The Coordination Europe-Haïti (CoE-H)(1) is voicing its concerns about the very limited participation of progressive civil society organizations in the preparation of Haiti's Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), and about the less than transparent process of turning the draft into the final document. While the year-long consultation process has been a marked improvement on earlier efforts, particularly the almost non-existent consultation that accompanied the production of the Interim Cooperation Framework in 2004, it has fallen well short of what was required.

Few civil society organizations involved in national and/or regional development issues, such as the several national peasant organizations and platforms, or the variety of Haitian non-governmental organizations working specifically on development issues, were invited to participate. Representatives of civil society organisations that did attend the departmental workshops and the later validation conferences complained that there was little opportunity to discuss the content of the PRSP, that their recommendations were ignored, and that it was unclear whether it was the Haitian government or the World Bank(2) which had the final say.

A draft PRSP, outlining a strategic framework for reducing poverty in the medium term, was published in September 2006, and encouragingly the draft acknowledged that "a broad consultation" with "the core entities of civil society that are capable of mobilizing their members in all of the country's departments" would be "crucial" to the participatory process envisaged in order to transform the draft into a final PRSP.(3)

However, one year later, the participatory process is over, and far from being broad, the CoE-H understands that it has been quite limited, and that few, if any, of its 50 partner organisations in Haiti(4) have taken any part in the process at all. Such a state of affairs is alarming, given that for a poverty-reduction strategy to have any chance of success, it must be created by those who are living in poverty and those working to end poverty. A poverty-reduction strategy will only possibly succeed if those who are supposed to benefit from it feel a sense of ownership and involvement.

The CoE-H applauds the Haitian authorities' efforts to extend the consultation process to involve representatives of elected bodies in the departments, Mayors and members of the Communal Assemblies (CASECs). However, it appears that the process has failed to engage civil society organisations working at the grassroots in any meaningful way. Unfortunately, the Haitian authorities have not followed through on the positions clearly stated in the government's draft PRSP:
"In each department, one generally finds NGOs with enough experience and skill to support the participatory process. It is important to use them for this purpose for the duration of PRSP preparation".
And:
"Each department possesses religious or lay associations or groups with a great capacity for mobilizing volunteers. It is important to take advantage of this capacity in the collective grassroots interest"(5).

In terms of civil society participation, in essence the 12 month-long consultation process consisted of two-day workshops in each of the country's 10 departments that took place in June 2007, followed by another series of two-day workshops that took place in the poorest commune in each of the 10 departments in August. While the Ministry of Planning and Foreign Cooperation states that an average of 140 people participated in each of the 10 departmental workshops, a closer examination of the reports of the workshops shows that only around 25% of those participating were representatives of associations, grassroots organization or NGOs(6) . The majority of participants were Mayors and CASEC members. In the West department, by far the most populous department in the country, there were over 100 participants on each day but only seven people represented associations and non-governmental organizations on the first day, and just four on the second day.

Following these limited consultation meetings, in September, the Haitian authorities organized four departmental and one national forum to ‘validate’ or endorse the PRSP drawn up over the previous year. Representatives of organisations that attended bemoaned the fact that the validation forums were a mere 'rubber-stamp exercise' of a document whose content had apparently already been decided. One representative of a development NGO described the Port-au-Prince validation forum as "a big show lacking any real depth".

Civil society organisations that have tried to follow the PRSP consultation process say that it appears the Haitian authorities have been pressurised to conclude the document in a short time, and as a result have responded negatively to attempts to discuss major issues such as trade liberalisation. While other countries have been given two or three years to draw up their PRSP, the World Bank has encouraged Haiti to conclude its document in just one year. Important issues with great relevance to efforts to reduce poverty in the medium term have not been given proper consideration. For example, there is concern that the main elements of a nationally-designed plan for the regeneration of agriculture drawn up by the Ministry of Agriculture in consultation with civil society groups will not feature in the final PRSP. In this respect, it is interesting to note that the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in a report on Haiti published in August 2007(7) , made the following statement: "A full PRSP is being developed under an ambitious timetable… IMF staff welcomed the intention to advance quickly with the formulation of the PRSP, but encouraged the authorities to ensure that this would not come at the expense of the document’s quality and a broad participatory process". Sadly it appears that this is precisely what has happened.

The CoE-H hopes that the Haitian authorities and the World Bank will re-evaluate the consultative process and delay concluding a final PRSP until a genuine participatory process involving a broad range of civil society organizations working on development issues at the grassroots has been carried out.

Coordination Europe-Haiti (CoE-H)
Coordinatrice: Alessandra Spalletta
Rue des Tanneurs 165,
B-1000 Brussels
Tel: +32 2 213 04 18

La Coordination Europe-Haiti is a network composed of 60 NGOs from eight European countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom.

Sent to:
Pamela Cox, World Bank Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Yvonne Tsikata, World Bank Country Director for the Caribbean covering Haiti.
Gabriel Demombynes, Economist, World Bank Poverty and Gender Group, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Unit Latin American and the Caribbean Region.
Alejandro Cedeno, Communications Officer for the Caribbean.
Jean Max Bellerive, Haiti's Minister for Planning and External Cooperation.
Hérard Jadotte, coordonnateur du secrétariat technique chargé de la rédaction du Document Stratégique National pour la Croissance et la Réduction de la Pauvreté.
Jean-Robert Simonise, secrétariat technique chargé de la rédaction du Document Stratégique National pour la Croissance et la Réduction de la Pauvreté.
Ugo Fasano, IMF Resident Representative Officer in Haiti.
Ambassador Colin Granderson, Caricom Assistant Secretary General, Foreign and Community Relations.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------


Notes:
1) The Coordination Europe-Haïti (CoE-H) is a network of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) involved in Haiti and incorporating organisations from eight European countries. The main objective of the network, formally set up in 2004, is to put Haiti on the agenda of European governments and public. The network has also carried out advocacy and lobbying activities with the European Parliament and the European Commission (organising parliamentary debates and conferences, making contacts with MEPs, monitoring the European Union's policy on Haiti), in collaboration with NGO partner organisations in Haiti.

2) As for all PRSPs, the World Bank has been the driving force behind the process, and we note the remarks of Caroline Anstey, World Bank Director for the Caribbean, during the Haiti Ministerial Donors Conference in Port-au-Prince on 25 July 2006, when she said, “The Bank is committed to support the preparation of a participatory Poverty Reduction Strategy and Haiti has access to US$500,000 from the Bank-managed PRSP Trust Fund.” Each Poverty Reduction Strategy Trust Fund grant is managed in-country by the World Bank, the United Nations, and the contributing donors.

3) A WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY FOR HAITI - Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (I-PRSP), 27 September 2006, Page 35. http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2006/cr06411.pdf « Given the current status of democratic governance in Haiti, it is crucial that any process of sustainable participation begin with a broad consultation of the core entities of civil society that are capable of mobilizing their members in all of the country’s departments. »

4) These 50 organisations are constituted in a platform called La Coordination Haïti-Europe.

5) A WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY FOR HAITI - Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (I-PRSP), 27 September 2006, Page 36. http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2006/cr06411.pdf «126. In each département, one generally finds NGOs with enough experience and skill to support the participatory process. It is important to use them for this purpose for the duration of PRSP preparation. 127. Each département possesses religious or lay associations or groups with a great capacity for mobilizing volunteers. It is important to take advantage of this capacity in the collective grassroots interest. The same is true of regional associations of Haitians living abroad ».

6) Reports on the 10 workshops / DSNCRP - http://www.mpce.gouv.ht/rapportateliers.htm

7) IMF Country Report on Haiti No. 07/293, August 2007 - http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2007/cr07293.pdf