The Riddle of Haiti

Why do aid projects in Haiti so often seem to fail? In this episode of Big World, Professor Scott Freeman joins us to discuss the colonial history of foreign intervention in the country [01:28] and urges us to work past the international aid community’s historical rhetoric to create new narratives for “the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.” He encourages us to consider the prescribed terms and conditions of aid initiatives, and he challenges how we should define “successes” and “failures” for ongoing aid projects [04:24]. We learn more about who’s controlling aid and how NGOs and elite individuals have designed policies without local input, including how Haitians were essentially excluded from planning meetings after the disastrous 2010 earthquake by virtue of the meetings being conducted in English rather than Haitian Creole [06:09]. Freeman explains how over-productive American markets can be the cause (rather than the solution) to Haiti’s economic precarity and how Haitian commodities can be priced out of consumption and change traditional diets [08:33]. Transport yourself into the shoes of Haitian farmers facing impossible decisions: If your only income comes from keeping your land as productive as possible, would you risk poverty to conserve it for the next generation [16:58]? What is Haiti’s most famous luxury export, and how does the industry actively suppress farmer involvement for financial gain [18:56]? And to add insult to injurious aid: as the US spends less on international aid and natural disasters increase in frequency, where does the future of aid leave Haiti in the time of climate change [22:41]? We ask Freeman about the changes he would make to international development practices in our “Take Five” segment [12:42], and we learn more about the global economy, including how engaging with foreign policy can be more powerful than simply donating to a charity [14:50].