Konbit Pou Ayiti

The international community is deciding how Haiti will rebuild, beginning with the emergency funding that is being spent as we speak. The Haiti Response Coalition (HRC), which KONPAY is coordinating, recognizes the necessity for the Haitian people to develop a strategy to rebuild -- their leadership should and will create a new Haiti.  We must act now to support and empower our Haitian partners to help strategize for the future of Haiti, a country standing at a monumental crossroads. Immediate, concerted action must result not just in a development strategy, but also in opening access to resources being funneled into Haiti by emergency response actors.

What plan will bring sustainable development accompanied by dignity and human rights for all Haitians? Who can create and immediately begin executing a plan for a new Haiti? These and other questions that have to be answered were discussed at a national strategy planning meeting that KONPAY spearheaded, called Initiative for a New Haiti.

Nearly 60 representatives from each sector and geographical department in Haiti were invited as well as representatives of the Haitian government. Twice as many representatives arrived to participate. Observers from NGOs and agencies representing the international community were also present.

Open Space method was used to discuss the theme: What Haiti do we want to build? Workshops to create a plan for each sector were encouraged. A plan and a united declaration to rebuild Haiti were the objectives, and the meeting conclude with a press conference to report on what was achieved.

Central themes throughout the meeting were: national food production, the decentralization of the country, Haitian leadership for building a new Haiti -- NOT rebuilding the structures as they existed before the earthquake.

Sectors for Working Groups during the Meeting
·       Food Security and the Environment
·       Public Health/Health System
·       Water/Sanitation and Waste Management
·       Social and Economic Rights
·       Education and Development of human resources
·       Children and Youth
·       Women
·       Legal Reform
·       Immigration/Migration
·       Business creation and Credit Programs

The Haiti Response Coalition / Tèt Ansanm pou Yon Nouvo Ayiti Planning Committee for the Feb 23 & 24 National Strategy Planning Meeting included the following individuals:
•    Isaac Chérestal, CAPAS, Les Cayes
•    Guerda Lexima Constant and B. Johny Saint Louis, Fondasyon Limyè Lavi
•    Cantave Jean-Baptiste, PDL and AJWS
•    Paul Christian Namphy, SOIL
•    Djalòki Dessables, HRC-TAYNA
•    Melinda Miles, KONPAY and HRC –TANYA