The Haiti Aid Debacle: A Case for Community Organizing

It is becoming increasingly evident that the lack of local engagement by large international organizations has resulted in a breakdown of relief efforts in Haiti.

There are numerous reasons why international organizations do not foster coordination with and empowerment of local actors. A primary factor is the time and expense involved in developing local community infrastructure. Efficiency and scale are the primary measures that agencies are judged by in the development industry. Furthermore, community organizing does not produce an emotional response in potential donors. In the typical marketing that HSP avoids when it comes to development and relief services, it is understood that a message needs to be easily communicated and pull at the heartstrings.

If we visualize the development and relief industry in traditional market terms, we would have to ask what is the supply and who is the demand. Understanding that the foundation of market relationships is meeting demand, that becomes the salient question. While we would like to imagine that development engineers focus on the needs of an impoverished community, the reality is that they must meet the demands of donors. Without the donor’s funds, the majority of programming activities simply would not be possible. Therefore, it becomes paramount to meet the donor’s ideological, political and theological world view.

Another factor is the corporate structure of international development, relief, charity and faith organizations. Semantically, the difference between a corporation and a cooperative is very small, but in practice this difference has a tremendous impact on programming. A corporation exists to make itself money while a cooperative exists to make its members money. Investors gain value with the growth of a corporation. In a cooperative, the entity exists to facilitate the growth of the member.

If we analyze the usual relationship of community members with international development agencies, we can see relationships akin to an investor in a corporation. The community members are passive recipients. A significant difference is that they typically do not have any voice and management policies as a shareholder would have in a private enterprise. Their benefit is dependent on how large the agency becomes. Increases in funding are typically directed towards growing the size of the agency. Staff and personnel allegiances are with the agency rather than the community and are compensated based on the growth of the agency.

The relevance of these issues are striking when considering reports like those on today's Democracy Now.

Sasha Kramer witnessed that aid arrived quickly but was not able to be distributed for lack of local coordination. She noted that when the big aid organizations do circulate around Port-au-Prince they are in large vehicles with their window sealed. They are not able to develop good relationships with the community and do not speak Creole. These organizations are that have worked in Haiti for decades, but do not have the local contacts or organization to go out in the communities themselves.

Catherine Lane commented on how the security concerns before the earthquake limited the type of interactions you would expect people to have after working in the country for a long time. She said this lack of connections in the community is the main reason they are not able to get things out quickly and that this is a major failure in the way larger aid organizations function and in general.

This underscores HSP's methodology in focusing on community empowerment and fostering agency with partner organizations. This reinforces our commitment in staying the course even though it is very challenging.

Wolfowitz should have studied Che

I recently watched Steven Soderbergh’s two part film project based on Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara’s memoir “Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War”.

I found it to be extraordinarily pertinent for community organizers. It shows that development can only be sustained from within. This constant is demonstrated through the difference of Che's role in Cuba and then Bolivia with a clear view of the results.

In Cuba, Che played a supporting role in Castro' s revolution. On various occasions, Che was relegated to medical support rather than leadership of a column. This validates the appropriate and most functional role for outsiders engaged in organizational efforts. Che provided critical support in a role that he was trained to perform. A role that was needed and there was not sufficient local capacity to perform. When a Cuban capable of performing the role appeared, he moved on to another training role.

The documentary makes clear that the Cuban revolution was an indigenous effort led by Cuban nationals who had investments in the process on different levels. You see the importance of family and professional networks that went well beyond ideological solidarity or strategic interests.

A second significant role that Che played for the Cuban revolution was that of international spokesperson. As a highly educated vagabond documented in the motorcycle diaries, Che had the life experiences and literary flair to play the role of international revolutionary rock star. He played this role in support of and with the direction of an indigenous movement. He was not an outside media star imposing a strategy or ideology on a third-party; rather, he was a spokesperson for that movement.

Analyzing his tragic adventures in Bolivia we can witness the disastrous results of failing to follow the prime directive of community organizing. In the Bolivian experience, we find Che and his merry band of international zealots attempting to jump start a peasant revolution. Che's frustration is almost palatable as he begins to experiences the lack of commitment and integrity of his Bolivian counterparts. In him, we also see the arrogance of the expert attempting to impose a strategy rather than fostering of local leadership. In Che's Bolivian experiment, we witness the problems of not engaging family networks, lack of personal ownership over processes, lack of ego or material investment in the process and impatience in building community capacity and organizational infrastructure. In the end, Che's failure to follow basic organizing practices is a fatal error that is as costly for the Bolivian peasants as it is for his band of Cuban followers.

Therefore, community organizers must support local community development whether we are attempting to spread a worker's utopian revolution or democracy in the Middle East. Unless we have a Messiah complex, the rule of development must be followed lest we wish for others to suffer along.