Johnston,Jake (Author) and Main,Alexander (Author)
Format:
Pamphlet
Publication Date:
Apr 2013
Published:
Center for Economic and Policy Research
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
14 p., The U.S. government pledged $1.15 billion for relief and reconstruction projects in Haiti. Key U.S. actors, like the State Department's Cheryl Mills, acknowledged a "unique opportunity to build back better" and "an obligation to ensure that aid is actually effective." Over three years have passed since Haiti's earthquake and, despite USAID's stated commitment to greater transparency and accountability, the question "where has the money gone?" echoes throughout the country. It remains unclear how exactly the billions of dollars that the U.S. has spent on assistance to Haiti have been used and whether this funding has had a sustainable impact. With few exceptions, Haitians and U.S. taxpayers are unable to verify how U.S. aid funds are being used on the ground in Haiti.
World Institute for Development Economics Research, United Nations University
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
48 p., After receiving at least US$20 billion in aid for reconstruction and development over the past 60 years, Haiti has been and remains a fragile state, one of the worse globally. The reasons for aid failure are legion but mostly relate to highly dysfunctional Haitian regimes, sometimes destructive US foreign policy and aid policy, and ongoing issues about how to deliver aid, all in the context of devastating natural disasters. The over-riding cause of aid failure has been the social, cultural and historical context which has led to domination by economic and political elites who have little interest in advancing Haiti, and who are totally self-interested-Haiti's fatal flaw.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
33 p., Warns that without an inclusive national pact on critical priorities, President Michel Martelly faces the spectre of a failed presidency, and Haiti risks international abandonment. To finally start the long-promised transformation, Martelly should build on the tenuous Christmas Eve 2012 agreement for a credible electoral body to hold much delayed Senate, municipal and local polls quickly. He also should bring key actors into a national dialogue on selecting the Constitutional Council and resolving credibility questions about the appointment of the president of the Supreme Court and the Superior Judicial Council, as well as on pursuing other critical short- and longer-term public policies. Figures, Appendixes, References.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
7 p., A US nongovernmental organization has filed a lawsuit against the United Nations (UN), seeking compensation on behalf of victims of a cholera outbreak in Haiti, as well as funding to support programs to eradicate the disease and improve sanitation. Haitians deserve great sympathy for their plight, but a successful lawsuit could invite similar lawsuits, regardless of merit, thereby making the US and other UN member states vulnerable to significant financial costs, while leaving those actually responsible largely or entirely unpunished.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
41 p., Three years after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, tens of thousands of people are still living in insecure and inadequate shelters. This report shows how Haiti's post-quake reconstruction is failing to protect and fulfill the right to adequate housing. Amnesty International has documented a pattern of forced evictions of internally displaced families, involving mass removals without notice. Forced evictions violate the rights of internally displaced people at all stages: threats prior to the eviction, violence during the eviction, and homelessness following the eviction.
Gertler,Paul (Author), Heckman,James (Author), Pinto,Rodrigo (Author), Zanolini,Arianna (Author), Vermeerch,Christel (Author), Walker,Susan (Author), Chang,Susan M. (Author), and Grantham-McGregor,Sally (Author)
Format:
Pamphlet
Publication Date:
June 2013
Published:
National Bureau of Economic Research
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
58 p., Shows large effects on the earnings of participants from a randomized intervention that gave psychosocial stimulation to stunted Jamaican toddlers living in poverty. The intervention consisted of one-hour weekly visits from community Jamaican health workers over a 2-year period that taught parenting skills and encouraged mothers to interact and play with their children in ways that would develop their children's cognitive and personality skills. Study participants were re-interviewed 20 years after the intervention. Findings show that psychosocial stimulation early in childhood in disadvantaged settings can have substantial effects on labor market outcomes and reduce later life inequality.
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
2 pp., Costa Rica is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the World due to the tectonic interaction of the Cocos and Caribbean plates. Earthquakes, and other natural hazards, place major stress on the country's population, infrastructure and economy, and often result in the disruption of basic services. In response to this, the Government of Costa Rica is continuously working to build the capacity of technicians to design effective disaster risk management policies and investments to reduce seismic risk.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
60 p., Explains how the implementation of the Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union should serve as an impetus for stakeholders in the region to address these barriers thereby creating favorable conditions for the production and export of Caribbean entertainment services. Presents an overview of policies in the creative sector in terms of the promotion of services exports in selected CARICOM states: Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Washington, DC: Center for Economic and Policy Research
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
4 p., In early 2010, in an effort to address its unsustainable debt burden, and as a pre-condition for an IMF agreement, Jamaica undertook a debt exchange that sought to lower interest rates and extend maturities but did not provide any haircut (a lowering of the debt principal). As part of the IMF agreement, Jamaica undertook severe austerity measures, freezing wages and cutting spending. Even after the debt exchange, Jamaica was left with the highest debt interest burden in the world. Although the IMF agreement eventually broke down, Jamaica has largely continued the austerity measures from the first agreement. Three years after the IMF agreement was signed and the debt exchange completed, Jamaica once again turned to the IMF and undertook a new exchange. Once again, the exchange only affected domestically held debt and did not reduce the principal. Once again, the conditions may prove unsustainable. The recently signed IMF agreement, together with funding from the World Bank and IDB, will give Jamaica access to some $2 billion dollars of loans over the next four-plus years. But it is also the case that, after billions of dollars of previous World Bank, IDB and IMF loans, much of its debt is actually owed to the very same institutions that are now offering new loans. This issue brief looks at the case for multilateral debt cancellation in Jamaica.
Ramachandran,Vijaya (Author) and Walz,Julie (Author)
Format:
Pamphlet
Publication Date:
Feb 2013
Published:
Center for Global Development
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
4 p., An estimated $9 billion of public and private funding has been spent on disaster recovery in Haiti since the 2010 earthquake. Of that, $2.25 billion in public funding has been disbursed by the United States alone. But despite the large amount of public money involved, it is nearly impossible to track how it has been spent and what has been achieved. The transparency and accountability of US spending in Haiti needs to be improved. The authors suggest three steps to do so: Require prime contractors to report subcontracting data, Adopt the International Aid Transparency Initiative, and Require systematic, and publically available evaluations by NGOs and contractors.
