Non-Governmental Organizations in Haiti: Addressing Factors that are Slowing Efforts to Rebuild Haiti

Executive Summary

The United States Agency for International Development is the biggest aid agency that funds NGOs in Haiti.  Lack of collaboration among international NGOs is slowing the rate of reconstruction in Haiti and hurting the Haitian government.  The USAID should require the NGOs it funds to collaborate with each other, the Haitian government, and the Haitian people. High overhead costs decrease the amount of money going towards project delivery, another factor contributing to slow rates of reconstruction.  If international aid agencies do not seek to incentivize collaboration among NGOs, donor resources will be wasted and Haiti’s infrastructure weakened even further.

Problem Statement

Rubble and debris from the 2010 earthquake still fills many Haitian fields and streets.  The delay in removing rubble inhibits buildings from being rebuilt throughout the country and people from moving out of tent cities.  With over 9,000 NGOs in Haiti, collaboration among NGOs and the Haitian government is necessary to carry out reconstruction projects more robustly.  International NGOs are the main providers of reconstruction services, but problems are causing these services (rubble removal, construction and repair of homes and buildings) to progress slowly.

1. NGOs are weakening the government. Their access to money and ability to render services that the government cannot[1] gives NGOs more power over Haitian citizens than the government.  It introduces a problem of “brain drain” in Haiti:  since NGOs have more money than the public sector, Haitians are drawn towards working for international NGOs and away from public sector jobs because the pay is significantly less desirable.  Government workers are spread thin and do not have enough resources in place to effectively address reconstruction efforts.  The government cannot coordinate all the NGOs and the services they are providing.
2. Donors directly influence what work NGOs do, but they are not operating under the right priorities. The media influences the world’s perception of what is happening in Haiti, thereby impacting what type of work donors will fund, which affects how international aid NGOs decide to fulfill their mission in Haiti.  As of January 2011, TIME magazine reports that only 10% of the money that foreign countries had pledged to Haiti had gone towards rubble removal.  Rubble removal does not generate as much foreign support as building new schools.
3. Overhead costs of foreign NGOs are too high. Dr. Paul Farmer, co-director of Partners in Health has described that many organizations have overhead costs that are 60% of their budget or more. These overhead costs can range anywhere from paying the NGOs staff to renting cars and lodging reservations while in Haiti.  The higher the overhead costs, the less money can go towards project delivery such as reconstruction services.  If NGOs are slowly funneling money into reconstruction projects, the country will also be rebuilt slowly while remaining at a high risk for succumbing to another catastrophe.