At a prayer breakfast in Port-au-Prince last month, 23 Haitian and U.S. women colleagues met to drink coffee, share a bite and, well, grieve. Our host, Danielle St. Lot, Haitian activist and entrepreneur, did not plan this grieving and we certainly did not expect it. The hour of laughter and chatter beforehand could not have prepared us for it. But it had to happen. It had to come. It was time.
January 12, 2012 will be the two-year anniversary of the earthquake that devastated many of their lives and threw those of us invested in the country into triage mode. The network of women activists, business and political leaders that I had been working with in Haiti before the earthquake at Femmes en Democratie (FED), woke up one day to their children screaming, their grandmothers dying, their houses falling and their country destroyed. They had no time to grieve their losses because there was work to do.
Two weeks after the quake, Danielle, the founder of FED, made it onto a plane to D.C. in the only skirt she had left, a pair of flip-flops, and not even a dollar on her, to speak to members of Congress about the devastation. She was convinced that people had to know the extent of the loss and, in particular, what the women of Haiti needed. Over the last two years, she has become a voice for women throughout Haiti.
Each of the 23 women present on that balmy day in a garden restaurant in Port-au-Prince had a similar story. Lives were lost and businesses shattered. But there were neighborhoods to rebuild, people to help, and children to care for, so no one had time to stop and cry. As one guest sobbed: "We have never cried. We have been so strong. It is time to cry." And we did. We mourned deeply.
Then we moved on.
So now on the two-year anniversary, my Haitian women colleagues want you to know, it is time to move on.
With only 6 women parliamentarians and 4 women appointed ministers, Haiti is in step with the rest of the globe, where women still hold only 15.6 percent of elected seats. How can we make sure the voice of half the population will be heard in decision and policy making processes affecting Haiti? We need to support female politicians through training and assistance and to increase women's political participation at local, regional and national levels. And we need to push our government aid organizations like USAID who have money allocated for Haiti to spend more on women and make the funds accessible to smaller, micro-NGO's in Haiti that work with women.
Haitian women also need money and jobs. Studies show that when women control finances, more is spent on health, education and well-being of their family and community. By investing in women, you are investing in the whole country.
Haiti is now "open for business." It is ripe for investment opportunity under the visionary leadership of new President Michel Martelly. With its proximity, human capital and young, smart Haitian business people spearheading, Haiti is ready to become a name in manufacturing and agriculture. For companies who are investing in Haiti or are considering it, we ask that you look through the gender lens at each of your projects. Measure not only the impact it will have on women in the community, but how your business can be better served by hiring more women, putting them in managerial positions, and giving them technical training.
This is not about billion dollar investments; it is about small investments in existing or small businesses that want to expand, especially women run businesses destroyed in the earthquake. They need access to loans with better conditions, vocational training, business education and technology. At the women's trade show in Port-au-Prince last month, I saw beautiful merchandise ready to export but they need partners.
Haiti is not just "rebuilding" with cement and muscle. Haiti is "reimagining" a nation, with a bold vision and collective dream. They have the opportunity to look towards the single vision of citizen participation in decision-making, where everyone's rights are respected and women have an equal say in the process and equal opportunity for economic freedom. President Martelly, with his willpower, energy, intelligence and heart is a strong supporter of women. One constitutional amendment that he supports says that, if ratified, 30 percent of offices in national life must be occupied by women.
Pretty progressive. VERY smart business.
Actress Maria Bello is co-founder of the Haitian women's organization, We Advance. (weadvance.org)
Georgianne Nienaber: Who Will Respond to Haiti's Cholera SOS?
Haiti's Failed Recovery: Who's to Blame? - TIME
Haiti recovery continues, two years after quake - The Washington Post
However, Haiti needs an end to corruption, a commitment to the rule of law, a coherent economic structure for a stable currency, and a cultural renaissance toward valuing education and freedom. It doesn't really need a "gender lens."
The main problem is that there are too many NGOs competing with one other for resources instead of cooperating, so that you have 1000 NGOs performing the same function without concrete result. Partners in Health is one of Haiti's most successful NGOs mainly because it cooperates with the Haitian health ministry. Many NGOs that are in Haiti lack logistic skills. Their warehouses are full of unlabeled boxes stacked one on top of the other.
I don't know of any Haitian that doesn't value education. Just because many can't afford it doesn't mean they don't value it. As for rule of law, apart from select slums Haiti is not as lawless as it's being portrayed; it had one of the lowest murder rate in the Caribbean, despite being the poorest.
Sorry, couple of words got dropped.
I do believe in micro-economics as a viable solution, but have doubts about it when advocated by publicity seeking media hounds. I also disagree with quotas of any type.
Nothing was said about the millions given to Haiti that was wasted with inefficient programs, corruption or personal agendas.
Haiti in particular needs to learn about Democratic Core Values that promote tolerance, the rule of law and justice. They have a long way to go.
When pilgrims first came they had little more then what Indians had in regards to housing and infrastructure, however, they learned to organize new encampments that developed into new villages.
Haitians should abandon Porto-Prince and recognize that making your Federal District the same as the port for exports is model based upon the model of the British East India Co.
Instead, it should relocate its capital city to a newly designated piece of farmland complete with newly imported or donated fertilizer and plant their first harvest.
The following year, choose another plot of land, nearby, to build your first machine tool factory (blacksmith), to forge tools and equipment for the increase in productivity of expanding farmland.
The following year, create your first national bank to issue "credit" to repeat the process all across the country until finally there's enough equipment to bulldoze what's left of Porto-Prince.
Designate the port as for "surplus export only", and focus first on trading surplus food and equipment for housing etc. with Dominican Republic.
No longer should Haiti have to rely on tourism and should be able to feed itself.
This can all be done as a long-term strategy, while relief in the short-term will speed up as the world notices their concrete development process.
“If you ask people in the camps what do you want? They don’t say housing first,’’ said Nigel Fisher, the United Nations head humanitarian official in Haiti. “They’ll say jobs first, jobs second, jobs third. Then they’ll say an education for our kids. It’s misguided to think the response to displacement is only housing. It’s jobs to give people the choices of what to do, where to live, how to use their money.”
Thousands of Haitians march demanding jobs, housing:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/11/2585334/thousands-of-haitians-march-demanding.html#disqus_thread#storylink=cpy
"In the aftermath of the earthquake that hit Haiti, Bello along with Aleda Frishman, Alison Thompson, and Barbara Guillaume founded WE ADVANCE, an organization which creates a grassroot movement empowering Haitian women to collaborate toward making healthcare a priority, and putting an end to GBV (Gender-based Violence) within their communities. The organization seeks to act as a central agency to network the organizations working on women's issues in Haiti, and to provide urgent care to women victimized by the disaster. Currently their programs are headquartered in one health clinic and one community outreach center in Cité Soleil, Haiti.[12]"
Her article is clearly naive and myopic in it's understanding of what's truely going on in Haiti, the poverty, the corruption and the horrible plight of women and children. Haiti has actually gotten worse since the earthquake...