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U.S. Economic and Development Assistance Political insecurity and the failure of Haiti's governments to invest in developing the country's natural and human resources attribute significantly to the country's current state of underdevelopment. U.S. efforts to strengthen democracy and to rebuild Haiti's economy aim to rectify this condition. The U.S. has been Haiti's largest donor since 1973. Between FY 95 and FY 99, the U.S. has contributed roughly $884 million in assistance to Haiti. These funds have been used to support programs that have addressed a variety of problems. Among the initiatives funds have supported are: * Food assistance programs that include a school lunch program that feeds around 500,000 children daily. * Agricultural development programs that have endeavored to revitalize Haiti's coffee sector and to help thousands of Haitian farmers adopt sustainable agricultural practices and protect the environment. * Teacher training programs that have included 6,000 educators at the primary and secondary level. * Population programs that have expanded modern family planning practices in many rural areas. * Health care programs that have supported child immunization and have helped provide primary care to nearly half of the Haitian population. In addition to financial support, the U.S. provides human resources. U.S. Peace Corps volunteers returned to Haiti in 1995, largely focusing their efforts on income generation programs in Haiti's rural areas. Many private U.S. citizens travel regularly to Haiti or reside there for extended periods to work in humanitarian projects. Haiti has been plagued for decades by extremely high unemployment and underemployment. The precipitous decline in urban assembly sector jobs, from a high of 80,000 in 1986 to fewer than 17,000 in 1994, exacerbated the scarcity of jobs. To revitalize the economy, U.S. assistance has attempted to create opportunities for stable sustainable employment for the growing population, particularly those who comprise the country's vast informal economy. A post-intervention transitional program of short-term job creation principally in small towns and rural areas provided employment to as many as 50,000 workers per day throughout the country. More recently, programs that help to increase commercial bank lending to small- and medium-scale entrepreneurs, especially in the agricultural sector, have helped to create jobs and foster economic growth. Additional U.S. efforts in economic revitalization include the establishment of the U.S.-Haiti Business Development Council, an Overseas Private Investment Corporation commercial loan program, and inclusion of Haiti within the Caribbean Basin Initiative. These efforts all provide greater market opportunities for American and Haitian businesses. Current Congressional prohibitions on providing assistance to or through the Haitian Government has accelerated the move to private voluntary agencies as contractors to oversee use of U.S. aid funds. |
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