Washington, D.C. -The Haiti Donors Conference this week will shape the lives of millions of Haitians and provide tangible contributions to the country’s reconstruction and recovery from the devastating January 12th earthquake, Refugees International (RI) said today. Yet the reconstruction effort will only deliver real improvements and sustainable development if Haitian voices are heard loud and clear by donor nations.

“Haiti has an extremely vibrant and competent civil society with solid community networks,” said Refugees International Senior Advocate Patrick Duplat, who carried out an assessment visit to Haiti and the Dominican Republic in February. “Haitian voices must not be left out of reconstruction and development activities. This should be an opportunity to reinforce local capacity and local ownership of the rebuilding process.”

Lessons from the initial delivery of assistance should inform the recovery and reconstruction initiatives, RI has argued. For instance, some of the initial problems in distribution could have been avoided had there been a greater emphasis on community outreach, in particular for basic supplies. Rather than building on the extensive knowledge and expertise of Haitian community groups, the United Nations and international aid groups mostly operated along parallel lines, creating waste and duplication. This situation must be avoided in the process of rebuilding Haiti.

Refugees International is calling for donors to dedicate liaison officers to facilitate the relationships between international and Haitian organizations and to allow civil society leaders to identify priorities in the reconstruction effort. RI found that civil society recommendations were not adequately incorporated into discussions around the recently finalized Post Disaster Needs Assessment. In addition, pledged resources should be channeled to Haitian grass-roots organizations, including women’s groups, who need access to international funding to directly undertake reconstruction and development activities.

"The Obama administration's $2.8 billion dollar request to replenish and add to funding for Haiti is a reassuring sign of America's continued interest in the well-being of the Haitian people but we must ensure that it's spent wisely," added Mr. Duplat. "Funding of local organizations is particularly important at this stage, given the low capacity of the Haitian government."

Refugees International is a Washington, DC-based organization that advocates to end refugee crises and receives no government or UN funding. A Refugees International team assessed the needs of Haitians affected by the earthquake in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas in February. Their field report, “Haiti: From the Ground Up,” is available at: http://www.refugeesinternational.org/policy/field-report/haiti-ground.

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