[Radix] Haiti: Aid and need

[bwisner at igc.org]

No doubt much local knowledge and skill remains untapped.  The survey last year by the Global Network of Civil Society Organizations for Disaster Reduction (N = 7000 across 48 countries) demonstrates this (http://www.globalnetwork-dr.org/reports/VFLfullreport0609.pdf).

However, in the case of the situation now in Haiti (as after the Asian tsunami), one has to take into account scale and time. "Top down" is needed as well as localized, "bottom up" action. Somehow hundreds of thousands of people have got to be provided with temporary shelter robust enough to survive a large hurricane during the season that begins in May/ June. Employment will also be critical to early recovery.

What's required is to enlist community representatives and Haitian civil society organizations in the process of planning and monitoring top down engineering projects. This would also have the added advantage of making sure that a wider spectrum of Haitians (especially women) are employed in the cash-for-work programs announced in the past few days by UNDP.

Regards,

BEN


-----Original Message-----
>From: George Kent <kent at hawaii.edu>
>Sent: Jan 23, 2010 2:58 PM
>To: James Lewis <datum at gn.apc.org>
>Cc: radix at ecie.org
>Subject: Re: [Radix] Haiti: Aid and need
>
>James, I think the Economist article that you brought to our attention  
>is hugely important. I have quoted it in a current writing project on  
>the hunger problem as follows:
>
>"The top-down interventionist approach has been commonplace not only  
>in dealing with chronic problems but also in dealing with sudden-onset  
>emergencies such as tsunamis and earthquakes. Its clumsiness is often  
>evident in disaster relief efforts, as aid agencies from outside  
>stumble over one another, often in an effort to get in front of the  
>television cameras. When the aid agencies that became involved after  
>the Indian Ocean tsunami of October 24 reviewed their efforts, they  
>recognized,
>
>'It was local people themselves who provided almost all immediate life- 
>saving action.” But “international agencies often brushed local  
>capacities aside (Economist 2009b).'
>
>This pattern was evident following the Haiti earthquake in January  
>2010. Outside agencies that are interested in helping, whether for  
>chronic conditions or sudden-onset emergencies, would do well to  
>recognize and support local people’s resourcefulness. The literature  
>regarding assistance in the context of disaster, hunger, or other  
>situations of extreme need pays far too little attention to the ways  
>in which needy people help each other. As a result, little thought is  
>given to ways in which outsiders might facilitate the needy in helping  
>one another."
>
>Perhaps some of you on Radix can identify studies in which this  
>potential resource has been considered in a serious way, but I have  
>the sense that it deserves far more attention.
>
>Aloha, George
>
>+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>Professor George Kent
>Department of Political Science
>2424 Maile Way, Saunders 610
>University of Hawai'i
>Honolulu, Hawai'i 96822
>USA
>
>Phone:    1 808 396-9422
>Cell:         1 808 389-9422
>Fax:          1 808 956-6877
>Email:       kent at hawaii.edu
>Website:   http://www2.hawaii.edu/~kent
>Skype ID: geokent
>
>
>
>
>
>
>On Jan 23, 2010, at 2:41 AM, James Lewis wrote:
>
>>
>> Balance between humanitarian aid and the need is debated,  
>> inconclusively regarding Haiti, in The Economist at:
>> http://www.economist.com/daily/news/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15350474&fsrc=nwl
>>
>> Another journal seeking attention or does it have a point ?
>>
>> James
>>
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