IMF Survey: IMF Chief Emphasizes Support for Haiti
IMF Chief Strauss-Kahn (r) with Haitian President Rene Preval at the UN for a donors’ conference on Haiti (photo: IMF).
ASSISTANCE AFTER NATURAL DISASTERS
IMF Chief Emphasizes Support for Haiti
IMF Survey online
Rebuilding the Haitian economy will require immediate financing for Haiti’s budget, said Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the global lender’s managing director, during a donors’ conference at the United Nations.
“Budget support this year is absolutely essential,” Strauss-Kahn said during the meeting in new York on March 31, which included Haitian President Ren Prval, United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.N. Special Envoy for Haiti bill Clinton.
Strauss-Kahn encouraged donors to provide Haiti with the $350 million in budget support needed in 2010, according to IMF forecasts. The country faces higher spending needs and a halving of its revenues, and the alternative of high central bank financing could lead to spiraling inflation, which would erode the purchasing power of the poor.
IMF led the way with funds and help
In the days after the devastating earthquake hit the Caribbean nation on January 12, the IMF responded rapidly to Haiti’s needs, and quickly approved $114 million in assistance, the first international organization to provide help in the aftermath of the quake.
The money was used to get cash circulating in the economy so that people could buy food and employees could be paid. The funds are also helping Haiti pay for urgently needed imports.
The IMF’s economic forecast for Haiti is encouraging, according to Strauss-Kahn, with average growth expected to be 8 percent for the next five years. This will help boost the country’s GDP to $1000, compared to $600 prior to the earthquake.
The UN estimates the cost of the total damage and losses in Haiti is roughly $7 billion. A total of $11.5 billion is being sought over the next 10 years for Haitian reconstruction.
Strauss-Kahn said the involvement of the private sector will be important to get the economy working again, and the IMF is working closely with the Haitian government to build a partial credit guarantee fund, which will help the private sector get back to work.
IMF accompanies Haiti on road to recovery
Countries and organizations attending the conference have pledged more than $8 billion so far to help Haiti’s people and economy in the aftermath of the massive earthquake that struck the country two months ago, according to the UN.
Strauss-Kahn also told the UN conference the IMF will present a proposal for the approval of the Executive Board to organize debt relief for Haiti’s total outstanding debt.
Since January, the IMF has continued to work on a number of fronts to help Haiti rebuild its economy.
Earlier in March, an IMF team worked with the Haitian government to revise post-earthquake economic projections, based on the detailed estimates of damages and losses contained in the Post-Disaster needs Assessment coordinated by the UN.
The IMF was also part of the international donors meeting held in Montreal in late January, which started to lay the foundations for Haiti’s recovery. The partners in Haiti’s reconstruction set out some key principles for their work, including Haitian ownership of the process and coordination with international donors.
On March 25 the IMF joined a group of Haitian and international civil society organizations at the United Nations for a meeting to discuss the best ways of delivering Haiti the help it needs. While humanitarian work is ongoing, the group also focused on the long-term vision for Haiti’s reconstruction and economic growth.
Strauss-Kahn said ownership by Haitians in rebuilding their economy is the key to success.
“For all of this to work, the Haitian authorities need to be in the drivers’ seat,” he said. “The IMF experience is that, for such a program to work there needs to be real ownership by the country.”
IMF Survey: IMF Chief Emphasizes Support for Haiti
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Categories: News and Events Tags: caribbean nation, devastating earthquake, donors conference, imf chief, purchasing power
United Nations Unite for Haiti, Pledge $10 Billion for Recovery
NEW YORK, New York, April 2, 2010 (ENS) – Pledges of nearly $10 billion in immediate and long-term aid to help Haiti recover from January’s catastropic earthquake were made Wednesday within hours after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened a day-long donors’ conference by calling for “a sweeping exercise in nation building on a scale and scope not seen in generations.”
Ban appealed for $11.5 million over the next 10 years to help the Caribbean nation recover and rebuild after the earthquake that claimed more than 200,000 lives, destroyed much of the capital Port-au-Prince, and left one third of the population in need of aid.
Haiti’s President Rene Preval, United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and UN Special Envoy for Haiti former U.S. President bill Clinton co-hosted the conference, entitled Towards a New Future in Haiti, which was attended by delegates from more than 130 nations.
The conference was co-chaired by Brazil, Canada, the European Union, France, and Spain as leading donors to Haiti – already the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere before the disaster.
Ban said reconstruction work must move in tandem with emergency relief. “The rainy season is fast approaching. some camps for displaced persons are at risk of flooding. Health and sanitation issues are growing more serious.”
“The plight of these people requires immediate action, and we are all painfully aware of the difficult living conditions in the camps, and in particular, reports of sexual violence against women and children,” the secretary-general said.
Generous pledges rolled in from 48 countries, multilateral institutions, and a coalition of nongovernmental organizations. Pledges amount to $5.3 billion U.S. dollars for the next two years and $9.9 billion in total for the next three years and beyond, Ban said.
In Port-au-Prince Haitian children express their thanks. (Photo courtesy Valdosta State U.)
More than $5 billion of the total has been pledged for the next 18 months, well above the $3.9 billion sought for that period.
To handle donations, a multi-donor Haitian Reconstruction Fund will be established under the management of the World Bank.
“Today, the United Nations are united for Haiti,” Ban said in a closing news conference. “Today, we have mobilized to give Haiti and its people what they need most: hope for a new future. We have made a good start, we need now to deliver.”
Secretary Clinton said that since January 12, the United States has provided more than $930 million in assistance. “The money that we pledged today, more than a billion dollars, will go toward reconstruction and multilateral debt relief.”
She said, “Reconstruction will be Haitian-led, inclusive, accountable, transparent, coordinated, and results-oriented.”
Secretary Clinton expressed “great appreciation” for the efforts of President Preval and the Haitian Government, saying, “As we’ve heard many times today, under the most difficult circumstances, with their ministries in ruin, with people having lost houses, family members, with ministers unable to even know who was left in their offices, the government worked very hard to meet the needs of its people and to begin planning for the future.”
President Preval expressed his thanks on behalf of his nine million countrymen. “The international community has done their part,” he said. “Now it is up to the Haitian people to do theirs.”
At the meeting, Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive tabled an action plan for building a new Haiti that focuses on ending the emergency response and moving towards reconstruction.
During the first six months, the focus will be on providing urgent humanitarian aid, opening health facilities and schools, and improving prevention and disaster management to prepare the country for the next hurricane cycle, he said.
That period would be followed by an 18-month phase focused on construction and rebuilding programs, rebuilding of transport and communication infrastructure in devastated areas and job creation in the agricultural processing and textile industries.
Secretary Clinton described the plan as “a Haiti with a vibrant private sector, accountable and effective government institutions, and international partners that would be working with Haiti, not separate and apart from Haiti.”
“This plan represents a renewed commitment by the Haitian Government to define needs and priorities, to step up accountability and transparency, and to improve delivery of services,” she said.
The World Bank Group announced that $479 million will be available to support Haiti’s recovery and development through June 2011, including the total cancellation of Haiti’s remaining $39 million debt to the World Bank.
Of the total $250 million is new funding. it includes $151 million in grants, $60 million in investments from the bank’s private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation and cancellation of Haiti’s remaining debt.
“This is a chance to do things differently,” said World Bank Group President Robert Zoellick. “We can create a better future for Haiti but we need long-term commitment and a new partnership. It’s not just about how much money is raised, it’s about delivering real results on the ground for the Haitian people through good governance and effective cooperation by donors.”
The UN Development Programme has calculated the total value of damage and losses sustained by Haiti at $7 billion. UNDP Administrator Helen Clark, the former New Zealand prime minister, emphasized the need for Haitian ownership of the recovery process, with international assistance being aligned with the country’s priorities.
“With the necessary resources, we can assist the government to develop effective social protection to combat extreme poverty,” Clark said. “We can help improve access to education, health services, and clean water and sanitation; and we can help promote food security and nutrition.”
Bill Clinton said his role as Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Haiti is to bring donors together and ensure that they meet their commitments, of which only about one third are being met. that role also entails ensuring the maximum involvement of the Haitian diaspora, the international nongovernmental community, global investors and elements of Haitian society that are working to implement their own plans, such as the government, the private sector and civil society.
With the rainy season approaching, the country must move 20,000 to 40,000 people to ensure they are not at risk of drowning, said Special Envoy Clinton. “It is also crucial to build shelter, at the lowest cost possible, where people can retreat during a hurricane. Additionally, sanitation for those in concentrated living conditions is inadequate, leading to diarrhea, dysentery and cholera, which are particularly dangerous for children under five.”
Clinton thanked the President and Prime Minister of Haiti for having invited him to co-chair an interim commission whose main goal is to provide a forum where legitimate stakeholders can be heard as they came together to implement the national action plan.
To ensure that the billions pledged are not misspent, Secretary-General Ban said the pledges will be published online and assistance flows tracked through a web-based system that is being established by the United Nations with the Government of Haiti with an emphasis on measuring performance and results.
The Office of the Special Envoy and the UNDP will be responsible for that system.
“This information will be available to the public and the system was done to improve on past practice and ensure accountability and transparency,” the secretary-general said. “What is again more important is that the pledges should be delivered in time so that when the Government of Haiti needs them, they should be able to use it. That’s a mutual accountability.”
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2010. all rights reserved.
United Nations Unite for Haiti, Pledge $10 Billion for Recovery
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Chauvet to Help Build Homes in Haiti with – Lighting&Sound America …
Chauvet to help Build Homes in Haiti with Food For the Poor
in the wake of the catastrophic earthquake that left more than 1.2 million homeless in Haiti, Chauvet has teamed up with the charity organization Food For the Poor to raise funds for the construction of homes in the devastated Caribbean nation. Starting in April, the Florida-based company aims to raise $52,000 in four months to build 20 homes in Haiti. Owners Albert and Berenice Chauvet, who are both Haitian-born, are kicking off the campaign with a personal commitment to fund four homes.
“This is a human tragedy that we can all relate to,” Albert Chauvet said. “The good news is that, with very little money, you can have a huge, concrete impact in someone else’s life.”
Food For the Poor has a strong tradition of involvement in Haiti, where it builds housing units at an average cost of $2,600. in addition to providing emergency relief and housing, the organization aims to break the cycle of poverty by offering solutions for self-sustained living with vocational training, agricultural programs and the establishment of fishing villages equipped with boats, motors, sheds and freezers.
Chauvet plans to solicit donations primarily through a dedicated website (provided below), digital communications, and its network of media organizations, suppliers, designers, dealers and distributors in the entertainment and architectural lighting industry. Chauvet has pledged to match donations of up to $10,000.
Haiti’s ongoing housing crisis has found itself acutely exacerbated by the earthquake. Right now, hundreds of thousands of Haitians live in tents or dilapidated shacks made of cardboard, plastic, tin or whatever materials can be scavenged from garbage.
“Our donors have given a tremendous amount in the past two months to ensure that their brothers and sisters in Haiti have a chance to eat, drink clean water and lie down under some kind of shelter at night,” said Robin Mahfood, president/CEO of Food For the Poor. “We are grateful for their committed support and we will continue to count on their generosity in the long recovery we have ahead of us. the most immediate threat will be the rains that come with hurricane season.”
the 12 x 12 square-foot homes are built with cement blocks and covered with galvanized sheet roofs. to address the need for larger accommodations, two housing units are sometimes joined to form one double-unit home.
In 2009, Food For the Poor built 6,371 new housing units in the Caribbean and Latin America. Since 1982, the organization has built more than 61,200 housing units and completed more than 1,000 water projects among others. to get involved, visit the URL listed below.
Chauvet to Help Build Homes in Haiti with – Lighting&Sound America …
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Festival at the Ave raises $2000 for earthquake victims
The Auburn community responded to a cry for aid for victims of the Haiti earthquake, raising $2,000 to donate to the Red Cross for relief efforts in the poverty-stricken Caribbean nation.
The money came courtesy of donations at the help Haiti Relief Fund Music Festival held last Saturday at the Auburn Avenue Theater, which featured performances by the Tacoma Voice of Praise Gospel Choir, the Nyabingi Drummers, Caribbean Vision Steel Drum Band, Jah Breeze, Crucialities, Unified Culture, Groove Fiery, the Laborers and Alex Duncan, as well as DJs Yo Breeze and DJ Qualifi.
The event was organized in part by local barber Randy Simon of the Auburn Valley Barber Shop, a native of the Caribbean nation of Antigua.
“This is not the first time I have gone out of the box and done something for those less fortunate than myself,” Simon said. “I think we all should try to do for others, not just ourselves. I notice that every time I’ve done the charity work, the very next day I’ve woken up with a smile on my face. it makes me feel good.”
In addition to Simon’s work, as well as members of the Northwest Caribbean Connection, the event was aided by: the City of Auburn, which donated the use of the theater; and Athens Pizza, Ivar’s Seafood bar and Fred Meyer, which all donated food for the event. the City also helped promote the event and worked out space, lighting and sound issues.
Simon said that he was pleased by the turnout at the event, and pleased that so many people choose to take a world view on charity, rather than confining their efforts to just aiding people within our borders.
“When I do hear something about helping someone outside of the USA, I look at it this way,” Simon said. “We are one earthquake away from the catastrophe that happened in Haiti. we are one disaster away from Katrina. So you have to sit back and take a look in the mirror and say, ‘Why not?’ the person looking back at you will tell you. the answer is there. you have to be able to step back and do something for the less fortunate. other countries have much less than us.
“When I went to Nairobi, Kenya, I saw what poor really was,” he continued. “I told myself when I left that never again will I, in America, tell myself that I’m poor. because I can open the cupboard and refrigerator and choose what is in there. when you can’t choose from what’s in there, because there is nothing there. That’s poor. the thing is that there is a plenty here. we have to utilize that. our mindset in this country has to change somewhat.”
Auburn Reporter Sports Reporter Shawn Skager can be reached at sskager@auburn-reporter.com or (253) 833-0218, ext. 5054.
Festival at the Ave raises $2000 for earthquake victims
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Categories: News and Events Tags: alex duncan, caribbean nation, earthquake, money 99, relief efforts
