World Bank Archive

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    Rebuilding a Sustainable Haiti: Symposium – June 4

    Posted on May 24, 2010 | No Comments

    Urgent as the immediate need for shelter and housing is, Haiti’s long-term economic and social welfare depends on a comprehensive approach to planning for a more sustainable future; the rebuilding process must seek to transform the country’s built environment, not just replace it. With the help of many foreign countries, NGOs, and its own rich diaspora community, the Haitian government has developed the outlines of a post-earthquake action plan, the Action Plan for the Reconstruction and National Development of Haiti.Using this plan and its corollary, the Post Disaster Needs Assessment as a starting point for discussion, the Institute for Urban Design is planning a major conference on June 4 focused on long-term and sustainable rebuilding in Haiti.

    IfUD will convene architects, planners, public health specialists, representatives from NGOs, and government officials from both Haiti and the United States to identify specific needs, and develop an action plan to address them. The conference is designed to leverage the incredible experience of the design and planning community in the Northeast, complementing local efforts to rebuild in an innovative and just way.

    Leading this important discussion is Leslie Voltaire, the planner heading the Haitian government’s Reconstruction Team and a UN Special Envoy to Haiti. He will be joined by a panelists with a wealth of experience in the worlds of development, infrastructure, land tenure, education, slum upgrading, and post-disaster planning. They include:

    Ami Desai, Foreign Policy Advisor, Clinton Foundation

    Patrice Nevil, Director of Infrastructure, Partners in Health

    Chris Williams, Washington DC Representative, UN-HABITAT

    Louis Herms Marcelin, Director, Interuniversity Institute for Research and Development Haiti (INURED)

    David Evans, Chief Technical Advisor, UN-HABITAT Sri Lanka

    Steven Lewis, President, National Organization of Minority Architects

    Event Info

    Friday, June 4, 2010
    Rose Auditorium, Cooper Union
    41 Cooper Square
    New York, New York
    1:00 PM – 6:00 PM

    For More Details: http://www.ifud.org/haiti/

    Full Story

  • Haitian Reconstruction Fund

    Haitian Reconstruction Fund

    Posted on May 12, 2010 | No Comments

    by Atim Annette Oton

    Brazil became the first contributor to the Haitian Reconstruction Fund, managed by the World Bank. This is the first country to fulfill its promise of the $10 Billion promised to Haiti at the International Donors’ Conference.

    WASHINGTON, May 11 (Reuters) – Brazil became the first contributor to a reconstruction fund for Haiti on Tuesday and World Bank President Robert Zoellick urged other donor nations to make good on their aid pledges to help the Caribbean country rebuild from a devastating earthquake in January.

    Brazil, which commands a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti, said it had paid $55 million into the World Bank-supervised fund. In March, international donors pledged $10 billion over a decade to help impoverished Haiti rebuild. See details here:  Reuters.

    The Haitian Reconstruction Fund

    At the International Donors Conference, the Haitian Government reveled an Action Plan for the country. The fund is a means to finance the Rebuilding Plan of the Haitian government after the January 12 Earthquake. According to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, ”This plan represents a renewed commitment by the Haitian Government to define needs and priorities, to step up accountability and transparency, and to improve delivery of services.” The Fund will enable all partners, including bilateral donors, the Inter-American Development Bank and the United Nations to work in a coordinated, transparent and efficient manner taking into account the Government’s priorities.

    The Fund is in part based on Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) of Haiti in January that was carried out by a joint team of national and international experts, who were actively assisted by representatives of NGOs and the Haitian civil society The Haitian Reconstruction Fund is focused on macro-economic projections between now and 2015.

    The Fund is chaired by the Government of Haiti and is governed through a Steering Committee that also includes contributors to the Fund (countries and institutions, including Brazil) and partner entities such as the Inter- American Development Bank, the United Nations and the World Bank. The World Bank serves as the fiscal agent for the Trust Fund, transferring funds for the implementation of programs by a broad range of actors on the ground (such as government ministries, NGOs, the private sector, and UN agencies) at the request of the Fund’s Steering Committee.

    The Action Plan for National Recovery and Development includes actions which are defined in time, over an eighteen month timescale. It is based on four major areas of work which should enable the practical rebuilding of Haiti. The sectoral actions and initiatives are brought together according to the themes of regional, economic, social and institutional reconstruction. The fund will help Haiti achieve some of it specific action plans for each field are organised in the following way:

    • Territorial rebuilding: Reconstruction of the devastated zones and urban renovation, the road network, regional development hubs and urban renovation, preparation for the hurricaneseason and regional planning and local development.
    • Economic rebuilding: Relaunch of national production, restoration of economic and financial circuits, access to electricity.
    • Social rebuilding: Health, food safety, nutrition, water, sanitation, highly labour-intensive activities.
    • Institutional rebuilding: Democratic institutions, restart of public administration, justice and security. See More details here

    Full Story

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

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

    Posted on May 11, 2010 | No Comments

    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.

    Full Story

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