Haiti Lack of Coordination In The Rebuilding Effort

Dear Colleagues

In a recent message Al observed in connection with Katrina as follows:
>>>> a plethora of disconnected parties, each intent on doing things their own way. The uncoordinated response created a situation in which the wheel was reinvented constantly. Things didn’t happen — and still aren’t happening — fast enough.We are seeing the same phenomena with Haiti relief. >>>>

What is depressing is that the same was being said about the Ethiopian
famine relief in the 1980s ... and every emergency for the past three
decades. I characterize the solutions that have been implemented over
the past thirty years as being layer after layer of "band aids" ...
and if you recall it was Band Aid and Live Aid that did some of the
funding way back then ... and the same issues then as now about how
badly the money was used!

What I have seen in my UN experience has been some amazing work done
by the people of the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). In my
experience, they are the only UN agency that has a core focus on the
field and the people ... the refugees ... that are their
responsibility. By doing people centric planning, they get a lot done
fast, and at a very economic cost. Their management process is very
effective ... what is needed? ... do as much as you can today ... see
how you are doing ... do better (more, less, different) ... assess and
get lessons learned. In the UNHCR model all of this is happening with
a daily rhythm. It is a long time now since I worked directly with
UNHCR and I fear they are now more bureaucratic than they used to be
... but I am fairly certain they are an order of magnitude more
responsive than most of the rest of the big UN/ODA organizations and
major NGOs.

My lesson learned from previous emergencies and from systemic
development failure is that the planning and coordination is all "at
the top" and almost 100% bureaucratic and procedural. Almost all the
coordination initiatives have been "on top of" existing organizations
and the outcome has been little more than just another place to fight
turf wars.

Over the years I have seen great success in community development
where it has been possible to get local coordination and true
multi-sector collaboration. The only progress that is cost effective
and sustainable is progress that is largely based on the work of local
people ... everything else has little chance of working for long after
the assistance stops.

Community Analytics (CA) has evolved from these lessons. Simply by
having meaningful metrics about a community, and especially the people
of the community, there are going to be huge improvements in the
decisions that get made ... and with metrics there is accountability.
The progress of a community can be observed over time. The causes of
progress and the performance of the community can be observed. People
can try things and see whether things get better or not. When "help"
is offered and taken, the impact of the help can be observed. Very
simple stuff ... but very powerful.

Frankly, I find it amazing that community centric data are not
universally available in a form that is useful for the public and for
society. Data are accessible at a price for corporate product and
service marketing. Data are available in some cases for government and
political purposes. Yet society as a whole has a tough time getting
meaningful data.

In the Haiti situation a planning framework for each community will
start to bring some order out of the chaos. At the moment
organizations are standing in line with projects to get the funding
that is promised. When the plans have community focus ... the best
project and organization to deliver on a need in the community can be
in play ... and then the performance of the project in the community
can be observed. This is not rocket science ... but the basics of
simple management.

Please stay tuned ...

Peter Burgess