Time for Peace Corps to Come back to Haiti?

Elections were (relatively) successful and the country is (relatively) stable at the moment. Port au Prince is still a powder-keg and kidnapping remains a major problem, yet to be addressed. Anyone who has lived in Haiti know that’s most of the country is not like Port-au-Prince. None of the Peace Corps volunteers worked in Port. Our office was/is there, the airport was there, and the staff had ready access to Haitian and American government officials when needed.

It may be time to begin a dialogue on the merits of bringing the Peace Corps back to Haiti. It could be done. We have an office and finding staff would not be an issue. Do I think Peace Corps/Haiti could exist in a manner similar to its past incarnations? No, probably not. With creativity and commitment, Peace Corps could again have a presence in Haiti.

As a first step, Crisis Corps members should be sent to Haiti to work with established community based projects that need CC staff for concrete assignments. Not two years of integrating and bonding with community members, but several months of serious capacity building. Training of trainers, helping establish a community cyber-cafe, assisting with the organization of a vaccination campaign, etc. These CC reps. throughout the country can work with Peace Corps staff to determine whether Peace Corps/Haiti should be revived.

I don’t see Haiti existing as a national program. The logistics of evacuating volunteers from the Plateau, North, and South is daunting. Instead, I see Peace Corps having a regional role in either the South or the North.

The pro of working in the south is that Peace Corps had a pretty big foot print in that area. Peace Corps would establish an office in Les Cayes and volunteers would be in outlying villages. The region is safe, the infrastructure good, and when Peace Corps staff have to interact with American and government officials, just drive into Port and spend the night. Its four hours of paved road. Clearly, the south is better off than the north. However, it would be good to re-establish a presence in an area with good infrastructure. It’s an easier sell for the policy makers.

The north is another option. Calmer than Port au Prince for certain and there are any number of good sites up there. There is an airport should there ever need to be an evacuation, and it would be easy to take volunteers over to the DR. With route national one not being paved all the way, trips to Port by Peace Corps staff would be much more difficult. A certain degree of flexibility is lost. But it is still an option.

Clearly, the months ahead will determine whether re-establishment of the Peace Corps is feasible. Those of us in Washington have access to Peace Corps staff, including the Director. We should begin a dialogue now on feasibility and utility of starting up Peace Corps sometime in the next year or so. Is there consensus in the Peace Corps community? We won’t know until we start talking about it. With that, Haiti Innovation has asked alumni of the Peace Corps to give their views and opinions on this matter.

Bryan