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Caribbean-Latin America
Canada pledges $555 million in aid to Haiti
2008-02-25
Meanwhile, back in our own backyard ...
PORT-AU-PRINCE - Canadian Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier highlighted $555 million in aid to Haiti on Friday, as he wrapped up a three-day visit to the impoverished Caribbean nation. The funds, to be paid between 2006-2011, were earmarked to help build roads, police precincts and implement social and economic programs in the Western HemisphereÂ’s poorest country, Bernier told reporters.

‘Compared to other donor countries, our assistance to Haiti is one of the biggest per capita contributions,’ he said. ‘We are proud to be able to help Haiti because we have in Quebec a Haitian community that has brought so much to Canada,’ said Bernier, adding that Canada will act according to aid priorities set by Haitian authorities.
If the Canadians can force some accountability this would be an excellent example of how to do aid: one country to one country. Focus responsibility and make clear that the old ways are no more. We'll see ...
Posted by:Steve White

#3  I agree mom, that eating dirt should never be considered nutricious...the VI has pioneered a fish farm that captures the droppings for fertilizer to grow vegetables that works in even the poorest of African nations on the coast and women can work it, not being dependent upon corrupt officials or lazy and abusive men so prevalent in these cultures
Posted by: Danielle   2008-02-25 11:27  

#2  If any country really wants to help Haiti and other poor countries, they should inform the politicians that they'll send PEOPLE, not CASH. People who teach land management, forestry, agriculture, and ways to help the poor help themselves.

Agricultural missionaries have been doing this for decades. The Southern Baptist Convention, for example, had foresters working to prevent erosion in Haiti, and agricultural experts teaching animal husbandry. In the Phillippines, one agriculturalist developed a whole range of useful projects, like fish and rabbit farming for protein, use of a native shrub as a hedge to shore up terraces for farming (Cheaper than wood and no danger to the forests).

These are just a few examples of thousands.
Posted by: mom    2008-02-25 09:06  

#1  An aid worker told me that in one venture infrastructure money went toward building luxury homes for political officials. Haiti is full of usable agricultural land that sits vacant because anything earned from the land would go to corrupt officials. Thus, locals eke out subsistence livings. In other countries, corruption greases some productive wheels. In the poorest countries, it causes them to spin.
Posted by: McZoid   2008-02-25 04:23  

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