Haiti, donors must be partners -World Bank chief

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – International donors and  the Haitian government need to create a partnership for the  long haul as they rebuild Haiti after a devastating earthquake,  the head of the World Bank Robert Zoellick said yesterday. Addressing the sensitive issue of how to ensure that aid is  not lost to corruption or mismanagement, Zoellick said in an  interview it was important that donor money flow through the  Haitian government budget and that proper measures are put in  place to prevent the aid from being squandered.

“This time we have a chance to do things differently but it  requires a partnership for the long haul,” Zoellick told  Reuters on the eve of a Haiti donor conference in New York.

“This will require a commitment on both sides — for the  Haitian authorities but also for the donors. On the side of the  international agencies we need to cooperate, not complicate.” The conference will seek to raise about $3.8 billion for  Haiti to cover the next two years of rebuilding a country  devastated by the Jan. 12 quake that killed more than 300,000  people and turned buildings in the capital Port-au-Prince into  rubble.

The World Bank is seeking to provide about $500 million to  Haiti over the next 14 months.

Donors, such as the United States, have raised concerns in  recent weeks over government corruption in Haiti, which has  stymied past aid efforts, prompting an angry reaction from  Haitian President Rene Preval, who has insisted it should have  the ultimate say in the reconstruction of the country.

Zoellick said it was vital that Haitians lead the  rebuilding effort, even if it meant confronting tough political   decisions, and that donors should work to strengthen the  government’s capacity to lead. “There is a way things can fit together to combine capable  Haitian ownership with effective donor partnership,” he added.

The World Bank, working with the Inter-American Development  Bank and the United Nations, will supervise a multi-donor trust  fund for Haiti through which rebuilding funds will flow to the  Haitian government.

Such a fund would ensure that donors do not burden the  government with different demands, taking its attention away  from reconstruction.

Zoellick said the trust fund could be used to track the aid  and ensure the money is being used effectively and not wasted  through corruption.

The global development lender has experience with managing  donor funds in places such as Afghanistan, South Sudan, and  Aceh province in Indonesia hit by a 2004 tsunami.

Zoellick said such experiences had shown it would be better  for donors to cooperate and pool their resources to rebuild  countries rather than to work individually.