How U.S. aid spent in Haiti “opaque as ever” - think tank
Source: AlertNet
How U.S. aid spent in Haiti “opaque as ever” - think tank
Fri, 12 Apr 2013 05:18 GMT
Source: alertnet // Anastasia Moloney
BOGOTA (AlertNet) - The United States government needs to do more to improve how billions of dollars of American quake aid to Haiti is tracked and accounted for in the Caribbean nation, a think tank said.
In its latest report, the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) found a lack of transparency in how the U.S., the largest foreign aid donor in Haiti, is spending money on the ground there.
After the massive January 2010 quake, the U.S. pledged $1.15 billion for humanitarian aid and rebuilding - funds that are largely overseen by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
“The overall picture is that some strides have been made by USAID to make some level of information available, but it’s not enough to make an evaluation of the impact of aid on the ground. There’s a lack of real transparency around U.S. assistance to Haiti that makes it more difficult to identify problems and make corrections,” Jake Johnston, a CEPR researcher who co-authored the report told AlertNet in a telephone interview.
Read more: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/how-us-aid-spent-in-haiti-opaque-as-ever-think-tank
