NEW YORK_HRF PARTICIPATES AT HIGH-LEVEL INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS MEETING

High-level officials including President Martelly, Prime Minister Lamothe, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and former President Bill Clinton met on Thursday, September 27^th in New York City to discuss support for Haiti. The purpose of the meeting was to share strategies for maintaining the momentum of reconstruction with 20+ representatives of bilateral and multilateral donors.

Prime Minister Lamothe used the opportunity to announce the Government of Haiti’s new structure for coordinating international assistance. The approach centers around an Aid Effectiveness Committee (CEA in French), chaired by the PM, with participation from Government, donors, civil society, local government, and the private sector. The CEA is intended to replace the role played by the Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission. The PM noted, “the GoH is committed to reaffirm its full leadership over development efforts, and demonstrate strong ownership of the decision making process on all aid matters.”

The Haiti Reconstruction Fund (HRF) was invited to participate at the meeting as a special guest of the Government. Dr. Joe Leitmann, HRF Manager, used the opportunity to share a summary of the HRF’s second annual progress report with participants. Leitmann also met with the PM during the meeting and confirmed that “the HRF will support the new aid coordination mechanism and synchronize its activities with the CEA to maximize effectiveness.”