Saturday, January 26, 2013

Deconstruction and Reconstruction


Conventional Wisdom
Haiti represents a most “complex” situation, from a humanitarian response perspective.
Actually …
Many factors would indicate otherwise: small size, mostly homogeneous, largely tolerant population, close proximity to the US, engaged diaspora, absence of extreme weather (in spite of hurricanes), low level of public violence, etc.

Conventional Wisdom
It will take 25, 50, 100 years for Haitian society to change.
Actually …
Consider the Haitian who moves to Montreal in January, on his first trip out of Haiti. Within three weeks, he has adjusted to the weather, has mastered the public transportation system, and arrives at work on time every day. He is not exceptional or even unusual. We Haitians can be impressive.

Conventional Wisdom
The Haitian government is corrupt at all levels.
Actually …
Most Haitian bureaucrats are honest and quite competent. If corruption happens, it is at a high level, by those who are invited to embassy cocktails.

Moreover, the GoH receives 1 – 10 % of international aid, and this over the last four or five governments. So any corruption happens on a small-scale, and cannot explain the spectacular failure of the last three years, for example.

Conventional Wisdom
Government by consultation and inclusion provides the best model of governance.
Actually …
Haiti has a long list of political leaders including:
·         a President (elected by popular vote),
·         a prime minister (appointed by the president),
·         twelve to fourteen ministers (appointed by the Executive)
·         various “secretaries d’Etat,” government organs, ministry-light
·         100 deputies and 30 senators, elected by popular votes
·         CASECs and ASECs (regional and departmental representatives,    
          elected)
·         at least 133 mayors, representing the 133 “communes”  (elected)
·         etc.

These are people who were sufficiently brave to place their names on ballots, at potential risk to themselves and family members, in order to hold public office: why not allow them to govern? Why insist on the inclusion (intrusion) of “civil society” and endless consultation with those who lost?

The winners won. Theirs is the privilege to govern. That too is democracy.

That said, focus should be placed on a democratic and transparent government and an informed citizenry, so that people can make wise choices at the ballot box.

Conventional Wisdom
Better NGO coordination is needed in the country.
Actually …
It is rather stronger governmental NGO oversight that is needed. NGOs should be small, have limited budgets, specified scope of activities, and adhere to government regulations.

Conventional Wisdom
Education is the answer to Haiti’s problems.
Actually …
We need to rethink education.

The truth is that before the quake, roughly 70% of school-aged in children were in school in PAP, almost in equal number between boys and girls. 

How would Haiti be different, over the last twenty or even ten years, if schooled children  had been taught systematically, to:
·         love their country and believe in its future
·         practice public cleanliness (even as simple as not throwing trash in the 
          streets)
·         know that their future is up to them and to plan accordingly
·         respect the rights and feelings of all, even those who are poorer or less 
          educated
·         respect women, to eschew violence of all kinds
·         practice honesty, not taking what is not theirs

Absent a relentless focus on civic and moral training, education will not deliver its promise for Haiti's children.

Conventional Wisdom
Public policies ought to favor the poor.
Actually …
The interest of the middle class must be respected. Besides paying taxes, they are the ones who often promote and practice fundamental values that are essential to a successful society: the nuclear family, good manners, a sense of privacy, insistence on cleanliness and orderliness, avoidance of promiscuity, etc. As a group, they should be prosperous and prominent.

Churches and religion in general should forcefully promote and reinforce traditional families.

Conventional Wisdom
Development is about more than just “hardware.”
Actually …
A city's visible infrastructure (roads, airports, houses, hotels, parks, electricity, cleanliness, transportation, security apparatus, hospitals, etc.) is a leading indicator of comfort level of a population.

There are additional factors such as literacy rate, maternal health, average yearly income, life expectancy, but they are secondary.

Conventional Wisdom
The government, in its role of guarantor of rights, is the key player in matters of child protection.
Actually …
The greatest risks posed to poor children in Haiti are predictable: lack of basic needs such food and housing, but also abandonment, verbal, physical, and sexual abuse at an alarming rate.

But the government is not responsible for those criminal acts. Often, it is parents who inflict or tolerate them.

Other than life and survival, the most basic and essential right of every child is to have present and parenting parents, a mother and father living together, raising their children through maturity. So, we must adopt the nuclear family model.

As it is now, 70% of Haitian children are born out of wedlock; only 50% of them live with both parents; orphanages abound, full of non-orphans.

Protection starts with presence: there is a helpful principle. As long as people abandon the long term care of their children to others, for whatever reason, or make babies with different partners, unattached, children will continue to suffer.

And the government will be powerless to prevent it. 

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