In taking a human rights-based approach to development, the final outcome of humanitarian aid should be to build the capacity of the Haitian government so -at some point- they can fulfill the basic rights of the Haitian people. Having said that, the efforts of international aid are reversed when policies (illegally) deny the Haitian government loans they intended to use in fulfilling Haitian's right to clean water. After filing a Freedom of Information Act, the RFK Memorial and Zanmi Lasante have released internal documents outlining US actions to block life-saving funds to Haiti. Hopefully some of their energy and work will improve the accountability of the international aid system. You can access the press release below...

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is the development agency of the American government and a major bilateral donor to Haiti.  USG support to Haiti is considerable - In Fiscal Year (FY) 2007, USAID provided 245 million dollars in foreign assistance to Haiti, 279 million in FY 2008 and is scheduled to provide 245 million in FY 2009.  The goal of this support can be summarized in one word - stability. The point of this blog is not to evaluate these programs but to point out what USAID is doing, where, and to highlight some useful resources on the USAID/Haiti website.