LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "These entities have built an alternative infrastructure for the provision of social services, but do not have much accountability to the Haitian government or people," Vijaya Ramachandran and Julie Walz writes in the new report for the Washington-based Center for Global Development, "Haiti: Where Has All the Money Gone?"

The 7.0-magnitude earthquake and its aftershocks affected three million people and destroyed hundreds of thousands of buildings, leaving the national government effectively unable to operate.

In the weeks following the disaster, an unprecedented response in terms of international aid, particularly from the U.S. public and private sector flooded Haitian coffers. However -- roughly 2.29 billion dollars funneled into Haiti during 2010 and 2011, out of a total $6 billion overall, less than one percent went to the Haitian government.

None of the humanitarian aid from the United States, totaling some 1.28 billion dollars, went to the Haitian government. Over the past two years, this number has risen to just one percent for long-term recovery funding. The Haitian government has specified that general budget support through the treasury is its "preferred channel" of aid disbursement.

"Government capacity will never be built or improved if donors continue to bypass local institutions in favor of NGOs," Ramachandran and Walz writes.

"Even if we believe that non-profit organizations and private contractors may be more efficient in disbursing immediate aid, longer-term recovery requires government leadership. By circumventing the Haitian government, donors are prolonging this process and continuing to undermine the public sector."

Many in Haiti have come to blame on the international community for the current disarray. According to the United Nations deputy special envoy to Haiti, Paul Farmer, "There's graffiti all over the walls in Port-au- Prince right now saying, 'Down with NGOs' . I think people in the NGO sector need to read the writing on the wall."

Some warn that significant aid money cannot feasibly be funneled through the Haitian government until reforms in governance have been implemented.

"Asking the international community to put money into a government that has not started to make steps to deal with corruption - we've tried that in other places, and it doesn't work," John Norris, a development expert with the Center for American Progress told IPS.

Norris points to the issue of state-controlled ports in Haiti in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake. "Again and again, life-saving support was bottled up in the docks at Port-au-Prince so that government officials could take their cut, knowing the whole time that doing so would mean that fewer lives could be saved," he says.

"If you can't get your guys at the docks to perform after you've suffered a devastating catastrophe, what does that say about your willingness to change?"

However, he cautions against any approach that would cut out a priority on the government altogether.

"You can pour tons of money into NGOs trying to get around the government, but you're not going to get development right until you get some reforms in governance. Haiti's just not there yet," he says.
 
A version of this story was first published by Inter Press Service news agency.

© 2012, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.