Note: This document may not always reflect the actual appropriations determined by Congress. Final budget allocations for USAID's programs are not determined until after passage of an appropriations bill and preparation of the Operating Year Budget (OYB).
HAITI
FY 1997 FY 1998 FY 1999 Actuals Estimate Request Development Assistance.............. $2,185,000 --- --- Child Survival and Disease.......... $13,427,000 --- --- Economic Support Funds............. $50,048,000 $70,000,000 $140,000,000 P.L. 480 Title II........................... $12,534,540 $20,214,000 $20,000,000 P.L. 480 Title III........................... $10,000,000 $10,000,000 $10,000,000
Introduction
The U.S. assistance program in Haiti currently focuses on emergency efforts which support the restoration of constitutional democracy, poverty alleviation and economic recovery. In FY 1999, USAID plans to introduce a new six-year strategy which places greater emphasis on long-term poverty reduction with programs which continue to mitigate the worst effects of poverty, but which also address the underlying causes of poverty -- high fertility, poor education and environmental degradation. The new strategy will promote the participation by all classes of Haitians in economic growth, and will foster the strengthening of democratic institutions with programs supporting community-based approaches to governance, economic development led by the private sector, economic reform and privatization of state-owned enterprises, and decentralization of authority to local government for revenue generation and public service delivery.
The Development Challenge
Haiti presents a complex development challenge, with a history of political instability and repression, widespread poverty and illiteracy, and weak government institutions. Since the 1994 multinational intervention, international efforts have achieved considerable progress in restoring democracy, laying the foundation for sustainable economic growth, and maintaining security and social stability. The Haitian National Police, now three years old, has established itself as a civilian force in sharp contrast to its military predecessor. But much remains to be done to make it a fully respected and credible force for assuring civil order. The Government of Haiti (GOH) has been relatively successful at meeting the fiscal targets of the International Monetary Fund macroeconomic reform program, and at stabilizing the economy. However, the Administration is concerned by the lack of progress in stimulating economic growth and expanding sustainable income and employment opportunities for the poor. With $250 per capita gross domestic product (GDP) and stagnating economic activity, widespread economic frustration and poverty remain the underlying causes of social tension in Haiti. The USAID program attempts to assist the two-thirds of the Haitian population living in poverty. USAID agricultural programs are helping to improve farm practices, which is raising small farm incomes in project areas. Assistance to develop export markets is helping small coffee and mango producers to increase production and income. Programs with mayors and civic groups are helping to instill the concepts of democracy and good governance at the local level.
Haiti's continuing rapid population growth also has serious implications for the achievement of sustainable economic growth. The current 2.3% population growth rate will lead to a doubling of the population in the next 30 years. Haiti has the highest under-five mortality rate in the Western Hemisphere, and one in three children is chronically malnourished. Maternal mortality is estimated at a high 1,000 per 100,000 live births. Some progress has been made in the area of health and population, with a 25% decline in infant mortality and total fertility rates, and a 30% decline in the incidence of severe malnutrition from 28.4% to 20% in project areas since 1994. Nevertheless, Haiti remains the poorest country in this hemisphere, and economic development is expected to be a long-term process.
Other Donors
Donor disbursements of $400 million in FY 1997 fell short of the $500 million projection, due largely to delays by the GOH and the Haitian Parliament in meeting the economic and policy reform conditions for the release of donor balance of payments and budget support funding. In FY 1997, the United States was the largest donor, disbursing $102 million in economic assistance, compared to $79 million by the European Union (EU), $61 million by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and $40 million by the World Bank. Other major donors in FY 1997 included the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Canada, France, United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and other United Nations agencies.
FY 1999 Program
USAID plans to restructure its development strategy to strengthen efforts to expand income and employment opportunities for the poor, address the underlying causes of poverty such as illiteracy and poor health, and continue emergency safety net assistance to those at greatest risk. The USAID program also will continue to address emergency security and stability concerns, with greater attention given to establishing a strong social, political and economic foundation for sustainable growth. In FY 1999, the areas in which USAID plans to concentrate resources include: reduced family size, improved health and education, reduced environmental degradation, increased income and employment, and stronger democratic institutions and government. With $140 million ESF and $30 million in P.L. 480 Title II and III resources, USAID plans to expand population programs over greater geographic areas, expand the current education program to include vocational and secondary schools, intensify environmental activities, expand microenterprise programs, and expand local government and civil society activities. Funding also will be used to begin a new secondary cities program and to work on land reform issues.
USAID democracy and governance programs focus on establishing durable democratic institutions and strengthening representative government, providing support for elections, police training, justice sector reform, local government development, assistance to the new Parliament, and assistance to community-based civic groups. USAID will continue to work with Haitian civic organizations and government to promote the rule of law, and transparency and accountability in government. USAID programs will help to define the relative roles of national and local government, to establish approaches and procedures which provide responsive public services, and to ensure that public interest guides the actions of government officials. USAID will continue efforts to improve the criminal justice system with: training for judicial sector personnel; implementing a model parquet (prosecutor's office) program; strengthening case tracking, trial preparation and oral advocacy by prosecutors; and grants for legal assistance for the poor. USAID plans to increase assistance to bar associations and human rights organizations, and to initiate a pilot program on alternative mechanisms for dispute resolution.
USAID will work with public and private groups, including labor, to help improve the environment for economic growth, and increase real incomes with sustainable jobs. The USAID program will emphasize microenterprise development as a significant component of this approach. In this area, USAID plans to expand non-financial services to the informal sector, such as marketing assistance, financial management, and quality control. Because most of Haiti's population lives in rural areas, there will be a specific emphasis on increasing the incomes of rural people. Better land use and restoration of the environment remain important elements of the USAID program, as well as efforts to address the structural constraints to increasing rural income (e.g., the cost of credit and agricultural inputs, transport, lack of information on improved farm practices and production techniques, and access to markets).
USAID also intends to begin a new secondary cities program which supports efforts by local governments, business groups, civic groups, and Parliament to develop economic alternatives to rapid migration by the poor to Port-au-Prince. This new program will assist secondary cities to attract
private investment and create jobs, develop reliable infrastructure, and strengthen public education and vocational training.
In the area of population, health and nutrition (PHN), USAID is supporting programs in three of Haiti's nine departments as part of a coordinated, nationwide donor health program. USAID assistance-- primarily through NGOs--has succeeded in maintaining service delivery to 2.5 million people throughout Haiti. USAID is continuing to support accessible, quality family planning services. However, high fertility rates are the result of a combination of factors, including girls' access to education, respect for women's rights, enhanced economic opportunities, and governmental policies which promote the availability of family planning and respect for the role of women. The USAID program will address this range of factors in a comprehensive approach to help reduce Haiti's fertility rate.
Increasing human capacity through education and training are essential for sustained social and economic progress. USAID has been the principal donor supporting private sector primary schools, which comprise 80% of the primary schools in the country. USAID supports efforts to improve the quality and efficiency of private sector institutions by financing teacher training and textbooks. A major accomplishment has been the initiation of a pilot distance education program which extends access to quality education by improving teachers' skills and knowledge. Basic education activities will be expanded to include direct service delivery to approximately 1,000 schools in both the public and private sector, and additional support to the development and implementation of a national education policy.
HAITI FY 1999 PROGRAM SUMMARY
($000s)
USAID
Strategic and Special
ObjectivesEconomic Growth and Agriculture Population and Health Environ-ment Democracy Human Capacity Develop-ment Human-itarian Assistance
TotalS.O. 1
Sustainably Increased Income for the Poor
- ESF
PL480 Title III
40,644
10,036
2,212
50,680
2,212S.O. 2
Achieve Desired Family Size
- ESF
-PL480 Title II
-PL480 Title III
3,512
28,100
3,513
20,000
1,825
35,125
20,000
1,825S.O. 3
Improve Human Capacity
- ESF
PL480 Title III
11,040
1,736
11,040
1,736S.O. 4
More Genuinely Inclusive Democratic Governance
- ESF
-PL480 Title III
5,119
38,036
4,227
43,155
4,227Totals
- ESF
- PL480 Title II
PL480 Title III
49,275
28,100
10,036
38,036
14,553
20,000
10,000
140,000
20,000
10,000
USAID Mission Director: Phyllis Forbes
ACTIVITY DATA SHEET
PROGRAM: HAITI
TITLE AND NUMBER: Sustainably Increased Income for the Poor, 521-S001
STATUS: Continuing
PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 1999: $50,680,000 ESF; $2,212,000 Title III
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1995 ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2004
Purpose: USAID's objective is to induce sustainably increased income for the poor and to slow the disastrous pace of environmental degradation.
USAID Role and Achievements to date: USAID's program results setting the stage for environmentally sound economic growth include: (1) Leadership in the development of an improved economic framework, through assistance to the Presidential Commission, resulted in the submission of a comprehensive legal package of eight bills to the President, and the selection of a secondary city (i.e. Jacmel) as a new approach to decentralized economic growth. (2) Leadership in providing credit to the poor produced a village banking system with over 3000 loans (almost 100% to women) through 42 village banks in three regions. Our activities with commercial banks have begun to open their services to the informal sector. The first bank which joined the program six months ago has already made 600 loans to small and microenterprises. Two other banks have since joined the program and will begin informal sector lending activities in 1998. USAID's support to the tourism sector resulted in the first cruise ship arrival to a Haitian city in more than fifteen years. Its resounding success opened the door to continued cruise ship visits in 1998. (3) Leadership in slowing environmental degradation led to 130,000 farmers planting six million trees in 1997, the development of new markets for tree crops (e.g., mango and cocoa), and assistance to 20,000 farmers producing the premium "Haitian Bleu" coffee. Notably, peasant extension agents working with our hillside program have been elected to local government. Community groups in Cité Soleil, one of the worst slums in the Western world, are now managing the sale of clean water for over 175,000 people and using the proceeds to manage the collection of solid waste. Two new activities were launched in 1997: an activity to formalize the property rights for the urban informal sector and a community-based environmental management program.
Description: In FY 1999, this program will support private sector, agriculture and environment acti-vities. The activities are described below, grouped by the major results essential to achieving the SO.
1. Strengthened High Potential Zones (HPZ):
- Form Municipal Development Fund supporting market-driven solutions to public sector issues: energy, potable water, solid waste collection, and community management of infrastructure;
- Begin new energy initiatives: improved cookstoves and alternate energy sources;
- Support new communication, infrastructure and services to informal enterprises (i.e. cottage processing, handicrafts) to improve production, storage, processing and marketing;
- Enhance investments in the rehabilitation of secondary roads linking secondary cities to areas of great tourist and agricultural potential;
- Increase opportunities for job creation and investment in the tourism sector through improved training, promotion and financing.
2. Increased Environmentally Sustainable Agricultural Productivity:
- Expand planting and yields of multipurpose trees;
- Expand production, processing, and marketing of coffee and cocoa;
- Improve land use through soil conservation practices;
- Introduce new, high-value perennial crops and bio-intensive gardens;
- Improve storage and packing, value-added processing, and marketing;
- Integrate forage production, animal husbandry, and water management in farming systems;
- Empower local communities in natural resources management.
3. Improved Access to Financial Services by the Poor:
- Establish financial network (FinNet) of institutions that lend to the poor and assist in development of appropriate financial instruments and low cost savings services;
- Assist financial institutions to expand and improve services to informal sector and rural areas;
- Expand FinNet credit to the agribusiness sector and producer cooperatives;
- Develop specialized financing for community-driven environment-related projects.
4. More Participative and Responsive Economic Policy Framework and Institutions:
- Support to civil society to advocate for environmental and economic reforms and to establish a legal framework for community management of resources;
- Support to the GOH to respond to demands for improved environmental and economic reforms;
- Strengthen institutional capacity of the Ministries of Agriculture and Environment specifically to support their efforts to implement the National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP) and establish an agricultural and environmental information system;
- Establish a Haitian environmental foundation providing competitive grants for sustainable agriculture and improved environmental management;
- Continue to support the GOH privatization of parastatals and demonopolization of the economy;
- Improve access to and security of urban land owned by the informal sector;
- Launch a social marketing program promoting values and technologies which lead to a better understanding of the interplay between the environment, free enterprise and sustainable economic growth.
5. Policy and Institutions Protect the Environment:
- Strengthen institutional capacity of the Ministry of Environment specifically to support their efforts to implement the NEAP and establish an agricultural and environmental information system and respond to demands for improved environmental and economic reforms;
- Support to civil society to advocate for environmental concerns and to establish a legal framework for community management of resources;
- Institution and capacity building to facilitate restructuring process and privatization;
- Policy reform/restructuring support at policy level for energy and environment sectors (e.g. social marketing, conditionality, policy dialogue, analyses);
- Risk mitigation for private investment in the power sector;
- Establish a Haitian Environmental Foundation providing competitive grants for sustainable agriculture, improved environmental management and energy.
6. Sustainable Energy Options Used:
- Decrease use of charcoal through improved stoves and cooking methods in households, small enterprises and schools;
- Substitution with alternative fuels;
- Increased efficiency of charcoal production;
- Promote the formation and growth of community level groups around the collective management of sustainable resources used for energy;
- Development of technical and institutional strategies for supply and management of electrical power for secondary and smaller cities not part of current or future interconnected system;
- Assist with project identification, pre-feasibility study co-financing, facilitated access to credit and local participation, and local institutional/policy constraints for small-scale power supply;
- Assist with data on local renewable energy resources, and provide pilot project assistance for small scale power supply.
7. Civil Society Organizations Solving Long-Term Environmental Problems:
- Promote the formation and growth of community level groups around the collective sustainable management of natural resources and sanitation e.g. sub-catchment basins, woodlots, small-scale irrigation, water, energy fuels, or solid waste;
- Support to civil society to advocate for environmental concerns and to establish a legal framework for community management of resources;
- Environmental awareness campaign: radio broadcast, on site demonstration of training, support for environmental curriculum and community action;
- Develop specialized financing for community-driven environment-related projects.
Host Country and Other Donors: The IDB, World Bank and EU are assisting in institutional reform, encouraging private investment, and supporting the agricultural and environmental sectors in Haiti. Support to the Presidential Commission led to the leverage of other donors' resources, including the IDB and the Government of Chile, to improve the climate for investment in Haiti, including the development of a vocational training center. USAID's Agribusiness Guarantee Fund has already leveraged an additional $4.5 million from the European Investment Bank. The WB ($22.5 million) Park program was built on USAID lessons learned in Parc Macaya and success in hillside agriculture. The UNDP, WB, and Canadians support the NEAP and efforts in the energy sector. The Haitian government programs P.L. 480 Title III local currency support for irrigation interventions and secondary road rehabilitation. The EU and the IDB are replicating the USAID success in coffee to other regions. The Inter-American Institute for Agricultural Cooperation (IICA) has attracted additional resources to support expansion of village banking linked to family planning services in coffee program regions.
Beneficiaries: The direct beneficiaries include the currently unemployed, microentrepreneurs, small business owners, small agricultural producers, urban slum dwellers, U.S. and Haitian agricultural input suppliers, non-bank institutions, agricultural transformation businesses, the GOH and the United States.
Principal Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: Under the Program for the Recovery of the Economy in Transition (PRET): Development Alternatives Inc. and SOFIHDES. Under the project Agriculturally Sustainable Systems and Environmental Transformation (ASSET): SECID, Winrock, CARE, PADF, and IICA in partnership with many indigenous NGOs.
Major Results Indicators: Baseline and Targets 1997 1998 1999 Formal private sector jobs (Thousands/national) --- 115 130 Increase in agriculturally based-income (% change) in participating regions 10 15 20 Loans to small/micro and women-owned enterprises 2500 4500 9000 Selected non-traditional and niche market exports of goods and services ($m/national fig) --- 50 60 Sustainable increase in agricultural productivity (% change - Base 1995) 0 3 5 Number of farmers adapting improved environmental practices (thousands) 140 160 200 Increase in hectares of land protected TBD TBD TBD Increase in usable energy due to new energy sources and increased efficiency TBD TBD TBD of energy production in participating regions Number of communities served and involved in the management of water and sanitation systems TBD TBD TBD
ACTIVITY DATA SHEET
PROGRAM: HAITI
TITLE AND NUMBER: Achieve Desired Family Size, 521-S002
STATUS: Continuing
PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 1999: $35,125,000 ESF; $20,000,000
P.L. 480 Title II; $1,825,000 P.L. 480 Title III
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1996 ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2004
Purpose: USAID's objective is to assist Haitian families in achieving their preferred family size and to preserve and promote family health.
USAID Role and Achievements to date: Programs provide health services to 2.5 million people nationwide. Almost all indicators in program areas are well above national averages: vaccination coverage rates are 47% compared to the national rate of 30%; contraceptive prevalence rates (CPR) of 37% are nearly double the national CPR; exclusive breast feeding is practiced by 36% of women against a national average of three percent; ORT is used by 61% of women compared to 31% nationally; and the incidence of acute malnutrition is only 3.4%, while it is eight percent nationally.
Description: This objective's design is based on the recommendations of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, and includes child, maternal and reproductive health interventions including prenatal, delivery and postnatal care, family planning information and services, and HIV/AIDS prevention, as well as programs combating the major causes of infant mortality. The objective includes activities designed to strengthen the role of women in society, including support for policies and interventions promoting women's legal rights, measures to address and reduce violence against women, and measures to improve women's ability to achieve economic self-reliance. The strategic objective (SO) promotes improved access to education for girls by supporting interventions designed to increase female education such as incentives and public awareness.
The program will finance direct, ongoing grants to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to provide a minimum package of health services, including family planning. An increasing number of these grantees is integrating nutrition interventions into their health programs using P.L. 480 Title II resources. There is also a separate grants program to support partners who focus primarily on family planning and reproductive health care services.
Other activities include:
-- Enhancing awareness among Haitian decision-makers as to the impact of population growth on national development;
-- Increasing availability of family planning and reproductive health services;
-- Continuing support to a "minimum package" of child survival and nutrition services, including immunization, breastfeeding promotion, oral rehydration therapy (ORT), acute respiratory infection (ARI) treatment, and vitamin A supplementation.
-- Providing incentives to enable more girls to complete the primary school cycle;
-- Preparing youth for responsible family life by developing family planning, reproductive health, AIDS and sexually transmitted infection (STI) services and information adapted to the needs of young people and couples;
-- Enhancing economic opportunities for women by supporting training and making financial services, including credit, more accessible;
-- Supporting legal assistance for female victims of sexual and domestic violence, and support to women's advocacy groups;
-- Promoting more responsible behavior and involvement by men in family life by developing RP health program interventions and messages designed to inform, attract and influence males.
Host Country and Other Donors: Key donors in the social sectors of health and education are the IDB, EU, World Bank and UNICEF. Smaller players include the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNFPA. Other donors in food aid and food security are the World Food Program (WFP), the EU and CIDA. The Japanese and Taiwanese also make modest food aid commitments. Representatives of all donors meet with the Ministère de la Santé Publique et de la Population on a monthly basis to coordinate activities, discuss sector issues and exchange information.
Beneficiaries: USAID programs in the health sector currently reach two million people, with USAID funding directly contributing to 600,000 family planning acceptors. The food aid program will reach 120,000 people through the nutrition program targeting women and children.
Principal Contractors and Grantees: USAID administers its health program through a U.S firm, Management Sciences for Health, which in turn makes subgrants and contracts with U.S. PVOs and Haitian NGOs. There is also a grant program managed by the Haitian NGO Association des Oeuvres Privées de Santé (AOPS) to support reproductive health and family planning services providers. The food aid program is implemented through three U.S. PVOs, CARE, Catholic Relief Services and the Adventist Relief and Development Agency; a U.S. contractor, Chemonics, which manages the food policy information system; and a local warehousing contract.
Major Results Indicators: Baseline Target (1994) (1999) Total Fertility Rate 4.7 4.6 Under 5 mortality rate (per 1,000) 131 127 Malnutrition rate children under age 5 (in pro- 27% 26% gram areas)
ACTIVITY DATA SHEET
PROGRAM: HAITI
TITLE AND NUMBER: Improving Human Capacity, 521-S003
STATUS: Continuing
PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 1999: $11,040,000 ESF; $1,736,000 P.L. 480 Title III
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1997 ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2001
Purpose: USAID's objective is to improve the capacity of Haitians to seize or create economic opportunities.
USAID Role and Achievements to date: During the last 10 years, USAID activities have improved the quality of primary schools. Particularly important, private religious and non-sectarian schools were united under the Haitian Private School Foundation (FONHEP), chiefly supported by USAID. With the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MENJS) hard pressed to deal with population increases and resource shrinkage, FONHEP has been instrumental in ensuring that the high demand for education has been partially met. Through FONHEP, 7,274 teachers and 459 directors were trained. The number of qualified school staff grew by 10%, while pupil drop-out and repetition rates shrank by 20%. FONHEP also developed and pilot-tested a new radio education curriculum in mathematics and reading. Significant gains from the pilot tests in 40 schools have spurred plans to expand the program nationally.
Description: The design of USAID's SO to improve human capacity was shaped by consultations with partners in the Haitian education sector. The largest activity will be the continuing quality improvement in primary schools--both public and private. This will be enhanced by in-service training of teachers and directors in 485 core quality schools. School staff thus trained will, in turn, share innovations with neighboring schools in its quality network. In total, 1,000 schools will be involved. The distance education package and training also will be shared throughout each quality school cluster.
Quality network schools will benefit from USAID's school feeding program. Education facilitators working with the nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) providing food to pupils will use these programs to leverage quality improvements in client schools.
Other activities include:
- Policy dialogue between the public and private education sectors on quality standards and the implementation of the National Education Plan;
- Workforce development through quality demand-driven training, maintained through closer links between the labor market and training institutions; and
- Improvement of access to information through rural radio, cellular phones, internet, etc.
Host Country and other Donors: Other influential donors in the education sector include the EU, IDB, UNESCO, UNICEF, the World Bank and the French Government.
Beneficiaries: 144,000 students will benefit directly from improved instruction; 240,000 students will have access to radio education in reading and mathematics; 600 communities will bring school support groups and parent-teacher associations (PTAs) into the school management and improvement process. Five hundred thousand pupils will become better nourished through school feeding programs. 500,000 students and 2,000 schools receive a school lunch; about one-third are expected to receive quality improvement package in FY 1999.
Principal Contractors and Grantees: USAID administers its Education 2004 through a consortium of contractors including the Academy for Educational Development, the Education Development Center and the Mitchell Group. The education quality improvements through school feeding are managed by three NGOs: Catholic Relief Services, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) and CARE. These three organizations leverage school quality improvements through the school feeding programs.
Major Results Indicators: Target Target (FY 1998) (FY 1999) Number of schools benefiting from radio education in math and reading 180 510 Teachers receiving certificate training 450 2,400 Directors trained 75 400
ACTIVITY DATA SHEET
PROGRAM: HAITI
TITLE AND NUMBER: More Genuinely Inclusive Democratic Governance, 521-S004
STATUS: Continuing
PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 1999: $43,155,000 ESF; $4,227,000 P.L. 480 Title III
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1995; ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2004
Purpose: USAID's objective is to support Haitian efforts toward more genuinely inclusive governance. At present, many Haitians find democratic government to be as unresponsive as previous regimes and to be particularly unresponsive to the needs of those in rural areas. An indicator of popular loss of faith in government was the alarmingly low voter turnout, estimated at less than five percent, in the April 1997 parliamentary and local assembly elections. To address the dangerous decline of participation in elections, and the perception that government and politicians are indifferent to the needs of citizens, USAID will assist Haitian organizations and representative institutions to become more genuinely aware of and responsive to citizen views.
USAID Role and Achievements to Date: During the period from 1994-1998, USAID assisted Haitians in: establishing a 5,200 member civilian police force; completing its local, parliamentary, and presidential elections; training over 500 judicial personnel; ensuring that former members of the Haitian Armed Forces received re-training or monetary compensation when required; and implementing over 2,250 community projects in 113 out of Haiti's 133 communes. It also helped Haitians to realize a number of other achievements and positive trends. Parliament has made advances toward becoming a more effective and independent institution; associations and federations of local officials have been formed and are spearheading important decentralization initiatives; through Haitian NGOs, more than 12,000 poor prisoners have received legal assistance; and civil society organizations have taken advantage of increased freedom of expression and association and have begun to engage themselves more constructively in policy discussions and debates, such as in the area of decentralization.
Description: The program builds upon activities initiated since the return of the constitutional government, and focuses on the problem of ensuring greater and more meaningful inclusion of citizens in the process of democratic governance. USAID has worked in the elections area, and will continue to assist Haitians in holding free and fair elections. USAID will continue to strengthen elections oversight and monitoring mechanisms to deter fraud, with special emphasis on voluntary citizen observers. Another activity to make future elections more credible and participatory will be to strengthen political parties through the development of party platforms that accurately reflect the views of the people they represent. USAID will also focus on voter education. A target of 35% voter turnout for the next presidential election in 2000 has been set, contrasting sharply with the less than five percent estimated turnout in the April 1997 elections and the 30% estimated turnout in the 1995 presidential election. USAID will continue to work with organizations in all development sectors to build their advocacy skills so that they may positively influence government policies and oversee public institutions. Moreover, USAID plans to support a civic education program to focus on creating good citizens with better understanding of both their rights and responsibilities in a democracy. In particular, USAID will engage citizens in civic education through practical initiatives such as users groups and parent-teacher associations (PTAs) that provide people with concrete experiences working to resolve community-level development problems. USAID plans to place greater emphasis upon improving local governments' relations with their constituents so that people are involved in deciding on policies and resolving problems at the lowest level possible. USAID will continue to assist parliament to improve its ability to represent constituent desires, and work with the most effective and responsive parliamentarians to create role models for effective representation of their constituents. USAID's planned efforts in justice will focus primarily on strengthening the local constituencies that demand judicial independence and reform (such as judges associations and human rights groups) with a continued effort in training judicial personnel. Absent a Ministry of Justice strongly committed to implementing judicial
reforms, USAID continues working with the judiciary at the local level, fostering streamlining to reduce case backlog, training to improve performance, and legal assistance for the poor to reduce unnecessary prison stays. If, in the future, the Ministry of Justice demonstrates greater commitment to reform, then greater emphasis will be placed on activities to strengthen the Ministry's ability to lead the judicial reform effort (e.g., proposing and implementing reform legislation, developing a judicial supervision unit, introducing budgeting and administrative systems). Finally, USAID plans to encourage a Haitian human rights monitoring and oversight capability to ensure that government abuses of human rights are documented and publicized, and that greater deterrents to abuse are established.
Host Country and Other Donors: Donors coordinate closely in the democracy arena in two general categories. In justice programs (also including police and prisons), Canada, the EU, France and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) are the principal donors. USAID regularly collaborates with these donors to ensure complementarity of program implementation, planning, and policy discussions. In the area of governance, UNDP serves as the coordinator of the effort, which includes USAID, the EU, Canada, Organization of American States (OAS), France and others. The Haitian public and private sectors are also USAID's partners in the democracy program. In terms of the government, USAID's principal counterparts and partners are the Parliament, Ministries of Justice and the Interior, and the Prime Minister's Office. In terms of the private sector, Haitian NGOs, bar associations, law schools, citizen groups, popular movements, and rural and inner-city low-income people are directly involved, particularly through USAID's various small grants programs.
Beneficiaries: The Haitian people are the ultimate beneficiaries of the democracy program. USAID works most directly with judicial personnel, members of Parliament, local government, civil society and NGOs.
Principal Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: National Democratic Institute; International Republican Institute; International Foundation for Electoral Systems; U.S. Department of Justice (OPDAT and ICITAP); America's Development Foundation; Associates in Rural Development; Checchi and Company Consulting, Inc. and numerous local and U.S. NGOs.
Major Results Indicators: Base(1998) Target(1999) Percent of people voting in elections* 5 15 Number of public policies changed consistent with civil society advocacy 4 8 Percent of people who think that local officials care about their problems** 13 20 Percent of people who think that parliamen- tarians care about their problems** 10 15 Number of volunteer election workers and party pollwatchers* 500 1000 Level of user satisfaction with courts (based on a three-point scale) TBD 1 Number of members of the Haitian National Police 6,400 6,900* Elections are not scheduled for 1999; therefore the 1998 baseline reflects April 1997 elections, and the 1999 target reflects USAID's projections for the Fall 1998 elections.
** Public opinion polls providing 1998 baseline were conducted in Spring & Summer 1997.
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