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Louis Herns Marcelin, right, associate professor of anthropology at UM, discusses the World Bank Report “Haiti: Towards a New Narrative” with audience members, while Raju Singh, World Bank lead economist for Haiti, looks on.
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (October 15, 2015) – Despite a modest surge in its economy following the destructive 2010 earthquake, Haiti continues to be mired in economic crisis, as political instability, natural disasters, and other factors such as an unfavorable business climate continue to make the island nation the poorest in the Americas, according to the findings of a new World Bank report shared with the University of Miami community on Wednesday.
Presented by Raju Singh, World Bank lead economist for Haiti, during a 90-minute forum at UM’s School of Communication, Haiti: Towards a New Narrative examines post-earthquake reconstruction and assesses the efficiency and effectiveness of foreign aid efforts in Haiti five years after the temblor that killed more than 200,000 people and destroyed much of the capital city of Port-au-Prince’s infrastructure.
While Haiti has opportunities for growth and a vision to become an emerging economy by 2030, obstacles such as a weak infrastructure, low literacy rates, and ineffective government continue to hold it back, Singh noted. He said a lack of money remains the primary reason that many people in Haiti cannot access basic services, such as health care, and called for a social contract that would improve the lives of all Haitians by providing them with better health care, education, and other social programs.
Louis Herns Marcelin, an associate professor of anthropology at UM who led the creation of an institute dedicated to high-level research and scientific training in Haiti, the Interuniversity Institute for Research and Development or INURED, called for greater dialogue using more accurate data to help the country, as well as studying how other nations in the region successfully instituted reforms to improve growth.
The forum was sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Communication.
Read the full report, and learn more about the University of Miami’s longstanding relationship with Haiti and its people in the UM-produced Haiti Special Report.
