Haitian women trying to go about their daily lives. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
In the days and weeks following the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti in 2010, there was an outpouring of donations as people everywhere saw the suffering and jumped in to do their part to help. The Red Cross, usually one of the first lines of defense in disaster situations, managed to collect half a billion dollars in the effort.
But a new report from NPR and ProPublica shows that out of that money, only six permanent homes have been built in Haiti.
“The Red Cross long has been known for providing emergency disaster relief — food, blankets and shelter to people in need,” writes NPR, which notes that they did provide shelter for 130,000 people, but that’s different from a lasting home.
“And after the earthquake, it did that work in Haiti, too,” NPR continues. “But the Red Cross has very little experience in the difficult work of rebuilding in a developing country.”
Not only do the people of Haiti have no answer for where the money has gone, but former government officials the media outlets spoke with, including the former Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive have no clue what happened. They also dismiss claims from the Red Cross that they helped 4.5 million Haitians “get back on their feet.”
“No, no, not possible,” said Bellerive. “We don’t have that population in the area affected by the earthquake.” Joel Boutroue, a former UN special deputy for Haiti, says that number would mean that the Red Cross was delivering aid to the population of an entire city. This wouldn’t be the first time the nonprofit was found to have miscalculated the number of people it had helped.
While the organization has provided its own accounting of how the money has been spent, it will not go into specifics. Though its own accounting shows “[t]he Red Cross gave much of the money to other groups to do the hands-on work, resulting in additional fees.” In other words, it outsourced the relief effort and then charged for administrative fees.
NPR and ProPublica asked residents if they’ve seen the new homes and other improvements that the Red Cross has printed in its brochures. They say they have not. And when the media went back to the Red Cross with further questions, they accused the media of creating “ill will” in the community and setting the stage for a security incident. (Nothing of the kind has happened.)
At the heart of this, it sounds like the leaders in Washington wanted to put on a good face for their efforts, but hadn’t done the necessary planning and logistics for actual execution. That includes hiring local experts and listening to people on the ground for direction. (Sounds like a lot of companies and programs, no?)
Unfortunately, nonprofit mismanagement of relief funds isn’t new to Haiti. You’ll remember that Wyclef Jean, who was once intent on running for government office in Haiti, had to shut down his charity Yéle Haiti though it kept few of its promises to help the Haitian people.
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, the one most in need of humanity’s help. Let’s hope that this exposé will prompt the Red Cross to do what’s right.
