Michael
Mar 25th 2010, 12:59 PM
Haiti's Excluded
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
...
In the first days after the earthquake, the coalition's member organizations had difficulty sending aid, blocked from landing planes in Port-au-Prince by the US government, which controlled the airport and initially gave priority to troop deployments and the delivery of military equipment. But even since the transportation lines were loosened, the aid has come slowly, and Ruth has helped organize more camps than she has aid to deliver. Meanwhile, the well-heeled major relief aid agencies have often ignored camp committees and made handouts conditional on the presence of US or UN troops. (One World Food Program distribution I planned on attending was canceled at the last minute because not enough peacekeepers could be mobilized to provide security.) Even with soldiers standing guard, the distributions often ended in melees, attracting journalists and driving away families not willing to fight for food despite their hunger.
"The fights at aid distributions are a result of the way they give aid; they have nothing to do with Haitians," says Ruth. "We are victims. We're hungry. But they need to show some respect for our dignity when they give us aid. When we have organized aid distributions, we have never had a problem. We don't need soldiers with guns. The organizations that have aid distribute it poorly, and those who can distribute the aid well don't have any."
That the large aid organizations are not reaching out to community-based organizations, much less consulting them, is nothing new in Haiti. After the 2008 floods in Gonaïves, Ruth worked with a Beltway-based nonprofit organization with a multimillion-dollar budget. She says she will never do it again.
"Of all the money they send here, only 10 percent actually makes it to the ground. The rest is spent on foreign experts, hotels, car rentals, hotel conferences."
Article (http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100329/lindsay)
This is an all-too-common refrain from the targetted recipients of both international aid and charities. It is the reason that I have long argued that international aid agencies and most charities exist to serve their own people's egos, not the actual 'objects' of the aid/charity.
Haiti just shows this trend in stark relief due to the massive scale of the catastrophe.
From what I read about international aid agencies (NGO's) is that they have an 'overhead' that makes the United Way look efficient! (for those unaware, the United Way famously sucks up about 60-70% of all donations for their own administration). Some suggest that international aid agencies are closer to 80%.
That means only a small fraction of money donated actually goes to help the victims. A far larger share of all donated money ends up paying airfare, hotel bills and salaries for western-based professionals. This is pathetic.
Also, as a sidenote, the article mentions the massive damage to Haiti previously caused by western 'assistance' in the form of heavily subsidized US rice imports. More misery on top of misery.
Why do westerners always seek to personally profit from the poverty of third world nations? That's the one thing that always annoys me about this issue.
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
...
In the first days after the earthquake, the coalition's member organizations had difficulty sending aid, blocked from landing planes in Port-au-Prince by the US government, which controlled the airport and initially gave priority to troop deployments and the delivery of military equipment. But even since the transportation lines were loosened, the aid has come slowly, and Ruth has helped organize more camps than she has aid to deliver. Meanwhile, the well-heeled major relief aid agencies have often ignored camp committees and made handouts conditional on the presence of US or UN troops. (One World Food Program distribution I planned on attending was canceled at the last minute because not enough peacekeepers could be mobilized to provide security.) Even with soldiers standing guard, the distributions often ended in melees, attracting journalists and driving away families not willing to fight for food despite their hunger.
"The fights at aid distributions are a result of the way they give aid; they have nothing to do with Haitians," says Ruth. "We are victims. We're hungry. But they need to show some respect for our dignity when they give us aid. When we have organized aid distributions, we have never had a problem. We don't need soldiers with guns. The organizations that have aid distribute it poorly, and those who can distribute the aid well don't have any."
That the large aid organizations are not reaching out to community-based organizations, much less consulting them, is nothing new in Haiti. After the 2008 floods in Gonaïves, Ruth worked with a Beltway-based nonprofit organization with a multimillion-dollar budget. She says she will never do it again.
"Of all the money they send here, only 10 percent actually makes it to the ground. The rest is spent on foreign experts, hotels, car rentals, hotel conferences."
Article (http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100329/lindsay)
This is an all-too-common refrain from the targetted recipients of both international aid and charities. It is the reason that I have long argued that international aid agencies and most charities exist to serve their own people's egos, not the actual 'objects' of the aid/charity.
Haiti just shows this trend in stark relief due to the massive scale of the catastrophe.
From what I read about international aid agencies (NGO's) is that they have an 'overhead' that makes the United Way look efficient! (for those unaware, the United Way famously sucks up about 60-70% of all donations for their own administration). Some suggest that international aid agencies are closer to 80%.
That means only a small fraction of money donated actually goes to help the victims. A far larger share of all donated money ends up paying airfare, hotel bills and salaries for western-based professionals. This is pathetic.
Also, as a sidenote, the article mentions the massive damage to Haiti previously caused by western 'assistance' in the form of heavily subsidized US rice imports. More misery on top of misery.
Why do westerners always seek to personally profit from the poverty of third world nations? That's the one thing that always annoys me about this issue.