Above: Haiti Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe and President Michel Martelly (Photo: OP Haiti)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Haiti and its international donors held the first-ever meeting of the new Committee on Coordination of External Aid for the Development of Haiti, an initiative the government said would communicate reconstruction funding “more effectively.”

While there has been no shortage of funding targeted for Haiti in the three years since the earthquake, its disbursement has been another story, as reported in film “Haiti: Where Did the Money Go,” which was released in 2011.

Under the new paradigm, Haiti is seeking to channel more aid through the government itself, replacing the Interim Commission for the Reconstruction of Haiti.

That committee, which was created in April 2010 following the earthquake, had been co-chaired by former US President Bill Clinton and former Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive.

Following the meeting, the committee released a statement expressing the desire of Haiti and its international donors “to align their particular technical and financial support on development policies and priorities for government intervention.”

“Under the leadership of the government of Haiti and within the CAED, development partners and the government of Haiti are committed to defining an agreement of mutual responsibility to help achieve tangible results and sustainable development,” the committee said. “This commitment shall specify the objectives, expectations, roles, responsibilities and mutual commitments.”

Lamothe said he hoped the new committee, which includes 16 Haitians and 16 foreigners, would “improve and accelerate the disbursement of reconstruction funds.”

“Under this framework the government has navigated between our developmental legacies, our vulnerability to natural events, and, our recurrent need for the right type of foreign assistance,” said Haiti Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe, who chairs the 32-member committee. “We are convinced that what we are doing today is setting the stage for the kind of country that we all want Haiti to be in 2030.”

Those attending Friday’s meeting included Clinton.