HAITI RECONSTRUCTION: Accessing Opportunities in the Medium to Long-Term

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 – May 11, 2010Posted in: Architecture, Urban/Landscape Design
HAITI RECONSTRUCTION: Accessing Opportunities in the Medium to Long-Term

by Atim Annette Oton

On a sunny slightly chilly day in Brooklyn, at Borough Hall, the New York U.S. Export Assistance Center, in partnership with the Brooklyn International Trade Development Center, hosted a seminar  for companies interested in learning about accessing the medium to long-term reconstruction opportunities in Haiti. The seminar gave attendees:

  • An understanding of Haiti’s on-the-ground realities from a business perspective;
  • Insights into the process for bidding on procurement opportunities with the U.S. government and international development banks
  • Information on investment financing and political risk insurance;
  • Resources for infrastructure-related feasibility studies and technical assistance
  • Important contacts for accessing future opportunities; and
  • Real world experiences of companies who currently do business in Haiti.

The eye-opener and key to this seminar was the  Procurement processes and bidding on contracts with not only the U.S. government, but most importantly, the multilateral organizations – U.N., Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank. These three organizations hold the key to accessing work in Haiti that most small businesses – architects, in particular are not leveraging.

So, if you are interested in work in Haiti, you must register with the UN, Inter-American Development Bank and World Bank

Additionally, it is vital for businesses to read the Action Plan put together from the International Donors’ Conference Towards a New Future for Haiti. The Plan can be downloaded here. This plan states the vision:

“ The Haitian Head of State defined the country’s long-term vision for development in the following terms:

We will rebuild Haiti by turning the disaster on 12 January 2010 into an opportunity to make it an emerging country by 2030. 

This restructuring will be marked by:

  • A fair, just, united and friendly society living in harmony with its environment and culture; a modern society characterised by the rule of law, freedom of association and expression and land management.

  • A society with a modern, diversified, strong, dynamic, competitive, open and inclusive economy based on the land.

  • A society in which people’s basic needs are met quantitatively and qualitatively.

  • A knowledge-based society with universal access to basic education, mastery of qualifications based on a relevant professional training system, and the capacity for scientific and technical innovation fed by a modern and efficient university system, in order to create the new type of citizen the country needs for reconstruction.

  • All of this, under the supervision of a responsible, unitary state guaranteeing the implementation of laws and the interests of the people with a strong commitment to de-concentration and decentralization.”

The key to the reconstruction plan are the 3 stages vital to the process:

  • The emergency period, which must be used to improve accommodation for the homeless; to return pupils to school and students to university and vocational training centres; to prepare for the next hurricane season in the summer; to pursue efforts to restore a sense of normality to economic life, especially by creating large numbers of jobs through high-intensity work, by guaranteeing stability in the financial sector and access to credit for SMEs; and to continue to reorganise state structures. During this period, it will be necessary to work on development strategies and plans for selected new economic centres; to pursue action in favour of equipping reception zones for those who have been displaced by the earthquake; and to set up an electoral process to avoid constitutional gaps.
  • The implementation period (18 months), for projects to kick-start the future of Haiti and establish a framework of incentives and supervision for private investment on which Haiti’s economic growth will be founded. As foreseen by various analyses and assessments, private investment in the economy as well as in the social sector will form the backbone of the country’s reconstruction. Among the commitments of donors, support will be given to the private sector to provide it with the capacity required to fulfil this role.
  • The period (10 years) during which the reconstruction and recovery of Haiti will become a reality, in order to put the country back on the road to development, followed by another ten years to make it a real emerging country.

The plan also details what the role of the Haitian Reconstruction Fund and indicates ways to find resources for projects in Haiti.

Atim Annette Oton , co-Founder of  BDNN will continue to work on reports on Haiti.

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Black Design News Network (BDNN) is a news bureau, an online publication, digital library and 'workspace' hub for designers. African Diaspora, BDNN focuses on creating awareness of black design, distributing news and information about Architecture, Interior Design, Product Industrial Design, Fashion/Textile Design, Communication and Graphic Design. BDNN is the 411 of the Black Design Diaspora.