HelpHaiti

Good morning,

Once again, welcome to our new friends on this list of HelpHaiti (http://GiveToAustin.org/HelpHaiti) contributors.  We’ve raised $130k against the $600k in match funds, with pledges that lead us to believe we’ll soon be at $200k (in addition to the initial $600k).  Additionally, we have earmarked $150k for 30-day challenge grants specifically for 3 charities doing outstanding work in Haiti – more on this further below. As a reminder, we expect to raise funds against the $600k match over a 5 or 6 month period.

Because the email trail was bumping up against some recipients’ mailbox acceptance size, I’ve lopped off those prior to Jan 27.  If you’d like a copy of the earlier updates, just send me a note and I’ll forward.  Below I’ve pasted notes from three telephone calls with our operating partners in Haiti.  There’s a lot of information – sorry for the detail but I thought some would want to see it and others could just breeze over it.

You’ll notice the addition of Catholic Relief Services as a partner.  In our conversations with Concern Worldwide and Partners in Health, Catholic Relief Services stood out as a trusted and critical partner, especially in food distribution and because of their distribution network through churches all around the country.  Our good friend and Austin ventures executive, Chris Earthman, happens to be the board chair of Austin’s Catholic Charities.  He put us in contact with their Director of Worldwide Emergency Operations, Pat Johns.  Pat was in charge for CRS in Indonesia for 5 years after the tsunami and oversaw $130mm worth of relief and rebuild – notes from this call further below.

We had a grants committee meeting yesterday.  After reviewing information from our HelpHaiti partners and discussing the unique place for HelpHaiti to assist, we’ve prioritized five areas of support (in addition to the emergency relief grants we’ve already made):

1. Food & water

2. Shelter – (temporary housing)

3. Health & sanitation

4. Education & schools

5. Economic empowerment

The first three categories are obviously basic needs.  Even now in the second phase of our grant making (short term & intermediate humanitarian aid & relief), hundreds of thousands (in some form up to 3 million) of Haitians need assistance just obtaining basic human needs.  These aren’t so difficult to identify and our three partners (Concern Worldwide, Partners in Health and Catholic Relief Services) have been helping provide these in Haiti for many years – employing primarily Haitians to do so.

The second two categories of aid – education/schools and economic empowerment are not yet as easy to define.  While we’ve targeted these areas, we haven’t identified which organizations we’d grant.  Each of our three existing grantees have in-Haiti partners who work in these areas.  We’ll investigate them to start.  Education & schools isn’t so difficult to understand, but will we contribute to the repair of damaged schools (75% of all schools were flattened, over 4,000), the construction of temporary schools or to teacher salaries and supplies? We need more information to answer these questions.

Economic empowerment – even before the earthquake, Haiti was the poorest country in our hemisphere.  Substantial resources were being placed on economic empowerment – whether microfinance, other new business assistance, workforce development or the development of distribution networks.  We don’t yet know how much or how we plan to invest in this area but we will evaluate alternatives.  Our intention is for some of your/our donated monies to be channeled in ways that help Haitians lift themselves out of recovery & disaster and into prosperity – at least relative prosperity.

The three challenge grants – we’ve asked our partners if $50k challenge grants would empower them to raise more funds – even possibly from existing donors.  And, we’d like to further empower men & women (even students & youth) organizing grassroots fundraisers (concerts, dinner, movie showings, house parties) to offer their donors dollar for dollar match funding benefitting Partners in Health, Concern Worldwide and Catholic Relief Services.

Our committee worked hard preparing for yesterday’s grants meeting and takes seriously the stewardship of your and our donated monies.  Thank you for the trust you’ve placed in us and please feel free to forward ideas, suggestions, comments and questions.  Again, thank you for your generous support.

Appreciatively,

Eugene

# # # # #

Partner telephone briefings from Feb 3, 4 & 5:

Concern Worldwide

Feb 3: Siobhan Walsh (US, ED), Susan Finucane (Program Officer), Rosemary Siciliano (Development Mngr), Philip Berber, Amanda Chiampi, Eugene

Four documents forwarded by Rosemary on Concern’s work in Haiti.  In Haiti since 1994.

16 local partners – distribution as well as supplies  (include: Catholic Relief Services, CARE, Christian Aid, Save the Children, German agro action)

800,000 people still need shelter

6 month program.  Camp use to be a football field, now have 8k people.  Have built water bladders

3 water bladders in slums of PaP and 4 mobile distribution trucks plus distribute purifying tablets

Plan to build 15k latrines

7 nutritional centers.  Even before earthquake, were targeting 10k children for malnutrition.  Recent mothers not able to breast feed b/c traumatized.

Shelter – coming into rainy season.  People can’t stay in capital until after cleanup.  Cash for work program ($4 – $5/day)  $3mm total for cash for work program.  Grant ap into Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance.

Education – doing assessments of all schools.  4k have been absolutely flattened.  Architects for Humanity helping. Met with Cameron yesterday.  4 or 5 engineers initially on loan.  Maybe build temp schools.

Spend & raise – over next 6 months, have applied to UN & Ireland for funding.  Trying to raise $5mm for 6 month operation.

Majority of staff Haitian.  Local 106 Haitian with 6 expat.  Have added experts from abroad, maybe 15 – 18 ex pat.

Stories about people buying saws at the market to do amputations.  Rainy season March – May.  Hurricane season July – Oct.  World Food Program has mandate to provide food.

Some organizations just dropping off aid and leaving – creating chaos and violence.  People are desperate and hungry.  Prisons, prisoners, gangs.

Partners in Health

Feb 4: Susan Sayers (Development) and Ted Constan (Chief Program Officer), Amanda & Eugene

Ted was recently in Haiti.  Primary approach to work through public sector.  Moving out of acute phase.  Now to strengthen local institutions with everything doing going forward.  Spoke & hub approach – in charge of two health districts which border PaP to the north where already had 12 health clinics.  These districts receiving the most displaced people from PaP – 500,000.

Simultaneous push to bring care into PaP.  There are informal gathering places outside areas where the largest NPOs/govts distribute.  Ten of these settlements.  PiH has mobile clinics servicing.

Long term basis is to rebuild physical medical infrastructure, especially medical education (partnership with Harvard medical).  The entire 2010 nursing class is dead, all died in one building.

Strengthening sites up north – beyond medical, include shelter, education and income generation .  PiH already did programs like this prior to earthquake.

Partners:  Famkoze a bank in Haiti doing microfinance.  Gheskio (Cornell group) more of the work in urban PaP.  Albert Schweitzer runs the private hospital.  World Food Programs for food- moving from emergency food to food sovereignty.

Have raised $44mm (some still in pledges).  Annual budget for Haiti prior to earthquake $25mm (1/2 govt funded for HIV and TB).  Valuing expansion of displaced population program at $10mm (right away).  Approaching $10mm at what have spent, with a lot more authorized and on credit.  $100mm for Haiti rebuild over 2.5 – 3 years.  Looking for lt partners.

2k community workers

Catholic Relief Services

Feb 5: Pat Johns (dir of worldwide emergency operations), Dee Orren (director of major gifts, SW Region), Chris Earthman (AV & board chair Catholic Charities Austin), Amanda & Eugene

In Haiti for 50 years.  Program before earthquake large scale HIV/AIDS as well as development activities.  Major player in rehab after hurricane.  80% of Haitians Catholic.  Parishes and diocese major partners.  Also: CARE, Save the Children, World Vision and Oxfam.

320 national staff and a dozen expats on the ground @ earthquake – all survived.

Had supplies in warehouses.  Handled first cargo shipments of food into country after earthquake. 50 additional staff brought in.

Managing largest food distribution in the city with World Food network – 2 week rations per family.  Presence of US military essential for security.  In charge of the largest camp in town:  30k – 35k people.  82^nd airborne involved.

Shelter kits – must distribute before rainy season.

Oxfam critical partner (water).  Sanitation a huge challenge.  Partner with Maryland Medical Center (18 rotating staff members)

LT thinking: relocation while clean up and rebuild.  Longer term need for food.  Possibly involved in reconstruction of clinics and schools.

Have raised $30mm.  (raised $112mm for tsunami and this problem bigger).  Guess have spent $4mm, including just $1mm for transitional shelters.

20% investment in immediate relief; 80% in recovery

Intermediate plan and spend in progress.  They will forward to us.