100 days after the earthquake in Haiti

Haitians have to be more heavily involved

© Herzau(20.04.2010). Welthungerhilfe appeals to the international community to involve the state apparatus and non-governmental organisations in Haiti more heavily in the reconstruction of the country than has been the case hitherto. Even if the Haitian government is not yet fully functional, the ministries and the local government bodies which have resumed operations must be involved in the planning for the months to come.

"We can only work jointly with the state authorities and agencies. It's no good ignoring or disregarding them," says Michael Kühn, Welthungerhilfe's Regional Director in Port-au-Prince. So it was wrong to have the international planning meetings only in English because that would mean excluding a number of competent local partner organisations.

For these reasons Welthungerhilfe is working in close cooperation with the local authorities in the planning and implementation of the current measures. Every new Welthungerhilfe project is formally presented to the local government authorities and has the participation of local officials. For example, the responsible agriculture ministry was involved in the planning of a large-scale nutrition project to increase rice production northern Haiti from the very beginning. So the first beginnings have been made to achieve the participation of state agencies and non-governmental organisations.

At the same time Welthungerhilfe is encouraging these organisations in Haiti to contribute more to the planning. "The Haitians have got to get into it, get involved, assume responsibility, otherwise they'll have their future decided for them over their heads," stressed Mr Kühn.

Welthungerhilfe's interim assessment of 100 days of emergency aid is a positive one, taking into account the enormous logistic difficulties that were faced. "Emergency aid was given quickly and effectively even though the infrastructure had been destroyed and the logistics were a nightmare. But the country's going to need our support for many years to come. It took two years to rebuild New Orleans," emphasised Mr Kühn.