NOT A WORD ABOUT GANGS

World Bank, Haitians putting challenged nation on a more prosperous and resilient path | Opinion


Delot Jean/AP

Carlos Felipe Jaramillo
Mon, May 30, 2022

There’s a well-known Haitian proverb, Se lè ou nan bezwen, ou konn ki moun ki zanmi ou. It means a true friend will always be ready to support you in the most difficult times.

Haitians have suffered terrible misfortunes in recent years, and enormous challenges remain, but there are many good reasons for hope — and I’m grateful for the recent opportunity to travel to Haiti and pledge the World Bank’s continued support to the country’s resilient recovery.

This was the message I carried during my recent visit, my first since becoming the World Bank’s vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean. During my trip, I was struck by how much can be achieved even in the most daunting circumstances.

The 2021 earthquake is a case in point. Haiti was struck by a massive earthquake, with a huge humanitarian and economic toll. Since then, the World Bank has been working with the government of Haiti in three key areas to ensure a prompt and targeted response.

First, within two weeks, by leveraging remote imaging and techniques, we identified, analyzed and prepared a Global Rapid Damage Estimation Report highlighting the main recovery needs. In addition, and together with the United Nations and European Union, we produced a Post Disaster Needs Assessments that estimated the earthquake caused approximately $2 billion in damage and losses, or rather 11 percent of Haiti’s 2019-2020 GDP.

Second, we helped Haiti mobilize the necessary resources for action. We leveraged an additional $200 million for the earthquake response and are working with donors and partners to provide a total of $2 billion over the next three years. This contribution puts us on track to provide record funding to Haiti this fiscal year, close to $500 million in total, far more than originally allocated.

Third, we now are putting all of our energy into the recovery effort’s implementation. This includes ensuring that necessary funding arrives as quickly as possible, and to the right places. Together with the government, we are focusing over the next year on this single, hugely important program.

We recognize past concerns — particularly regarding the 2010 earthquake — that the international community, at times, promises more than it can deliver. We are firmly committed to ensure that, even under current difficult circumstances, we find swift, pragmatic solutions to delivering assistance to those that most need it, including the most vulnerable and in the most remote areas.

Haiti‘s recovery, regrettably, is challenged by two on-the-ground realities.

First, the recovery is within the context of deteriorating security. Even more than the uncertain political scenario, restoring security is of the utmost importance for the World Bank’s program in Haiti to be effective. Strong collaboration among our development partners — including the United Nations, the United States, and Canada — will be needed.

Second, the country continues to struggle with the socioeconomic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. As in other Caribbean countries, unemployment, poverty and inequality rose in 2020 and 2021 as a result of lockdowns and containment measures. To help bring Haiti out of the pandemic’s shadow and to reduce the 60% of the Haitian population that is vaccine hesitant, there are ongoing efforts to raise its vaccination rate, the lowest in the region.

Despite these challenges, I remain hopeful about Haiti’s future. The resilience that Haitians have shown when confronted with chronic fragility and recurrent shocks has been inspiring. Haiti has a vibrant civil society, a dynamic young population and a prosperous diaspora that retains close links with its home country — remittances remain a key pillar of economic support.

In fact, the response to the 2021 earthquake shows just how much Haiti has advanced in what nevertheless has been a turbulent decade since the catastrophic earthquake of 2010.

I was particularly heartened to see and learn about the new temporary bridge outside Jeremie being built in record time next to the one damaged in last year’s earthquake. Clearly, much has been learned from previous experiences about how best to confront the aftermath of natural disasters.

Investments in strengthening disaster risk management and civil protection also have had an impact, especially considering that the disaster struck in profoundly complex political circumstances, scarcely one month after the tragic assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.

This can be added to a host of other improvements in recent years: the management of health-related shocks; in education; infrastructure, including roads, water and renewable energy; and local governance, especially in the area of public finance.

Together, we must continue working to address recent and long-standing challenges to eliminate poverty and drive prosperity in Haiti.

Even so, out of every crisis comes opportunity. The situation today could be an inflection point. Taken together, Haitians’ resilience, as well as progress in the areas mentioned and in other spheres — including how the international community can contribute to Haiti’s development — can make an invaluable contribution to setting the country on a new, more prosperous path.

Carlos Felipe Jaramillo is the World Bank Vice President for the Latin America and the Caribbean Region.