Business
Bulk of Haiti earthquake aid went to U.S. firms, organizations – Latest report
Latest report illustrates that the bulk of aid seldom reaches the beneficiaries for whom it is intended.
A new report on American aid to Haiti in the wake of that country’s devastating earthquake finds most of the money went to U.S.-based companies and organizations.
The Center for Economic and Policy Research analyzed the US$1.15 billion pledged after the January 2010 quake and found that the “vast majority” of the money it could follow went straight to U.S. companies or organizations, more than half in the Washington area alone.
Just 1 percent went directly to Haitian companies.
The report’s authors said that a lack of transparency makes it hard to track all the money. “It is possible to track who the primary recipients of USAID funds are, yet on what are these NGOs and contractors spending the money?” authors Jake Johnston and Alexander Main wrote. “What percent goes to overhead, to staff, vehicles, housing, etc.? What percent has actually been spent on the ground in Haiti?”
USAID did not respond to requests to comment on the report Friday.
The group has been a critic of U.S. foreign policy in the past, accusing the U.S. of a top-down approach to aid that does little to alleviate poverty in impoverished Haiti.
The report also finds that the biggest recipient of U.S. aid after the earthquake was Chemonics International Inc., a for-profit international development company based in Washington, D.C., that has more than 4,800 employees.
Aside from the World Bank and United Nations, Chemonics is the single largest recipient of USAID funds worldwide, having received more than US$680 million in fiscal year 2012 alone.
