Haiti Place The 3 levels of Diaspora involvement in Haiti as defined by activist Eddy Lahens

Article Information

  • ARTICLE_POSTED_BY: Haiti Place Staff
  • ARTICLE_POSTED_ON: Apr 13, 2015
  • Comments : 6
  • Views : 1466
  • Likes : 4
  • Category : Business
  • Description : Eddy Lahens is a preeminent figure in the Haitian Diaspora, and one of the founders of Children of Haiti Enhancement Foundation in Haiti. He is an adviser for a number of Diaspora NGOs and a weekly commentator of Haiti events for a radio program. Eddy has also worked many years in Business Development for IBM.

Overview

  • Eddy Lahens is a preeminent figure in the Haitian Diaspora, and one of the founders of Children of Haiti Enhancement Foundation in Haiti. He is an adviser for a number of Diaspora NGOs and a weekly commentator of Haiti events for a radio program. Eddy has also worked many years in Business Development for IBM.

    Eddy Lahens believes that the Haitian Diaspora has formed thousands of funds and non-profits, but they struggle to create associations based on profession and location so they can be more organized.

    He is also convinced that the better way to involve the Diaspora in Haiti is by solicitation from the Haitian society.

    "What is very difficult is that there is no solicitation from Haiti to the Diaspora at any level of execution," says Eddy.

    He has identified three levels of Diaspora involvement based on solicitations from Haiti:

    First Level - solicitation from the local administration

    The first level of Diaspora involvement through solicitation is for local projects.

    For example, a town has a water fountain project that costs $50,000. There is a foundation that wants to give $30,000, the town can put in $10,000, and they are missing $10,000.


    This is a situation when the town community can contact the Diaspora, show them the plan, and request a contribution.

    However, Eddie believes that this process should be within a frame, not on an individual basis.

    Second Level - Government level

    As viewed by Eddy Lahens, at this level the Haitian Diaspora can help extend existing projects as solicited by the government.

    For example, the Government and its partners want to build a community of 1000 homes in Haiti. If you ask them why don't they build 1200 homes, they will say it's not within the budget. In this case, the Diaspora can be asked to contribute to extend such project.

    "The idea is they should engage the Diaspora by saying, ‘Hey, build an extra 10%'. It's such a poor country, and with just a little more effort they could have done a little bit more," noted Eddy.

    Third Level - a structured plan for all sectors

    Eddie believes that at the highest level there has to be a structured development plan for all the sectors of the Haitian economy. Then the Diaspora could be involved in reviewing and executing such plan.

    However, a major principle of a development plan should be the decentralization of governance and resources.

    "If there was a plan to have 10-20 major town governance, maybe people will think and open their doors to see the value between what government knows and what they need to do with what the Diaspora can contribute," says Eddy.

    He added:

    "If the planner planning the activity doesn't open up the window, then it's hard for the Diaspora person to affect change the way they know how".