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Delivering humanitarian aid is challenging. Delivering humanitarian aid to Haiti, a nation among the poorest in the western hemisphere, is extremely challenging. It shouldn't be, and it doesn't need to be so.

The problem is not a lack of funds or personnel. Rather, it is a mismanagement of funds and personnel. But mismanagement is too kind a word.

Immediately following the 2010 earthquake, NGOs and aid organizations poured into Haiti. "After a year, of the $4.46 billion of international aid pledged for both 2010 and 2011 combined, just 28.7% had been disbursed."¹ And, according to a co-published article by Pro Publica and NPR last year, the American Red Cross managed to build only 6 homes with the half billion dollars in donated funds.

Rapid Response Solutions

Iffat Walker is the founder of Community Action Now. She has close personal connections to Haiti, and has seen the nation burned before by large aid organizations. This time, she's not leaving anything to chance.

During a recent brainstorming session at WUVI with DarahMonifah Cooper and myself, she calls in some of her trusted contacts. Through a few informal interviews we come up with a few ideas about how best to participate in a relief effort:

* Any action should be strategic/well-planned

* If you go, represent an organization. Don't go as an individual

* Allow first responders to assess and prepare

* Work with a trusted contact who can give you accurate information

This is a challenge we all need to face together. We need to act quickly but also effectively. And we need to get it right this time.

Notes and Links

¹Lonely Planet, Caribbean Islands

Cuban medics in Haiti put the world to shame

How the Red Cross Raised Half a Billion Dollars for Haiti ­and Built Six Homes

DONATE

Haiti Relief Fund

 

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