Outpouring of Haiti Aid Raises Questions About How Money Will Be Used
January 15, 2010 | Read Time: 1 minute
Ensuring that the donations pouring into Haiti are spent properly poses a challenge given the country’s poor infrastructure and history of corruption and government instability, the Associated Press reports.
Despite receiving billions of dollars in aid from foreign governments and nonprofit institutions, Haiti remains mired in abject poverty, with many homes lacking electricity, sewage disposal, or safe drinking water even before Tuesday’s devastating earthquake.
Beyond immediate search-and-rescue and public-health needs, “I think there’s going to be a number of questions that arise” about where aid money goes, said Rep. Russ Carnahan, a Missouri Democrat and chairman of a House subcommittee on international organizations and human rights.
The music star Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti Foundation, a major engine of the unprecedented post-earthquake fund raising via social media and cellphones, might not be the most efficient destination for donations, reports the Christian Science Monitor.
Emergency-aid experts and watchdog groups say bigger, more established charities have the expertise and experience to make the most of their resources in a large-scale relief operation, while smaller organizations such as Yele are more effective in areas such as education in more-stable times.
Read more updates on the response to the Haiti crisis in The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
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