The Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC) and the Haiti Reconstruction Fund (HRF) held this Wednesday, July 13, 2011, on the Hotel Montana an important meeting with key government liaison officers from the IHRC. The meeting including various workshops, aimed to strengthen the ties already existing between the experts of the IHRC and those of ministries involved in reconstruction. The various leaders of the IHRC and of HRF were able to present the key processes of the functioning of the Commission and of Fund, including the cycle of analysis and approval of projects and the funding mechanisms of HRF. The team also used this meeting to clarify its role in relation to key sectors with which it interacts, including the private sector and NGOs, in partnership with the Coordinating Unit of NGO activities in the Ministry of Planning and External Cooperation (MPCE). The Office of Performance and fight against corruption has presented the methodology used to make the inventory of projects approved by the IHRC, report that will be released at the next meeting of the Board of Directors on July 22. Finally, a reminder of the figures on external aid to Haiti has been made.

"I usually reply to all the invitations of the IHRC on behalf of my Ministry, but I found that day particularly useful because it has helped to clarify many points relating to the operation of the IHRC and of HRF as well as the new approach adopted. However, I wish to express the necessity that the choice of liaison officers of government delegates to the IHRC is properly done and completed to ensure a continuity of the state and a better appropriation of working mechanisms between the IHRC and the ministries" declared Mr. Erick Valbrun (Technical Advisor, Ministry of Economy and Finance).

For Ms. Magaly Bienaimé (Assistant Director, MPCE) " This day has allowed to weld the links between the IHRC and the government, to the point that I wonder if we can still talk about two teams, only one since we are now merged and we are one big family. I sincerely hope that this synergy effectively go in the direction of the collective interest."

"This workshop has been recommended by our colleagues in the Ministry of Planning, who, after working with us for several months on the improvement of our mechanisms of review of projects, felt that it was time to share all these elements more actively with the sector level" says Aurélie Boukobza, Projects Director within the IHRC. "This important communication effort was designed to communicate with the Government the mechanisms and advances of the IHRC, and to validate the new review process of projects, in testing since April. We decided not to wait, to organize as soon as possible, given the urgency of the reconstruction and the necessity of having a more efficient process."

The active participation of government liaison officers at the workshop has resulted to lively discussions and many proposals for a better collaboration. It allowed to demonstrate the complementarity of the IHRC and the ministries in many aspects. In particular, the decision was taken that all projects submitted to the IHRC would also be shared with the relevant ministries at the beginning of the process to ensure a better exchange of information and speed up the selection of relevant projects in the process of reconstruction. Exchange meetings will also take place regularly.

HL/ HaitiLibre/ IHRC