What about Haiti? Børge Brende

Børge Brende is guest blogging for the Forum. He is Secretary-General, Norwegian Red Cross, Oslo and a participant at the Annual Meeting in Davos 2011

A world characterized by increasing global interdependence cannot afford to ignore failed states where one generation after the other is caught in a spiral of humanitarian disasters.

A year has passed since the devastating earthquake in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince. More than 200.000 people lost their lives. Proper Emergency Response Plans and improved infrastructure would have saved many. And a capable government would by now have made sure that reconstruction was well underway. Instead the cleanup has barely started and it remains unclear how, when and where 1.5 million homeless people are going to rebuild their lives. On top of everything, hundreds of thousands are now threatened by cholera.

Haiti’s poverty was extreme even before 12 January. Corrupt regimes had driven 80 percent of the population below the poverty line and made Haiti the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The Dominican Republic – on the same island – has a six times higher GDP per capita. When the Duvalier family came to power in 1957, Haiti was richer than its neighbor.
 
The earthquake, and now the cholera epidemic, has made Haiti’s poverty even more acute. The immediate tasks are enormous. The cholera must be stopped, internally displaced people must be given the opportunity to make a new start, and infrastructure worth an estimated 8 billion dollar must be rebuilt – and built back better to prevent similar catastrophes in the future.

Haiti expects 8.5 percent negative growth in 2010. The country stands little chance of making it on its own.  It is now more important than ever that the many donors who have made their pledges, but not yet fully delivered, make a coordinated effort to support reconstruction – despite all the difficulties on the ground. 

Aid will however not solve Haiti’s fundamental challenges. Development opportunities will remain small in a country where the economy consists of 50 per cent development aid and 25 percent remittances from Haitians abroad. The country has world class coffee beans. The local mango is said to be the best in the world. And the beautiful beaches are not second to any tourist resort. None of this is, however, utilized near its potential. And two-thirds of the employable population is outside the formal labor market.

This need not be the case in the future. U.S. trade measures have created 6,000 jobs in Haiti's textile industry. South Korean companies are considering investments that will generate many more jobs. Measures like these are the main reason why Africa's overall economy is expected to grow by 5.2 percent in 2011. Those who write off Haiti in its current difficult situation may be reminded of the rapid development in a number of recently troubled African countries

Eventually Haiti will break the spiral of humanitarian disasters and create development for its people. In the age of globalization it will be a development benefitting both  Haiti and the rest of the world.