LOCAL GOVERNANCE AND THE FIGHT AGAINST POVERTY
The experience of UNCDF, UNDP and CIDA in the northeast of Haïti
Carice/Mont-Organisé (HAÏTI) - 4 April 2007 : Hundreds of inhabitants of various communities in the northeast of Haiti have managed to increase and diversify their production, thereby appreciably reducing their poverty, thanks to a series of initiatives developed as part of a United Nations project to support local governance.
The project is being implemented jointly by the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and is being financed by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Haitian Government.
Its main goal is to help strengthen local communities so as to enable them to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in Haiti . Some 200,000 inhabitants, out of approximately 300,000 surveyed in that department, are currently benefiting from the effects of this project.
"This experiment with local governance has shown that micro-projects can have a real impact on living conditions of vulnerable populations and communities when the latter have supported the projects' launching and have been involved in their implementation", stated Joël Boutroue, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and UNDP Resident Representative .
The beneficiaries of the project, who live in more than 20 villages and village districts, have also gained access to essential basic services that they had long lacked, such as safe drinking water, health care--thanks to the construction of clinics--and faster distribution of local foodstuffs, following repairs to access roads .
The local people have also been given access to agro-industrial units that can process fruits, tubers and grains, as well as to administrative buildings and primary schools. Other activities relating to the restoration and development of the environment have had a positive impact on food and on businesses; not only has pineapple and sugar cane production improved but new varieties of mangoes and citrus fruits have been introduced and fish-breeding ponds have been restored.
The project was started in 2000, in four villages in the northeast (Carice, Capotille , Mont Organisé and Ouanaminthe), with financing from UNDP and UNCDF. In 2005, it was extended to another four villages (Mombin Crochu, Ste Suzanne, Perches and Vallières) with financing from CIDA and the Haitian Ministry of the Interior and Territorial Communities (MICT). The activities--the cost of which comes to 5.5 million dollars--will continue until 2010.
One of the lessons the partners have learned from this experiment is that the greater its involvement, from the start, in the participatory and strategic planning process, the more the local population identifies with it and the more autonomy it develops.
"The involvement of these local actors in the consensual examination of their priorities and in the execution of development activities demonstrates clearly that, provided they are given sufficient institutional support and additional technical and material resources, they can take care of themselves ", said Joël Boutroue.
For her part, Chantal Santelli, UNCDF programme officer in Haïti, pointed out that "the participatory approach advocated within the context of this project, has made it possible to involve local actors from all social categories in the various phases of the preparation and implementation of local development plans."
According to her, "the problem is how to mobilize the resources needed in order to establish local infrastructure systems and how to make sure that the resources allocated for Government spending on the poor are used effectively. "
Lasting change is the result not only of the basic infrastructures established by the project but also of the latter's intangible achievements. These include the numerous training sessions on planning and management techniques for participatory development offered to local actors, and several local development programming cycles prepared at the level of the 22 territorial communities receiving support (villages and village districts).
Moreover, joint consultation structures such as the village consultative committees (CCC) and the consultative councils of the village districts (CCSC) have helped to bring local authorities and citizens closer together in the search for solutions to common problems. The fact that women have participated and been actively involved demonstrates that women have a role to play in the development and necessary advancement of equality between the sexes.
According to Wilfrid Bien-Aimé, the national project director and local governance expert, "There is no doubt that there are many lessons to be drawn from the experiments conducted in the field and these lessons may contribute to the preparation of a national policy on decentralization and local development ."
Paul Antoine Bien-Aimé, the Haitian Minister of the Interior and Territorial Communities, was of the same opinion. "It is a promising participatory approach. It will be interesting to see whether what has happened at the local level will serve as an indicator and guide us as we attempt to draw up a national policy on decentralization that is in line with national and regional priorities."
The minister was speaking, last March, on the occasion of the inauguration of two administrative complexes built as part of project activities in Carice and Mont-Organisé, two of the supported villages.
These superbly built and furnished buildings have been greeted with enthusiasm, and deservedly so for the timing is excellent. For the first time in the history of these villages, the newly elected local authorities will be able to sit in a hall that is worthy of the mission entrusted to them under the Constitution of 1987. According to the latter, elected local officials are the leading administrators of territorial communities.
"We have our own ‘White House' in Mont Organisé", joked the master of ceremonies appreciatively.
In addition to village offices, these complexes also house, under the same roof, two other public services—a local branch of the tax service and a registry office.
"Finally, our leaders will no longer have to sit under arbors", exclaimed a woman in her forties joyfully. (Arbors are shelters made of latticework that are sometimes used for meetings when there are no government buildings.)
This project reinforces the view that most sustainable development initiatives take place at the local level. It is essential to strengthen local governance structures so that they can deal adequately with issues of long-term viability.
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Port au Prince/Haiti: Roromme Chantal, tel. +509-244-9361 to 65, email: roromme.chantal@undp.org .
UNDP is the global development network of the United Nations system. It advocates change and helps provide countries with the knowledge, experience and resources their people need in order to improve their lives. We maintain a presence in 166 countries and we help the people find their own solutions to the national and global problems facing them as regards development. In order to strengthen their capacities these countries can call on the staff of UNDP and its broad range of partners for assistance at any time.
