14 Oct How i get distracted

“…it is important that the international program to reform Haitian institutions not bear a made-in-Washington imprint. Large-scale international assistance will carry with it significant leverage to promote change, but this pressure needs to be exerted in a carefully calibrated manner. Candidate programs for reform need to be carefully chosen, local champions identified and empowered, local opponents co-opted, politicians lobbied and the public informed. The United Nations and the World Bank, the two major international institutions most heavily engaged in Haiti should be out in front, choosing and designing the necessary reforms and conditioning assistance on their achievement. The United Nations should continue to lead in reforming the security sector, to include police, courts and prisons, and in supporting elections and promoting political reform. The World Bank should assume leadership throughout the economic and social sphere, identifying the key changes needed and setting the conditions for assistance. The United States should work in concert with the other key donors, particularly Canada, France and the European Union, forming a small core group to quietly help the UN and the World Bank define their reform objectives and then working largely behind the scenes to ensure these objectives are achieved. The United States should contribute directly to UN and World Bank funds for Haiti, and should make sure that its own bilateral programs, and those of other donors contribute to, rather than undercut the reform programs set out by these institutions.”