Haiti
Haitian Prime Minister Visits USAID
USAID Deputy Adminstrator Donald Steinberg (left) meets Haiti's Prime Minister Garry Conille on Feb. 7, 2012. Photo by Kendra Helmer/USAID
USAID officials met with a delegation from the government of Haiti on Tuesday to discuss international coordination and the pace of reconstruction following the 2010 earthquake. Haiti Prime Minister Garry Conille and other representatives met with USAID officials including Administrator Rajiv Shah, Deputy Administrator Donald Steinberg, Assistant Administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean Mark Feierstein and Haiti Task Team Director Elizabeth Hogan. Also participating was the State Department’s Haiti Special Coordinator Thomas Adams.
The group also discussed USAID programs in Haiti (including support to the legislature), donor coordination, women’s affairs and facilitating private investment. During his five-day visit to Washington, D.C., Conille also plans to meet with congressional members and institutions including the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Can Mobile Money Transform a Country?
Two years after the earthquake, Haiti is rebuilding not just brick by brick, but click by click.
A message confirms the deposit of a new customer who is signing up for Digicel's Tcho Tcho mobile banking on March 3, 2011, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Photo Credit: Kendra Helmer/USAID
The earthquake left behind a government in rubble, an economy in shambles, and a people living in makeshift camps, coping with enormous loss. Against this backdrop, the possibility of progress lives not just in the resilient spirit of the Haitian people, but also in the simple power of their mobile phones.
In June 2010, USAID and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched the Haiti Mobile Money Initiative (HMMI)(PDF, 163KB). This program leveraged the private sector and the ubiquity of mobile phones to bring financial services to Haitians, 90 percent of whom didn’t have access to a bank account before the earthquake destroyed nearly one-third of the country’s bank branches, ATMs, and money transfer stations. Put simply, mobile money gives Haitians access to banking without building a single bank.
It worked. In January 2011, one year after the earthquake, HMMI awarded Digicel and its partner bank, Scotiabank, a “First to Market” Award of $2.5 million for “Tcho Tcho Mobile.” Five months ago, HMMI awarded mobile operator Voila and their bank partner, Unibank, $1.5 million for “T-Cash.” While verification is still underway, data reported by the industry indicate that there are nearly 800,000 registered users. Moreover, there are over 800 agent locations now available to serve clients. In a country where there are fewer than two bank branches per 100,000 people, this represents a near doubling of accessible financial services.
These numbers are significant, but what do they mean for the people of Haiti? Why should we care about the growth of mobile money in Haiti and the rest of the developing world? (more…)
USAID in the News
Weekly Briefing (1/9/2012 – 1/13/2012)
January 11: Foreign Policy published a Letter to the Editor written by Ambassador Ertharin Cousin and USAID Assistant Administrator Nancy Lindborg. The letter provided clarification describing U.S. food aid and highlighted the fact that aid is distributed after careful analysis and in a competitive manner. Furthermore, the letter states that USAID now has a program that uses cash, vouchers, and local and regional food purchases to ensure “we reach people more quickly with the right type of response based on local conditions.”
January 11: In The Miami Herald, USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah published an op-ed citing the accomplishments in Haiti, two years after the 7.0 magnitude earthquake. “Over half of the 10 million tons of rubble has been cleared from Port-au-Prince’s streets, more people have access to clean water today than before the earthquake, and collective efforts have mitigated the outbreak of cholera that killed thousands in the country.” In addition to rescue efforts, the U.S. is also working to rebuild the country. “With the leadership of Secretary Clinton, we are trying to harness the transformative power of science, technology and innovation to accelerate economic progress and improve lives throughout Haiti.”
January 11: OhMyGov! published a story on the Famine, War, Drought (FWD) Campaign being led by USAID. The article highlighted the important role social media has played in the campaign, as well as the dramatic increase USAID has experienced in Facebook followers. According to OhMyGov’s media analysis platform, during the week of December 22-29, USAID’s Facebook page experienced a 27% growth in total Facebook fans, amassing nearly 12,000 new fans in just seven days.
January 12: On NPR’s Talk of the Nation and Tell Me More programs, USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah and USAID Deputy Administrator Donald Steinberg were interviewed to discuss the two-year anniversary of the Haiti Earthquake. In both interviews, Administrator Shah and Steinberg stated that the U.S. remains committed to supporting and investing in Haiti.
January 12: Mark Feierstein, Assistant Administrator for USAID’s Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean, published an op-ed in The Huffington Post discussing the progress being made in Haiti. In addition to playing a critical role in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, “the United States is helping Haiti create jobs, boost agricultural production, more effectively deliver services, expand access to health care and provide higher quality education to its youth.”
Haiti “A Country Undeniably on the Move”
Originally posted in The Miami Herald
It’s been two years since one of the most deadly natural disasters of the modern era devastated one of the poorest countries in the world. Even with an unprecedented international response in partnership with the Haitian government, the sheer scale of the 7.0 earthquake—which killed 230,000 people and displaced over 1.5 million—meant the country’s recovery would be a massive undertaking.
As President Obama directed, the US Government joined with the Haitian government to conduct search and rescue operations, clear streets of rubble and provide emergency supplies to survivors of the earthquake. Individual Americans have been a vital part of the effort — in 2010, more Americans donated money to Haiti relief efforts than watched the Super Bowl.
Despite daunting challenges over the last two years, today we can point to several specific results on the ground. Over half of the 10 million tons of rubble has been cleared from Port-au-Prince’s streets, more people have access to clean water today than before the earthquake, and collective efforts have mitigated the outbreak of cholera that killed thousands in the country.
In former President Bill Clinton’s words, our focus must now be on working with the Haitian government to “build back better.”
With the leadership of Secretary Clinton, we are trying to harness the transformative power of science, technology and innovation to accelerate economic progress and improve lives throughout Haiti.
For instance, instead of investing in rebuilding banks that fell during the earthquake, we worked with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to launch a mobile banking revolution in the country. Nearly two-thirds of Haiti’s population has access to mobile phones but only 10 percent have bank accounts. By introducing technology that allows Haitians to save money and make transactions on their phones, we’re encouraging local wealth creation. To date, nearly 800,000 Haitians have registered for mobile banking, helping Haiti likely become one of the first mobile money economies in the world. (more…)
From the Field
Photo credit: Rogers Cidosa, US Embassy Tanzania
Our weekly feature highlighting events at USAID Missions around the globe.
In Tanzania, on World AIDS Day, Former President George W. Bush and his family visited sites in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The highlight of their site visits was observing an innovative HIV prevention intervention funded by USAID that takes place in Tanzanian beauty salons. Former President Bush and Mrs. Bush along with their daughters and son-in-law, stopped in at Ramuu’s Beauty Salon in Dar es Salaam to see the Jipende! (Love Yourself!) Program in action. Ramuu’s is one of 46 salons in Dar es Salaam that have been trained and equipped to be Resource Centers for Women’s Health.
Speaking with the beauty salon owner and attendants, the Bush family heard first-hand how the owner and the salon attendants are trained to deliver messages to salon clients about HIV prevention, family planning and women’s health issues such as breast and cervical cancer. Mr. Bush commended the salon owner for participating in the USAID funded Jipende! Program and her efforts to empower women with important health knowledge and information.
In Paraguay, we held the closing ceremony for USAID’s Health Decentralization program. The Health Decentralization Program which began a decade ago, will conclude this month. The program has provided assistance at the central, regional and local levels to strengthen the health decentralization process and health services provided to poor people by Paraguay’s Ministry of Health. USAID assisted health councils across the country to develop local health plans and improve management of financial resources and accountability.
In Haiti, we held a ground breaking ceremony for a 246-hectare Industrial Park in Caracol. Former President Bill Clinton and Haitian President Michel Martelly were in attendance. The Industrial Park is expected to create thousands of jobs in Haiti.
On the Road with SCMS: A Mother’s Hope
Samantha Salcedo is the Senior Communications Advisor at Supply Chain Management System
Jonise holds her son, John Werley. Photo credit: Jean Jacques Augustin
John Werley sits patiently on his mother Jonise’s lap. His eyes are big, bright and slightly sleepy. We are sitting together in one of the treatment rooms of the Hopital Evangelique, a local health center in the tiny community of Bombardopolis, about an eight hour jeep ride from Port au Prince, Haiti. Bombardopolis is poor, suffering, as most of Haiti does, with high unemployment (over 40% of Haitians are out of work) and without basic modern conveniences of electricity or running water.
The hospital began HIV testing 15 years ago. HIV’s reach is far and indiscriminate, even the remote town of Bombardopolis is not immune; about 25% of the roughly 800 patients the hospital sees monthly are HIV positive. While the hospital could test for the disease, it was a long time before they were able to treat it. In 2006, the Supply Chain Management System (SCMS), a project under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) that is administered under USAID began delivering life-saving antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) to the hospital.
SCMS is also working with the Hôpital Evangelique’s staff to build their capacity to better manage and forecast key commodities – including pharmaceuticals, medical supplies, laboratory equipment and their associated reagents, thereby assuring that they are procured and delivered on time. So far, the U.S. Government, through SCMS, has donated over $34 million in ARVs, lab supplies and other commodities to Haiti; of this, about $3 million has been devoted to supporting programs in the prevention of mother to child transmission.
Our Continuing Commitment to the People of Haiti
On Thursday, I had the opportunity to meet Emyl Mil, a rice farmer in Haiti, a focus country for President Obama’s Feed the Future initiative. When I spoke with Mr. Mil, he was excited about the use of a new, innovative approach called System of Rice Intensification. This new technique has significantly increased rice yields using fewer seeds and less water and fertilizer. Mr. Mil has even shared the technique with fellow farmers, who are seeing the same results. This is exactly the kind of work we want to support: providing Haitians with the tools to help themselves and each other in the aftermath of the devastating 2010 earthquake.
USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah (center) and Jean-Robert Estime, USAID/Haiti WINNER project chief of party (left) spoke with farmers (whose shirts read “master farmers”) at a rice field on Sept. 15, 2011, in Haiti. The fields are part of USAID/Haiti's Feed the Future program, which promotes an innovative approach known as System of Rice Intensification. The new technique significantly increases rice yields with less seeds, water and fertilizer. Photo copyright Kendra Helmer/USAID
This type of results-oriented approach to food security addresses a particularly pressing and urgent need in Haiti. Before the earthquake, a lack of infrastructure and organization led to post-harvest losses of 35 percent or more. We’re helping to change this narrative by supporting country-led plans to transform agriculture, broadening our engagement with local partners, and building capacity that will end the cycle of hunger and food aid.
Under the dedicated leadership of USAID/Haiti Mission Director Carleene Dei, our team in Haiti is implementing new ideas and technologies, selectively focusing its work where we can have the greatest impact. We’re scaling up programs and innovations across key areas like infrastructure, health, governance and economic security.
Last year, in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, we created the Haiti Mobile Money Initiative (HMMI). The HMMI has awarded millions of dollars in prizes to mobile money service providers for investing in mobile banking. The initiative encourages local wealth creation, enabling Haitians to save money and make transactions on cell phones. We’re on the verge of 1 million mobile money transactions – a movement that is building momentum every day.
Helping rebuild Haiti remains a chief priority. We know it’s a tough road ahead but together with the Government of Haiti, the international community and local NGOs, we’ve accomplished real gains on which we can build. Since the earthquake, we’ve all worked together to move more than 4 million cubic meters of rubble (USAID removed 2 million of those cubic meters), clearing the way for redevelopment and enabling families to come home. We’ve also provided integrated shelter solutions to help Haitians return to safe, sustainable housing. And we’ve helped to immunize more than 1 million Haitians against diseases like polio and diphtheria.
Although the way forward remains challenging, we are committed to finding the most creative, sustainable ways to help the people of Haiti achieve long-term, sustainable development.
See more photos from my visit.
This Week at USAID – September 12, 2011
Administrator Raj Shah participates in a panel discussion about “Leveraging Malaria Platforms to Improve Family Health” during the The Summit to Save Lives, which is presented by the George W. Bush Institute.
Later in the week, Administrator Shah heads to Haiti to meet with USAID Mission staff and to visit an agricultural training center.
The World at 7 Billion People: Deputy Administrator Don Steinberg speaks at the National Geographic Society Headquarters to raise awareness around global population issues related to women and girls.
Assistant to the Administrator Susan Reichle talks about USAID’s progress towards implementing President Obama’s Policy Directive on Global Development at a town hall hosted by the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network.
World of Fashion Crosses Paths with Haiti’s Rebuilding Efforts
The fashion world and jobs in Haiti aren’t two things you’d normally associate with each other. But an event last week — in Las Vegas of all places — made that connection.
The MAGIC fashion trade event featured a USAID-sponsored “Made in Haiti” exhibit aimed at showcasing Haitian garment manufacturers and creating new business opportunities.
Gina Coles, representing Phenix2, one of the largest Haitian apparel companies, talks to a visitor to the Haiti booth at the MAGIC fashion industry trade show last week in Las Vegas. Photo Credit: Gregor Avril/ADIH
“Our exhibit on Haiti certainly created a lot of buzz as demonstrated by the level of attention our visitors expressed,” said Gregor Avril, executive director of the non-profit Association of Industries of Haiti (ADIH), who was present at MAGIC.
Also on hand to discuss Haiti’s apparel industry were delegates from the country’s largest manufacturing companies, along with representatives from the USAID-supported Haiti Apparel Center, which trains thousands of professionals a year to help meet the need for skilled workers in Haiti’s garment industry. The Haiti booth showcased shirts, dresses, suits, winter coats, work uniforms, printed T-shirts, blue jeans and even tote bags. The exhibit was part of MAGIC’s Americas Pavilion, hosted by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
As the largest trade event for the textiles and apparel industry in the United States, MAGIC attracted attendees from well-known companies such as Columbia Sportswear, LL Bean, Jockey, Dickies and Harley-Davidson. (more…)
