A little more than six years ago, Haiti was devastated by a massive 7.0 magnitude earthquake, killing more than 100,000 people and causing widespread damage.
In those six years, billions of dollars of aid has flowed into the country, but many of the functions of government are still carried out by foreign-funded aid agencies.
On this edition of Global Journalist, we look at Haiti's slow recovery from the devastating quake and discuss whether its weak government can begin taking over the work done by international relief agencies that have led some to call Haiti "the Republic of NGOs."
Cholera, which had been wiped out in Haiti before the quake, has infected 770,000 people and killed nearly 10,000. Promises to restore education and housing have gone unfulfilled. Political instability and delayed elections means the country doesn’t have a functioning Senate, and the current president, Jocelerme Privert, was elected in February and will only serve for a short time, until a new round of elections in mid-April.
Our guests this week:
- Francois Pierre-Louis, associate professor of political science at Queens College
- James Morrell, director of the Haiti Democracy Project