The lack of coordination between the Haitian government and its international partners as well as among aid organizations on the ground is highlighted by the slow pace of the country’s reconstruction a year after it was ravaged by a strong earthquake, several Haitians have observed.
“There’s a lack of leadership from the government and lack of efficiency, transparency and capacity from the international partners,” Karl Jean-Louis, head of the Haiti Aid Watchdog said, according to the Guardian. “Today’s situation highlights the lack of co-ordination between the two.”
A doctor in Port-au-Prince’s general hospital shared a similar sentiment while lamenting the small budget the hospital receives from the government.
“We are relying on a tiny state budget and on aid agencies that do not seem to talk to each other. We get antibiotics from some, but sometimes we have to chip in just to get bleach,” Dr. Vital Herve told the Guardian.
Meantime, the head of Medecins Sans Frontieres’ operations in Haiti, slammed non-government organizations that have yet to fully spend the money they raised for Haiti relief operations.
“What I do not get is how some organisations that call themselves ‘humanitarian’ still have money in their pockets. Recovery is done, we have to look for longer- and medium-term actions now,” explained Stefano Zannini, who told the Guardian that MSF has already spent all of the 86 million pounds (USD96 million) it had raised for Haiti.
