111 bilateral and multilateral donors disbursed approximately $1.69 billion dollars in humanitarian funding in response to the earthquake and the subsequent cholera outbreak in 2010 and the first half of 2011. An additional $740.6 million has been committed, indicates the report "Has Aid Changed ? Channeling assistance to Haiti before and after the earthquake" published in June by the Office of the Special Envoy (OSE) for Haiti.

The report explains that out a $2.4 billion committed or disbursed in humanitarian funding, 40% was provided as in-kind donation of goods and services and 60% as grants. Almost half of the grant funding (674.9 million) was channeled to projects listed in the UN appeals.

The report takes a close look at the aid architecture and the various channels that donors use to provide aid in support of humanitarian and recovery efforts. It explains that the Government of Haiti was severely affected by the earthquake and in this context, no Haitian-led, overarching plan or coordination mechanism for relief was established. Donors, as well as the UN, the Red Cross Movement and international NGOs conducted their own assessments prepared their own plans and issued their own appeals for funding.

Of the $2.43 billion committed or disbursed in humanitarian funding, 34 per cent was provided to donors' own civil and military entities for disaster response; 28 per cent was provided to agencies and international NGOs for projects listed in the CAP; 26 per cent was provided to other international NGOs and private contractors; 6 per cent was provided in-kind to unspecified recipients; 5 per cent was provided to the International Federation of the Red Cross and national Red Cross Societies; and 1 per cent was provided to the Government of Haiti.

On the other hand, of the 4.06 billion in recovery aid (excluding debt relief) committed or disbursed, approximately 55 per cent was channeled directly to multilateral agencies, international non-state service providers and non specified-recipients; 33 per cent was provided in support of the public sector and 12 per cent directly to the government.

It is not so much disbursing funds but the way aid is channeled that determines the impact on the lives of the Haitian people, insists the report. In its foreword, Paul Farmer, Deputy Special Envoy for Haiti, argues that "with over 99 per cent of relief funding circumventing Haitian public institutions, the already challenging task of moving from relief to recovery- which requires government leadership, above all- becomes almost impossible."

The report does not provide any recommendations but concludes that "donors can do much to increase the proportion of funds channeled through the Haitian public and private sectors as part of recovery efforts."

HL/ HaitiLibre