Contributor: Bill Holbrook

Today in New York, donors will be asked to provide $11.5 billion to help Haiti recover from the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake. Since the U.S. government has already provided more than $700 million in assistance — a number that will likely rise — some might ask: Why should we give more?

To these skeptics, I have two responses. First, more is getting done than you think. And second, more needs to be done than you can imagine.

Nearly two months ago, I left my home in Montgomery County bound for Port-au-Prince to lead the relief and recovery efforts of the international aid agency Mercy Corps. Haiti is near and dear to my heart. I first lived there in 1996, I have been married to the same wonderful Haitian-American woman for 12 years now, and Haiti has become a home-away-from-home for our family.

I've come to know the country well, and even with its many charms, Haiti can be an extremely challenging place to work. The situation was disastrous before this disaster ever occurred; the people of Haiti have been exploited and impoverished for the better part of 200 years.

What do you get when you layer that reality with a powerful earthquake in the country's overcrowded, under-resourced urban core? Logistical chaos. Relief efforts may not have been perfect, but the obstacles — a collapsed port, the serious loss of scarce human resources, collapsed centers of government and response, a scattered population still suffering the effects of shock — have been extreme.

Still, great strides have been made. The United Nations and international aid groups are providing more than 1.2 million people in Port-au-Prince with clean water each day. Food is being distributed in massive quantities; the World Food Program estimates it has reached more than 4 million people since Jan. 12. The Haitian government announced that schools will reopen tomorrow.

This week, donors will grapple with how to help Haiti use this very tragic but pivotal moment in history to become something better — a viable state with a viable economy. I would encourage donors to read the analysis of the quake's impact prepared by the Haitian government, the U.N. and other international organizations, and prepare to act boldly. Haitians know what they need, and I hope we will keep the faith and listen to them.

Large swaths of the population seek out a subsistence living in the country's vast, informal economy, selling anything they can get their hands on. But almost every Haitian would abandon that hand-to-mouth existence for a real job with a future. They need skills training, jobs and private-sector investment.

Today, Haiti must resurrect a middle economy that was lost many years ago. This would offer hundreds of thousands of decent-paying jobs — transforming a largely unskilled work force stuck at the bottom of the economic pyramid into a skilled work force. But Haitians need international assistance to make this possible. Industries such as apparel production, agriculture and tourism should be nurtured in both the provinces and the capital city so that Haitians can participate formally in a growing, vibrant grass-roots economy.

Perhaps the most difficult proposal to donors will be to bolster the Haitian government. In the last 100 years of Haitian governance, many things have gone very wrong. But no country can make meaningful progress without resourced and functional government institutions. President René Préval's government has had limited capacity, but its vision for Haiti is solid, and it has been working effectively with international partners. While cooperation and progress continue, the Haitian government merits our support.

Haiti faces huge obstacles and a troubled history, but that should not make the international community shy away. If mold-breaking change is ever going to happen in Haiti, it will happen now, with all of us — Haitians, donors, the business sector, aid groups — focused on the end game of building the future that Haitians envision for themselves and deserve.

(Editor's note: This column originally appeared in The Baltimore Sun.)

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Mercy Corps Haiti Country Director Bill Holbrook surveys earthquake damage in Port-au-Prince shortly after the disaster struck. Photo: Cassandra Nelson/Mercy Corps

In the late afternoon of January 12, 2010, Haiti had a heart attack when an earthquake struck Port-au-Prince — the country’s political, cultural and financial capital.

It’s a devastating piece of history for Haiti, a place that had already suffered more than 200 years of governments that not only failed to serve the Haitian people, but also exploited them. Exploited the land. Drove more than eight million people into abject poverty.

Haiti was as close to a failed state as a country could possibly be. It was a disaster even before this disaster. Very few here would argue against that.

But the world has also failed Haiti. Many of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful countries have also exploited the country and its people. Too often, our leaders have either backed corrupt and dangerous Haitian governments, or else ignored the plight of the country — and its people — altogether.

Today, of course the world is focused on Haiti as never before. But there will soon come a time when the reporters leave, the cameras switch off and the headlines fade. And, when that time comes, we will not only stay to help the Haitian people, but we will work harder than ever.

I am personally committed to helping Haiti. My own ties to this country run deep. My wife is Haitian, and my in-laws are dealing with the chaos, uncertainty and shock of the earthquake’s aftermath. Many of our friends have lost nearly everything and are dealing with profound grief.

I’ve lived in Haiti for six years of my life — including more than four years managing humanitarian assistance and development programmes. I care deeply about Haiti and its people. You can’t help but love the people here. And, as Mercy Corps’ country director here, I want to do anything I can to help them.

Mercy Corps, working alongside local partners and colleague agencies, is committed to helping Haitian families and communities not only emerge from the rubble and rebuild their homes, but also rebuild their country. In the long term, we will accomplish this through thoughtful and well-planned economic development programmes.

The Haitian economy was already in a shambles before last month’s earthquake: at least 54 percent of the population lived on less than a dollar a day. The unemployment rate was crippling, somewhere between 70 and 80 percent.

Yet Haiti’s economic situation is even more desperate and disastrous than these staggering numbers imply: the vast majority of Haitians are not only unemployed, but also unemployable. Decades of corruption and exploitation have left most Haitians without marketable job skills, unable to fill good-paying, technical jobs even if they were available.

Mercy Corps is launching job skills training as part of our long-term economic recovery and development programmes. We will help Haitian communities build a skilled workforce that can perform and lift families out of poverty. By investing in small and medium enterprises across key business sectors, we will create lasting, meaningful, good-paying jobs all over the country.

The key to transforming Haiti’s economy — and therefore the future of its people — depends not only on creating opportunities in Port-au-Prince, but also in other cities and rural areas. At last count, at least 236,000 people fled the capital in the aftermath of the earthquake. They will need jobs, too.

The history of Haiti has largely been a history of neglect. This time, we can’t let that happen. We have to prove that we’re not going away. We have to prove that, alongside the hard-working Haitian people, we’ll make something great happen.

This time, we’ll transform Haiti — together.

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