Results Report 2004-2007

Background
Priority 1: Governance and Institution Building
Priority 2: Access to Basic Services
Priority 3: Social Appeasement and Essential Needs
Lessons Learned From Experience: Working With a Fragile State
Effectiveness of Canadian Aid in Haiti
Canada's Partners in Haiti
Canada's Financial Contribution to Haiti

Background

Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas today, the largest recipient of development aid from Canada in that region, and the second-largest recipient worldwide after Afghanistan.

In July 2006, at the International Conference for the Economic and Social Development for Haiti, held in Port-au-Prince, Canada announced that it would contribute $520 million toward the reconstruction and the development of Haiti over a five-year period (2006-2011). In July 2007, Prime Minister Harper announced in Haiti that Canada would increase the sum to $555 million. Canada is the only international donor to have committed to a five-year period. Although there has been some progress, the situation in Haiti remains precarious.

From April 2, 2004, to September 30, 2007, Canada worked with other donors to help Haiti carry out the Interim Cooperation Framework (ICF). In 2006, following successful elections in Haiti, CIDA developed an interim strategy to give weight to the new political environment and priorities of the new government. The strategy had three priorities: 1) governance and institution building, 2) access to basic services (health, education, and infrastructure), and 3) short-term essential needs (apaisement social).

This report highlights results achieved through Canada's support between 2004 and 2007. It is by no means comprehensive, but provides a good snapshot of Canada's contributions toward rebuilding the fragile state of Haiti.

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Priority 1: Governance and Institution Building

Expected result: Haiti has a democratically elected government in a more secure environment.

Accomplishments: Canada's support contributed to concrete improvements in three key areas:

Strengthening central institutions and the executive

• By dispatching high-level experts, Canada helped the provisional electoral council to plan and organize elections, as well as to ensure a smooth transition between interim and elected governments.
• Under the auspices of the Ministry of Planning and External Cooperation, the country now has a national economic growth and poverty reduction strategy paper.
• Central divisions and departmental branches of the Ministry of Public Health and Population are cooperating more efficiently, and show an increased desire to coordinate, define, and audit the actions of key players in the health care system.
• With the help of a Canadian gender-equality expert, the Ministry of Women's Status and Rights set up a planning and development unit for women's projects and programs.
• By paying Haiti's country membership fee in the Caribbean Development Bank, CIDA supported the country's reintegration into the Caribbean community and helped reopen the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) office in Port-au-Prince, an important cooperation instrument for Haiti.

Consolidating democratic structures

• For the first time in Haiti, 3.5 million voters obtained a national identity card and were included on the electoral list, enabling them to vote in the presidential elections.
• With Canada's support, Haiti experienced a full cycle of free and fair presidential, legislative, municipal, and local elections. A 212-member Canadian delegation to the presidential and legislative elections declared the process to be valid.
• In all, 17 political parties and movements learned about the importance of female participation in political life: many electoral candidates were sensitized to the principles of gender equality and the importance of female participation in decision making.
• The training of dozens of Haitian journalists by Canadian specialists improved the quality and objectivity of the country's press coverage.
• Communities in the Nord-Est department (administrative district) have a better grasp of local planning. In addition, 2,000 youth in the district became more aware of various aspects of citizenship and participatory development.
• A radio campaign in Nord-Est on human rights, democratic principles, and the roles of local elected officials led to the creation of 60 youth listening groups. In all, 500 women became sensitized to issues surrounding decentralization and democracy.

Strengthening the rule of law and governance

• More than 40 training sessions enabled judges, clerks, bailiffs, police officers, commissioners, and personnel from various organizations to refine their knowledge about the justice system.
• Canada enabled the primary courts in Saint-Marc, Grande Rivière du Nord, Port-de-Paix, and Fort-Liberté to resume their activities, and also helped upgrade the Jacmel prison and police station.
• The National Penitentiary can accommodate 200 additional inmates, thus easing overcrowding and allowing greater respect for inmates' basic rights.
• Dozens of Haitian human rights organizations have received training, and can now carry out their activities more successfully.

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Priority 2: Access to Basic Services

Expected result: More children can now receive an education, and access to quality health services has improved in several of the country's departments.

Accomplishments: Canada has improved education for some 114,000 Haitian students. It has also enabled the Ministry of Public Health and Population to enhance people's access to health services in four targeted departments.

Education

• Due to the training of 1,000 teachers in 133 schools, more than 40,000 children in the Artibonite region received a better basic education.
• Some 23,000 youth are attending 60 model schools in the Artibonite valley.
• Thanks to the back-to-school project, 123 schools improved their core education services, benefiting some 29,000 pupils and their families in the departments of Nippes and Sud-Est. More than 850 teachers learned how to use textbooks to improve lesson planning and teaching. Of the 123 schools, 38 had buildings restored and 8 were fitted with additional classrooms or administrative offices.
• More than 590 Artibonite families received school loans, allowing 1,596 children to attend school.
• School supplies were provided to more than 50,000 children across the country.

Health

• As the leading donor for the expanded vaccination program, Canada has helped ensure the vaccination of more than 1.15 million children against polio, 850,000 against measles, and 385,000 against diphtheria and tuberculosis.
• The Ministry of Public Health and Population can better regulate, plan, monitor, and coordinate the health system with national and international actors. The health branches of four departments (Artibonite, Nippes, Nord-Est, and Sud-Est) have improved the planning and delivery of health services to their populations (2.2 million persons).
• A total of 92 managers, 57 of whom are women, have completed studies in the management and administration of health services.
• Nearly 31,000 Haitians, 14,800 of them women, have learned how to protect themselves against drug abuse, transmission of HIV/AIDS, and unwanted pregnancies.
• Canada's support to fight sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV/AIDS has improved the detection and management of people with one of these infections, and has increased the awareness of gender differences.
• A sampling of health centres revealed the percentage of pregnant women diagnosed as seropositive for HIV during their first visit was halved: dropping from 6.2 percent in 1993 to 3.1 percent in 2004.
• Maternity wards in the departments of Artibonite, Nord-Est, and Nord-Ouest improved services, and trained more than 60 health professionals-physicians, nurses, and midwives-in obstetrical care.

Infrastructure

• With support from Canada and other donors, the Haitian government is now ready to replicate a CIDA-funded electricity generation and transmission project in Jacmel.

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Priority 3: Social Appeasement and Essential Needs

Expected result: Sustained efforts have improved social cohesiveness.

Accomplishments: More than 550,000 Haitians are benefiting from access to fresh water, school meals, or credit.

Several consecutive years of deteriorating living conditions have sapped Haitians' confidence in the ability of the state to meet essential needs. Canada has supported various measures (infrastructure rehabilitation, neighbourhood clean-ups, job creation, etc.) to restore confidence in the country's institutions.

• Nearly 50,000 inhabitants of Pilate, Dondon, Thibeau, Desarmes, and Bwadlorens have access to potable water.
• Canada contributed to a program that provides a daily meal to more than 290,000 pupils in 700 Haitian elementary schools.
• A network of nearly 60 savings and credit co-operatives has been consolidated: 212,630 members (47 percent of whom are women) today receive savings and credit financial services.

Crosscutting themes

• All CIDA-funded activities address the themes of gender equality and the environment. Indeed, Canada is the only donor to set aside money for the exclusive promotion of women's rights. In a country with a severe shortage of drinking water and other environmental problems, CIDA projects engage all interested parties-from farmers to local government-to develop solutions.

Gender equality

• The creation of the National Consultation Committee on Violence against Women is ensuring sustained partnerships between civil society organizations and the state on gender equality issues.
• More women's groups are aware of gender equality issues, and have increased activities focusing on women's rights, leading to good media coverage.
• Women and children who were taken in by newly created shelters to escape politically fuelled violence can now take their assailants to court.
• Nine communes in northeastern Haiti have decreed that half the members of local organizations must be women.

Environment

• The local governance model in Marmelade has given some 1,200 families access to potable water, developed 16 km of ravines to protect cropland and homes, and enabled farmers to use soil conservation techniques on 6,500 parcels.
• The Nippes local development and agroforestry project has trained 3,213 producers and 166 master grafters; developed 1,600 ha of land, as well as more than 4,117 parcels; delivered and planted 1,373,122 plantlets; and sensitized 2,700 pupils about the environment and reforestation.

Indirect spinoffs that matter

Canada's action has also achieved several positive results that surpassed expectations:

• Following its commitment to fight HIV/AIDS, the Haitian government moved to integrate malaria, tuberculosis, and AIDS control programs, and to ensure greater coordination among donors.
• The distribution of hot meals has reduced school absenteeism and helped ease the financial burden on families.
• The Artibonite department has hired more local people in education and administration positions. Teachers' educational knowledge and know-how, acquired through an integrated education project, have encouraged parents to expect more from their children's schools.
• Women's participation as decision makers in the Artibonite department has raised awareness of their management skills and encouraged them to emulate one another.
• Following the creation of satellite maps to show the biophysical, socio-economic, and cultural aspects of the three communes of Nippes, local leaders began using the maps to plan development activities.
• Dialogue between Haiti and the Dominican Republic is at the heart of the strategy to develop the Artibonite drainage basin. Environment ministers of both countries signed a joint declaration on the importance of managing natural resources harmoniously. Moreover, several meetings paved the way for the consideration of cross-border issues that transcend the environment.
• A new dialogue is opening doors to cooperation between Canada and key hemispheric partners such as Brazil and Argentina to support development in Haiti.
• Given the importance of the Haitian diaspora in policy dialogue and programming, CIDA continues to build links with its representatives.

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Lessons Learned From Experience: Working With a Fragile State

• Since Haiti is a high-risk country, CIDA must adapt to a challenging environment: the Haitian government's limited structural and human resources capacities; a lack of urban and rural infrastructure; and the fragile political, economic, and social environments.
• Due to such challenges as weak institutions, faltering security, and corruption, CIDA needs to build human resources capacity, and seek better coordination between donors. In this context, it systematically ensures that Canadian partners manage funds properly and deliver them to recipients.
• To promote aid effectiveness, CIDA's approach must encompass multilateral, bilateral, and partnership programs, and rely on the expertise of dozens of Canadian organizations in Haiti to strengthen state institutions and civil society. Programming must enable Canada to build on its comparative advantages in key areas. Canada, like other donors, must be open-minded and flexible enough to meet emerging short- and long-term demands that can influence the government's ability to keep the peace.
• Major achievements deserve mention: projects systematically seek local involvement and build consensus and respect for human rights, thus strengthening civil society. Significant consensus exists with regard to the importance of public-private partnership and medium- and long-term institutional support.

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Effectiveness of Canadian Aid in Haiti

In ratifying the Paris Declaration on March 2, 2005, Canada committed to step up efforts at local ownership, alignment, results-based management, and mutual accountability by integrating specific performance-measurement indicators and actions. Canada optimizes its financial aid to Haiti by applying principles based on the Paris Declaration.

Ownership: Along with the entire international community, Canada requires Haiti to play a key role in implementing its own reforms. The efforts of donors are entirely consistent with the Interim Cooperation Framework (ICF) and will be in line with the Government of Haiti's poverty reduction strategy paper: Document de stratégie nationale pour la croissance et pour la réduction de la pauvreté.

Alignment: Canada's action matches Haiti's priorities: concentrating in sectors where it can make a difference.

Mutual accountability: Haiti and Canada are jointly responsible for producing concrete results and being accountable to their citizens. In addition, Canada seeks to strengthen the visibility of Haiti's government as a way to promote greater political stability.

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Canada's Partners in Haiti

Bilateral: Bilateral support includes locally administered funds earmarked for Canadian and Haitian partners, both governmental and non-governmental organizations. These funds are allocated for specific themes: health, education, democracy and peace, essential needs, and employment. It includes initiatives to strengthen local and national institutions. During the ICF period, bilateral cooperation accounted for 80 percent of CIDA's aid to Haiti.

Multilateral: Canada also supports Haiti through various international organizations, notably those of the United Nations system. In many cases, multilateral cooperation has proved very useful in terms of humanitarian and emergency aid. Multilateral cooperation accounts for 14 percent of CIDA funding.

Civil society: All action between Canadian and Haitian non-governmental organizations,including the Haitian diaspora, accounts for 6 percent of CIDA funding.

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Canada's Financial Contribution to Haiti

Between April 2004 and September 2007, Canada contributed close to $332 million to development efforts in Haiti-all CIDA programs.

In July 2007, during Prime Minister Harper's visit to Haiti, Canada committed to provide $555 million between 2006 and 2011. Given Canada's government-wide approach, CIDA will contribute $485 million, with other departments contributing the balance.