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26949: Rachel Fouche: (reply) Re: 26926: Morse (ask) Jobs in Haiti (fwd)
Your post reminds me of something that Yves DeJean once said -- "Haiti does not
have an unemployment problem. You have to have jobs first before you can have
unemployment." Poor translation of the joke (I can't tell jokes in any
language), but a problem that only continues to grow as Haiti is outpaced by
other developing nations in education and its ability to prevent foreign
companies from devastating the agricultural industry, the last solid bastion of
jobs to be had in Haiti.
But how to grow jobs to stabilize the economic and political health of Haiti?
In order to employ the largest amount of people rapidly, jobs would have to be
based in agriculture -- since Haiti's economy has restricted the use of
pesticides on the land, that makes Haiti a good candidate as a grower for the
booming organic food trade. The only other issue with food export was no access
to a cold storage harbor, which has been solved (someone "on the ground"
please correct me on that point). These agricultural development zones would
have to be placed strategically to encourage better population spread
throughout the (less than 1/2) island. In the more arid, environmentally
degraded areas of Haiti, greenhouses could be used instead, or composting farms
could be set up to turn largely organic trash into "black gold." The compost
could then be used to revitalize spent farmland.
But Haiti has always had these jobs before -- Haiti's biggest problem is that
the current middle class largely lives abroad, with non-governmental
organizations attempting to fill in the craters left behind by decades of
dictatorship and unstable "democracy." In fact, I'll offer the devil's
advocacy and state that the current role that NGOs *as a whole* play in the
Haiti further destabilizes the Haitian economy by "outsourcing" jobs and funds
provided for such work (for those of you who work in non-profit, I am an
unabashed disciple of John McKnight's work "The Uncaring Society"). The state
must take direct responsibility for functions currently abdicated to the
non-profit industry growing in Haiti or it will not stand. There are too many
bosses and not enough workers in this scenario.
Whomever becomes the next president of Haiti will have to harness the
educational power of the diaspora through innovative job programs like the
Works Progress Administration, pairing diaspora with their Haitian
counterparts. Low wage, long hours, possible loss of life, but at the end of
the 2-3 years, you would earn dual-citizenship -- something that even the most
jaded Haitian parent can be proud of.
With stability, Haiti could branch out again into tourism -- which should be
just one key in its economic revitalization, not the cornerstone. Haiti is
fortunate to have many wonderful historic attractions spread throughout the
island, from Cap-Haitien to Jacmel. And when we are not battling each other to
the death over politics and poverty, we are some pretty nice people,
goshdarnit! There are groups involved with developing eco-tourism in Haiti and
there's the traditional hoteliers, so I won't belabor that point.
Well, that's as far as my overpriced education takes me on the issue of jobs
in Haiti, folks -- I hope Richard's post sparks some great brainstorming!
Rachel Fouché