It will be necessary to rebuild textile factories like this one in Haiti, as well as build more of them. Photo: NewsHour (flickr)

For aid workers and development experts, simply restoring Haiti to its pre-quake conditions will not be enough. Even before the earthquake about half of the population did not have access to clean water and 90 percent of children suffered from water-born illnesses, reported PRI.

What will it take for conditions to improve? Many argue that a robust private sector will be a key part of the country's long-term recovery and ascent out of poverty. As New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof opined, "Haiti desperately needs new schools and hospitals, but also new factories." The government services and infrastructure that NGOs and development agencies will help rebuild may provide the groundwork for a healthy economy, but their efforts cannot by themselves make it grow.

The country actually has several factors that amount to unusually good conditions for economic development, argued a report for the UN last year. Unlike many disaster zones, Hait's neighboring countries are stable, while its political leadership "is good by the standards of most post-conflict situations." Haiti's wealthy expatriate community in the U.S. and Canada funnel cash and investments there. (They contributed approximately $1.3 billion in 2008.) Some types of investment look particularly auspicious: Haiti's special trade agreements with the U.S. mean it can export goods there duty-free, making the country "the world’s safest production location for garments," while the labor it would provide manufacturers is the cheapest in the region. Significant barriers to economic growth remain, but Haiti has some often-overlooked advantages in the struggle to recover.

"We take buses, cars, motorcycles until the road stops, then we walk..." Photo: FullyFunctnlPhil (flickr)

In India, members of the Dalit caste, also known as untouchables, often work as cobblers, roadsweepers, janitors, or worse. They have been discriminated against for centuries and enjoy little to no rights. And all too often, the women are illiterate and have to ask their husbands or brothers for permission to work or go to school.

But, in the Northern state of Uttar Pradesh, a small newspaper is giving Dalit women a unique opportunity to voice their concerns. Recently, the LA Times profiled Khabar Lahariya, or News Waves, a newspaper run entirely by Dalit women. Every two weeks, they print 4,000 copies of a new issue, which is estimated to reach up to 40,000 people in and around Uttar Pradesh. The paper is supported by Nirantar, a New Delhi-based NGO that works with issues of gender, education, and development.

These women are remarkable. They're involved in every aspect of the paper — from writing articles and selling ad space, to delivering papers to remote villages. "We take buses, cars, motorcycles until the road stops, then we walk," said one staffer.

They've developed a knack for shining light on local injustices, the LA Times explains, and often get the scoop on what's happening in the community from other villagers.

The paper's recent stories included alleged bribery at health clinics, a bureaucrat reported to be siphoning off money meant for widows and a piece on the brother of a powerful politician who built a house, blocking water that had gone to Dalit farmers nearby and destroying their livelihood.

The paper has received a lot of positive feedback from the surrounding communities. Residents used to complain that Dalits' issues were underrepresented in mainstream media. One shop owner tells the LA Times how much he values Khabar Lahariya as a news source:

Other papers aren't printed in our language and don't write about local news we're most interested in... This really feels like our own. I just wish it were more than eight pages so I'd have more to read.

A market in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Photo: Cassandra Nelson/Mercy Corps

Haiti’s informal economy has begun to flourish despite the destruction caused by the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit the country on Jan. 12, the GlobalPost reports.

[D]espite the lawlessness and absence of government, the Haitian people have started to reactivate their street economy amid the ruins, providing a vital lifeline… as the first week since the quake came to a close, Haitians pulled their few resources together to get small shops and market stalls open, rickety buses and motorbike taxis moving and local radio stations on air.

At two weeks after the disaster, many residents are still living and sleeping outdoors. These conditions have contributed to a new street culture in Port-au-Prince, where many are finding new business opportunities. The Miami Herald says barbers, impromptu phone booths and laundry services can be found at almost every street corner.

Even before the earthquake it's estimated that 80 percent of workers in Port-au-Prince operated in the informal economy, according to the Miami Herald. With the city now in ruins, the Herald suggests that many Haitians previously employed in the formal sector are looking for more informal work so they can earn a little money.

Sauveur Celestine, who was once an accountant, tells the Herald that he is now recharging cell phones using discarded car batteries to make ends meet. “This has enabled me to earn some money that is not a great amount,” says Celestine “but at least it is enough for me to buy two meals a day.”

Carol Ward helps to distribute high-energy biscuits to locals at a hospital in Port-au-Prince. Photo: Cassandra Nelson/Mercy Corps

Yesterday the banks reopened in Haiti for the first time since the earthquake rocked the small island on January 12th.

Mercy Corps' spokeswoman Cassandra Nelson, who is on the ground in Port-au-Prince, stressed the importance of the banks reopening in her latest post on the Mercy Corps blog. "This means a lot to the aid effort, because there are a lot of people in Port-au-Prince who have some money — maybe not a lot — but they were having to live on handouts simply because they couldn't access their money." Without cash on hand, even wealthier Haitians were forced to seek handouts while the banks were closed.

As cash became more readily available throughout the day, Nelson saw the street economy reinvigorate from the rubble of damaged store fronts. Hawkers selling bananas and mangoes are helping restart the flow of food and resources within the country, allowing aid agencies to focus on those who are most in need of help.

You can keep up with the latest news about Mercy Corps' relief efforts in Haiti by clicking here.

Thousands of Bangladeshi environmental refugees migrate to Dhaka every year as a result of climate change. Photo: uncultured (flickr)

Big cities are likely to strain under the weight of "environmental refugees" as climate change takes effect, according to a recent story in The New York Times. The story looks at the capital city of Bangladesh where three million people came from rural areas hit by natural disasters.

Dhaka is the last resort for people like Mukhles Rahman, who have lost their homes in floods and other natural disasters. “We are trying to find another place to go, because all the land back home is dissolving,” Mukhles said to the Times, “But there aren’t jobs in other cities or villages.” However, Dhaka's already scarce resources like water, electricity and waste disposal are being stretched by the influx of environmental refugees. Like Mukhles, half of Dhaka's 12 million residents already live in slums that lack basic sanitation and drinking water.

Experts say that climate change is likely to cause more severe and frequent storms over the coming years, says the New York Times. Which means that that that even more people will become environmental refugees.

What's the worlds biggest problem? Terrorism? Nope. HIV/AIDS? Uh uh. What about war? Not quite.

Actually, it's poverty. More than 25,000 people ranked extreme poverty as the the most serious problem facing the world today, according to a BBC World Service poll.

December's Comment of the Month winner Jill Scantlan from Portland commented on Sarah Standish' post Researching Better Ways to End Poverty. She points out that community involvement is crucial to an aid program's success. She further argues that success should be measured both qualitatively and quantitatively. For her efforts, we will make a $25 donation to a project of her choice on Global Giving. Here's her comment:

This story brings up a lot of important issues concerning development projects. What is the most cost-effective way to improve literacy? Should we invest in providing lap tops for children or a mid-day meal program? How do we measure this?

I have spent a substantial amount of time observing and talking with NGOs in India who wrestle with these same issues. On the one hand, NGOs are usually bound to a government scheme, and on the other to an international aid agency. They have to prove that their projects are working and be able to measure that success in various forms of deliverables. In the end, some NGOs are successful and some make very little impact. What is the distinguishing factor?

What I have noticed is that the NGOs who use community participation in all (or most) of the stages of a project and who make the project fit the community (and not the other way around) are the most successful. In some cases, these approaches are not easily quantifiable.

J-PAL relies purely on quantitative measurements where a mixture of quantitative and qualitative would be more appropriate. A randomized sample, though statistically sound, can only tell you so much. Assessment and success goes beyond meeting targets and quotas. It is usually found in the attitudes and behavior of a community, which cannot be measured by numbers alone.

Keep writing in and share your though-provoking comments for a chance to win $25 towards the well-deserving charity of your choice!

* Lest anyone think $25 is not a lot, consider these figures from our affiliate Mercy Corps: $25 delivers clean, safe drinking water to 50 people in one of eastern Congo's sprawling displacement camps. $25 provides seeds to farmers in cyclone-devastated areas of Myanmar to plant five acres of rice. $25 gives traumatized children in Darfur 12 weeks of activities and psychological care to help them heal.

View of impromptu tent city in the middle of Haiti's capital. Photo: United Nations Development Programme (flickr)

Haiti has just received another powerful blow. A powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake rocked Haiti's capital on Tuesday, devastating a country that has seen more than its share of disasters both man-made and natural over the last few years. The news reports trickling in paint a bleak picture of almost unimaginable ruin.

I was privileged to witness some amazing progress in this tiny country that has long carried the dubious distinction of being the poorest nation in the western hemisphere during my annual and semi-annual trips to the island nation since the election of a new president in 2006. Paved roads and bridges had begun to appear across raging rivers that kept villages isolated. In the small community of 40,000 where most of my work took me, Engineers Without Borders drilled and installed seven clean water wells that dramatically lowered the infant mortality death rate. In a community that had once had just one Cuban-trained health worker who functioned without medicine or equipment, a small staff of doctors and nurses began to provide health care. A fragile sliver of hope had begun to take root.

This earthquake has devastated a country that does not have the resources to recover on its own. Mercy Corps’s has dispatched a response team to rush critical supplies and other urgent assistance to survivors. More staffers will arrive in the coming days.

As more aid workers arrive, they will face huge challenges. Haiti's international airport has just one runway and no taxiways, so airplanes that land there have to do a U-turn at the end of the runway and taxi back to a parking space. I can imagine that right now, that one runway and the airspace around Port au Prince is busier than a Los Angeles freeway. On the ground, the Mercy Corps team may find that accommodations are sparse or non-existent. Reports indicate that even major buildings in the capital city have been heavily damaged or destroyed. Security will also be an issue. The United Nations peacekeeping forces have provided the most reliable security in the country, but they themselves have been devastated by the death and injury of key personnel. Food and safe drinking water were never abundant, but now they will be even scarcer. Over the coming weeks and months Haitians will face tremendous obstacles to recovery.

Thankfully, the professionals at Mercy Corps have seen all of this before. They have a long history of helping earthquake survivors in other countries: Peru, China, Pakistan, and Indonesia. I have no doubts about their capacity to provide the best possible support in this situation. Several people have asked how they could best help with Mercy Corps’s effort. Really, the best way anyone could help is to make a cash donation to the Mercy Corps Haiti Earthquake Fund. As a matter of policy Mercy Corps does not use volunteers or donated materials like clothing from the general public in their relief efforts.

With a combination of generous donations and Mercy Corps' tremendous professional resources we can help Haiti survive this devastating body blow and replant the small seeds of hope that I saw grow there over the past few years.

Antiretroviral drugs. Photo: shortie 66 (flickr)

An enormous barrier in the fight against HIV/AIDS in developing nations has started to crumble.

Last month, the international drug purchaser and WHO-partner organization UNITAID announced plans to form a patent pool to lower the cost of some of the most expensive medications used to treat HIV, reports the Guardian. The agreement is a blessing for the estimated 14 million people who do not have access to affordable treatment — most of whom live in developing nations, says UNAIDS, a branch of the UN that deals specifically with HIV/AIDS.

The patent pool will allow generic pharmaceutical companies to develop medications that are still protected under patent laws in exchange for royalties. Consequently, the competition between generic manufacturers lowers the overall price of the drug. By UNITAID's estimate, the cost of some drugs will fall from $1,000 a year to as little as $100.

Not only will more people have access to these new drugs, the drugs themselves will become better. Fixed-dose combination medications (FDCs), formed from different compounds that work well when used together but are often developed by competing pharmaceutical companies, have been hard to create under old patent laws, reports UNITAID. In contrast, the pool gives manufacturers access to a variety of different compounds to make more effective and easier-to-use FDCs.

So far, UNITAID has identified 19 drugs from nine different pharmaceutical companies to bring into the pool. Although there has been resistance by a few of the companies — who are in no way obligated to enter the pool — many like Merck and Gilead have already pledged to put some of their top medications into the pool. “Today is a good day for people living with HIV/AIDS in developing countries,” noted one UNITAID official.

What do you get when you put together a small environmentally friendly Ethiopian business, a trendy-looking product, and a huge international retailer together? In the case of the company soleRebels, you get a hit!

SoleRebels founder Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu came up with the idea for her company out of a desire to make a shoe based on the flip flops made of old tires that had been worn by Ethiopians for decades, she explains to the Guardian. But instead of focusing on the local market, Alemu had her sights on the international market.

She used the internet to contact retailers and eventually companies like Urban Outfitters and Amazon.com started selling soleRebels. Her company now employs 45 workers and they can produce up to 500 pairs of shoes in a day. Sales are growling steadily, and Alemu has plans to expand: Her sales goal for 2010 is £300,000 ($479,760).

The company's progress signifies more than just a desire to for commercial success; it's a way for Ethiopians to help each other. "In Ethiopia we have become used to taking money from the west, to always getting help," said Alemu. "That does not make for a sustainable economy. We need to solve our own problems."

SoleRebels footwear is based on the sandals made from used tires that Ethiopians have worn out of necessity. Photo: soleRebels