Time for Peace Corps to Come back to Haiti?

By Bryan Schaaf on Dimanche, février 26, 2006.
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peacecorp-logo Elections were (relatively) successful and the country is (relatively) stable at the moment. Port au Prince is still a powder-keg and kidnapping remains a major problem, yet to be addressed. Anyone who has lived in Haiti know that’s most of the country is not like Port-au-Prince. None of the Peace Corps volunteers worked in Port. Our office was/is there, the airport was there, and the staff had ready access to Haitian and American government officials when needed.

It may be time to begin a dialogue on the merits of bringing the Peace Corps back to Haiti. It could be done. We have an office and finding staff would not be an issue. Do I think Peace Corps/Haiti could exist in a manner similar to its past incarnations? No, probably not. With creativity and commitment, Peace Corps could again have a presence in Haiti.

As a first step, Crisis Corps members should be sent to Haiti to work with established community based projects that need CC staff for concrete assignments. Not two years of integrating and bonding with community members, but several months of serious capacity building. Training of trainers, helping establish a community cyber-cafe, assisting with the organization of a vaccination campaign, etc. These CC reps. throughout the country can work with Peace Corps staff to determine whether Peace Corps/Haiti should be revived.

I don’t see Haiti existing as a national program. The logistics of evacuating volunteers from the Plateau, North, and South is daunting. Instead, I see Peace Corps having a regional role in either the South or the North.

The pro of working in the south is that Peace Corps had a pretty big foot print in that area. Peace Corps would establish an office in Les Cayes and volunteers would be in outlying villages. The region is safe, the infrastructure good, and when Peace Corps staff have to interact with American and government officials, just drive into Port and spend the night. Its four hours of paved road. Clearly, the south is better off than the north. However, it would be good to re-establish a presence in an area with good infrastructure. It’s an easier sell for the policy makers.

The north is another option. Calmer than Port au Prince for certain and there are any number of good sites up there. There is an airport should there ever need to be an evacuation, and it would be easy to take volunteers over to the DR. With route national one not being paved all the way, trips to Port by Peace Corps staff would be much more difficult. A certain degree of flexibility is lost. But it is still an option.

Clearly, the months ahead will determine whether re-establishment of the Peace Corps is feasible. Those of us in Washington have access to Peace Corps staff, including the Director. We should begin a dialogue now on feasibility and utility of starting up Peace Corps sometime in the next year or so. Is there consensus in the Peace Corps community? We won’t know until we start talking about it. With that, Haiti Innovation has asked alumni of the Peace Corps to give their views and opinions on this matter.

Bryan

Pearce Corp

Soumis par Walton Craig (non vérifié) le mer, 01/31/2007 - 07:01.
I think that is a good Idea. The Haitians people prouve that they are up for peace and instabiliy. Bringing peace corp back to life would be very help to Haiti Craig

Northern Bound

Soumis par Robert Miller le mar, 02/28/2006 - 17:54.

I am all for PC back in Haiti, and I am ready today, however, not before serious administrative changes. I would like to see PC move its administrative center from PauP to Cap Haitian and to limit its programs to only the northern departments, i.e. those accessible by road from Cap without having to pass through Gonaives.

The need to have PC in place is not only for the good of the people, but also for the existence of the PC/Haiti program. Funding for PC from Congress has been less than adequate and my fear is that while PC is struggling to make ends meat, they will close Haiti and distribute those funds elsewhere, to an active program. If this were to happen, it would be next to impossible to re-open Haiti without support from Congress, because no program is going to give up funding to support another. That being said, PC needs to re-open Haiti because it is in everyone’s short-term and long-term best interest.

Beyond the humanitarian and the environmental, my reasons for Cap are as follows:

- One of Haiti’s two international airports with near daily flights to the USA

- Agricultural schools nearby in Limbe as well as in the city of Cap for estajè training.

- Labadee/ Coco Beach

- Numerous banks, small businesses, colleges, hotels, and restaurants

- The road to Ouanaminthe into the DR could provide an alternate point of egress during an evacuation.

- The Palace Sans Souci and the Citadel

- Limonade is famous for its mud pits during Fet Gede.

By moving the administrative center to Cap, PC would remove the security issues of Gonaives and PauP all together. Once the political climate settled, PC could then reach back down to PauP and into Hinche and the south.

There are some obvious drawbacks, i.e. lack of conferences with CDC and PEPFAR, yadda yadda. However, I think their value to a volunteer at the grassroots level is moot. To me, it seems more important to establish a concerted program that is sustainable, and I believe that in the north it is absolutely possible.

Robert Miller, Director
Haiti Innovation, Inc.

I like the Crisis Corps idea

Soumis par Renee (non vérifié) le mar, 02/28/2006 - 11:56.
I like the Crisis Corps idea and also picking either the North or the South, but I felt last time PC went in - it was too early and they sure didn't stay very long. Shouldn't they wait until we see how Preval is received once in office- especially if Aristide is serious about returning to Haiti? I think the government needs to be a little more stable before PC goes in or they'll just be pulled right back out at the first sign of trouble. But Crisis Corps is a great way to test it out and help Haiti at the same time.

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