From Charity to Solidarity in Haiti: Lessons for the Policy Makers - III
Beverly Bell
April 27, 2010
Humanitarian
aid initiatives organized by Haitian communities offer respectful, democratic
contrasts to the multi-billion dollar aid effort of the international
community, much of which is wasted at best and destructive at worst.
"Embedded in the local humanitarian responses is the model of a society
premised on generosity and dignity," says a report released today by Other
Worlds, "From
Disaster Aid to Solidarity: Best Practices in Meeting the Needs of Haiti's
Earthquake Survivors."
The report examines the problems of the U.S.- and U.N.-dominated aid operation
in Haiti and documents ten effective alternatives created by Haitian community
and peasant groups and by ally organizations throughout the world. The cases
are just a sampling of many more. The report then offers ten recommendations
for how international allies can be most effective and respectful in supporting
Haitian-led recovery and reconstruction.
One core problem of the international aid operation is that it strips away
national sovereignty, since the already weak Haitian government has been
effectively sidelined. Other problems, as discussed in the report, are that it
robs people of their dignity and leaves them no say-so in how they get the food
they need. In the worst case scenario, the operation could turn people from
agents of self-recovery and change into mere victims. Perhaps worst of all is
that, at a time when Haitians must have confidence and social organization to
reconstruct their lives and their country with equity and justice, the aid
operation risks substituting their power for bags of imported rice and a tent.
Aid does not need to be given according to that model. In fact, most of it is
not. Though their efforts have not been recognized, everyday Haitian citizens,
acting on their own, have comprised by far the largest force of first
responders, relief workers, and aid providers. Their labors are based on the
long tradition of solidarity, or mutual aid, that has kept this people alive
for centuries. The organized survivor assistance projects of grassroots groups
are run on the same principles.
The outpouring of support from the community is a reminder of the collective
resilience and resourcefulness that undergird the Haitian culture. As foreign
powers, international agencies, and the national government marginalize the
people from decision-making about aid and reconstruction policies, the
initiatives are a living testament that people are neither passive nor victims.
The operations are run by diverse entities, from student groups to the Cuban
government. Each provides at least one of the following: shelter, medical care,
community mental health, food, water, children's activities, leisure
activities, security, or support for growing much-needed food. Some of the
efforts also offer education and a platform for organizing and advocacy to
shape the country's future.
Together they serve as a guide through which Haiti can rebuild with a more
mutual aid, people-before-profit economy and society. All the guiding
principles toward a new, just, and equitable nation exist here, in practice.
Five of the programs have already been covered in this series. See
"Putting 'Humanitarian' Back into Humanitarian Aid," "Country
Hospitality," "Where Solidarity Means Survival Part I and Part
II," and "Healing Body and Heart, Cuban Style" and other
articles at Another
Haiti is Possible.
Below are three more innovative programs. Each meets needs of survivors while
contributing to - not undermining - the resilience, autonomy, and dignity of
individuals and the community.
•Coordination to Rebuild the Nation
(KORE N, meaning in Creole 'support us'): The contribution of this
Port-au-Prince-based activist group is medical care, based on a model of 24/7
accompaniment of the community's health needs, located in their own
neighborhoods. KORE N opposes the idea of mobile clinics which show up at camps
once or twice a week, staffed by doctors who do not know the community - or
often even Haiti - and leave people sitting in long lines in the heat. As an
alternative, KORE N has created four centers based on the idea of permanent
accompaniment. KORE N sought out neighborhoods where there are shelters or
camps and where KORE N members have influence. It located people in those
neighborhoods with basic medical knowledge, like nurses and auxiliaries - ten
in all - and gave them training. It set up shop either in a tent or in the
medical staff's home. Next, it solicited medicines from citizens' groups, and
identified doctors who serve as an information resource to the primary team.
According to KORE N member and doctor Rudy Prudent, community members know and
trust the health workers, both as neighbors and as committed social activists.
The ten workers go out each day for their jobs and their personal needs, but
are otherwise generally available at any time of the day or night. "These
are not just people who come do consultations and then run," says Prudent.
KORE N says that what's important for them is not to accompany many people,
using the logic of many NGOs who need to show that they are servicing large
numbers of clients in order to justify their funding or win new grants. The
quality of the solidarity, not the quantity of patients, is what counts.
•School of Social Sciences, State
University of Haiti: In the post-earthquake context, the School of Social
Sciences relies on its faculty, students, and knowledge base, plus minimal
funding, to educate the community, provide social psychology to survivors, and
help the population respond to today's political challenges. It also uses
social psychology to 'rebuild the house,' meaning to help Haitian people
rebuild themselves, their homes, and their country in ways which reinforce
their strength and capacity, as individuals and as a people. Thirty-five
students from the school are offering social psychology to about 350 people in
roughly ten shelters in metropolitan Port-au-Prince. The team calls its support
'promotion of collective resilience.' "We're building off of what we have
that is positive, to encourage people to reclaim control of their lives, to
reconnect their ties with others, to find their confidence so they can resolve
their problems," says psychology professor Lenz Jean-Francois. The
philosophy uses a five-step process to draw out in survivors the strong
cultural values of resourcefulness and dignity. The school also hosts
discussions in camps and shelters to mobilize community members, help them
organize, and help them understand the risks in the current context. All the
school's work carries the implicit and explicit message that to succeed,
Haitians must have control over their lives and their environment. Reliance on
aid, they insist, will only cause Haitians to lose their belief in their
abilities.
•Lambi Fund of Haiti: Like so many
institutions around the world which has raised money for Haiti's earthquake
survivors, the Lambi Fund has been inundated with donations. Unlike most of
those institutions, though, the Lambi Fund's response is based on reinforcing
the strength and autonomy of Haitian community organizations. Based in both
Haiti and the U.S., the Lambi Fund shows how the international community can
give urgent assistance in a way that allows the peasant and women's group to
strengthen their production or commerce, their advocacy, and their
organizations themselves. Lambi's post-earthquake work is based on its
long-standing philosophy of providing financial resources, training, and
technical assistance to peasant-led and/or women-led community organizations to
strengthen people's social and economic power. Its current collaborations build
off of relationships of trust and respect. Within days after the earthquake,
Lambi staff convened regional assemblies of local peasants to define immediate
needs and prioritize rebuilding. Lambi's post-catastrophe work is to meet its
partner communities' self-defined needs for the immediate, while helping them
rebuild and expand sustainable rural development and agricultural production
for the mid- to long-term. The urgent aid involves cash disbursements to 43
grassroots groups in areas where large numbers of internally displaced people
have relocated. The money helps the community groups organize themselves;
provide clothes, food, medicine, tents, and other essentials; and fortify the
local economy.
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Beverly Bell has worked with Haitian
social movements for over 30 years. She is also author of the book Walking on Fire: Haitian Women's Stories of
Survival and Resistance. She coordinates Other Worlds, www.otherworldsarepossible.org
______________________________
Sent by the Haiti Support Group - A British solidarity organisation supporting
the Haitian people's struggle for participatory democracy, human rights and
equitable development - www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org