6) and Dicklitch (1998: 6), have supported the role of NGOs arguing that as ‘gap fillers, by providing what is referred to as ‘structural adjustment programs.’ However, during 2004/06 Haiti interim period, Schuller (2007: 256) claims that not all gaps were filled due to shortcomings within neoliberal circumvention of the state. Schuller adds that despite the existence of many NGOs in Haiti, by 2001, the road infrastructure was in a state of despair allegedly because the international lending agencies had blocked the loans to Haitian Government, apparently awaiting the resolution of electoral crises. The work on the road had to start more than two years following the election of a new president. 2.2 Conclusion It is quite evident that the NGOs in Haiti operate under very difficult situations, particularly because the donors fund them directly hence sidestepping the role of the state. Although these NGOs have played a very crucial role, especially in giving humanitarian aid to victims of natural disasters as well as organizing programs for uplifting the livelihood of the Haitians, their domination role leaves the role of the state in the mercy of becoming irrelevant. The problem is worsened by the fact that the donors do not have confidence in the government because it is preserved to be marred with corruption. All in all, the donors can work harmoniously with the NGOs as well as the government of Haiti in effective realization of common goals only if the state of governance is improved across the board. 3.0 Chapter 3: Methodology - Research Strategy In order to understand the real situation of operations of NGOs and donors in Haiti, I will exploit both primary and secondary sources of information. For the primary sources of information, I will be reviewing books, PhD theses, policy reports and journal articles. I have already started doing preliminary research on these sources and have kept a log of the most reliable one, which I will focus on when I advance with my research work. Most importantly, I will be interested with those sources that are peer reviewed, and have rich information regarding operations of NGOs in Haiti, particularly those pointing out the effectiveness of these NGOs based on their structure and relationship with donors and the government of Haiti. For the collection of primary data, I will be visiting Haiti during summer in order conduct an interview with the people on the ground - who possess first hand information regarding operations of NGOs in Haiti. While on the ground, I will select 10 officials to participate in the interview with that respect. In addition, I will select a group of 10 officials working the civil society and Haiti nationals, and who possess adequate knowledge regarding operations of NGOs in Haiti to also participate in the interview. Inclusion of participants in my interview will rely on my judgment on the capability of the participants being suitable to answer certain questions, but I will have done some investigations to understand the experience, skills and reliability of potential participants (Neuman, 2003: 45). Some of the questions that I expect to ask while on the ground include: Do the donors with the help the NGO help alleviate suffering of the citizens of Haiti? What is the relationship between donors and NGOs in Haiti, and how does it contribute towards execution of the mandates? Is the NGO you work with involved in corrupt deal? How does corruption affect your organization? Do you think the work of the NGOs have helped uplift the status of your life? The interview questions will include those without predetermined answers in order to give the respondents an opportunity to provide flexible answers. Besides, I will include some questions with predetermined answers in order to capture the information which I will consider very important, and which the respondents are likely to leave out in their flexible answers. The interview will be carried out in two phases. The first phase will involve interviewing of the selected officials of leading international NGOs, which will last for one week stating from 1 August 2013. The second phase of the interview will involve officials of civil society, which will kick off from 1 September 2013. The selected officials of these civil societies and Haiti nationals will be required to possess deep knowledge about the history, current affairs of Haiti as well as the operations of international NGOs in Haiti. The first hand information that will be collected from the participants will be used to enrich the literatures that will be reviewed from a variety of secondary sources. The NGO’s that will be selected for the interview must have operated in Haiti for at least the last 15 years, and should have implemented more than 2 large budgets of at least $ 12 million for the last 5 years. For the purpose of analysis, all the information that will be collected from the interview will be reviewed and transcribed. The focus of the transcription will be to obtaining common themes that will help get answers to the research questions. References Bailey, Katherine M. “NGOs take to politics: the Role of Non-Governmental Organizations in Mexico’s Democratization Effort.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Latin American Studies Association, Chicago, September 1998. Print. Bueno de Mesquita, B. 2007. “Foreign Aid and Policy Concessions”, Journal of Conflict Resolution 51(2007): 251-284. Print Buss, Terry. Haiti in the Balance: Why Foreign Aid Has Failed and What We Can Do About It. Washington: Brookings Institution Press, 2008. Print. Collier, Paul. The crisis in Haiti shows we need a new approach to NGOs. New York: SAGE, 2010. Print. Dicklitch, Susan. The Elusive Promise of NGOs in Africa: Lessons from Uganda. International Political Economy Series. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998. Print. Farmer, P. Haiti after the Earthquake. New York: Public Affairs, 2011. Print. Fisher, William. “Doing Good? The Politics and Antipolitics of NGO Practices”, Annual Reviews in Anthropology 26 (1997): 439- 464. Print. Gurt, Rosenthal. Haiti: Short and Long-Term Development Issues. United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean – ECLAC, 2005. Print. Gurt, Rosenthal. Haiti: Short and Long-Term Development Issues. United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean – ECLAC, 2005. Print. Haggerty, Richard A. Haiti: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1989. Print. Neuman, W. L. Social research methods: Quantitative and qualitative approaches (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2003. Print. Reich, H. Local ownership in conflict transformation projects. Partnership, participation or patronage? Berlin: Berghof Research Center for Constructive Conflict Management, 2006. Print. Schuller, Mark. "Invasion or Infusion? Understanding the Role of Contemporary NGOs in Haiti”, The Journal of Haitian Studies 13. 2 (2007): 96-119. Print. Schwartz, Timothy. Travesty in Haiti: A true account of Christian missions, orphanages, fraud, food aid and drug trafficking New York: SAGE, 2008. Print. United States Institute of Peace. “Haiti: A Republic of NGOs” Peace Brief 23, 2010. Print. Read More