As soon as we tore our eyes and ears away from the news on Jan. 12, those of us who could donate to Haiti quickly did so. Indeed, the aftermath of the Haitian quake has been marked by one of the fastest and largest fundraising campaigns in modern history.

But as world leaders meet in Montreal to talk about strategies to rebuild Haiti, many of those on the ground are only cautiously optimistic about the untold millions of dollars now pouring into the country.

Haitian researcher and aid worker Tim Schwartz, who has spent a number of years in Haiti, recently wrote in Now Magazine about how the delivery of aid has gone so wrong. Schwartz explained how “piyay,” which he described as foreign goods “habitually distributed  … with little or no accountability or control”, has hurt Haitians more than it’s helped them.

“Piyay from foreign missionaries and aid agencies with the best of intentions but little understanding of the culture they are working in too often turns the village sociopath or criminal into the wealthiest member of the community,” lamented Schwartz.

In the middle of the mess, a small group of Canadians are trying to buck the trend. I recently interviewed Scott Gilmore on our re-launched podcast. Gilmore is the executive director of Peace Dividend Trust, an organization based in a handful of troubled spots around the world.

He explained to us that over twenty staffers from that organization were in Port-au-Prince when the quake hit.

“They were all in the office when the earthquake hit,” Gilmore said of the staff, some of whom were sent from New York and Ottawa to open a new project office the Friday following the earthquake.

After getting initial word from the Haitian team that they were all safe, no one heard from them for 24 hours. Gilmore was in New York at the time, and he had shortly made plans to get to the airport, fly to the Dominican Republic in the middle of the night, and drive overland to Port-au-Prince in a waiting truck.

On the way to the airport, though, Gilmore got word from Haiti that the team had survived the earthquake relatively unscathed.

“Some of our people have lost their houses and are actually living in tents on our compound, but everyone is safe and within about 48 hours we were back to work,” he said.

Gilmore explained how PDT is working to reverse the trend illustrated by Schwartz. He said that the group is now undertaking projects similar in nature to its work in Afghanistan. With millions of dollars being spent on the relief effort, Gilmore wants Haitian businesses and suppliers to benefit – not their foreign donors.

Although Haitians are reeling in the aftermath of a life-shattering disaster, Gilmore estimated that about 30 percent of businesses in the country are up and running. He said they are able to supply bottled water, clothing and food to those who need it most.

PDT has a list of 200 businesses based in Haiti that are able to deliver relief, and they are working to direct aid to those organizations. It’s very similar to their work in Afghanistan that Gilmore spoke about in that earlier podcast.

“In Afghanistan, we found that the vast majority of the aid money wasn’t actually entering the local economy. Stuff was being bought overseas and flown in, and that was billions and billions of dollars of missed opportunity,” he said.

“So we put a team of people on the ground whose job it is, is to make it as easy as possible for the laziest procurement officer to buy local, to find an Afghan entrepreneur to provide him with the wheat or water or tires as opposed to finding it in Dubai or Italy. And so far it’s redirected over $370 million of new spending in the Afghan economy. It’s created thousands of jobs, and because of its success, the U.S. government, the British government, NATO and the UN have all changed their procurement policies globally, recognizing one of the fastest and healthiest ways for them to help local economies is to buy local.”

Gilmore hopes that the same strategy can have a similar effect on Haitian rehabilitation efforts. He added that more PDT staff will travel to Haiti in the coming months.

Participants in the "Africa Gathering" conference in London, October 27, 2009. CC-licensed photo via Flickr by chiefmoamba.

In the interest of full disclosure, I currently work with Project Diaspora and am getting hitched to one of the founders next year in Uganda (you might be invited). However, that said, I think myself (mostly) capable of distinguishing between these personal associations and PD’s mandate.

When I first joined PD in 2008, I was vaguely interested in their work. I thought the core idea of the project was different from the mainstream, and therefore merited some attention.

However, when TMS Ruge spoke at Africa Gathering a few weeks ago in London, the reason for initiatives like PD truly became tangible.

While working with the Aga Khan Foundation has been interesting, I often feel that my work is superfluous and could be done much better by someone with a cultural familiarity and connection to East Africa.

I also feel that we foreigners continue the colonialist vibe first exported by the British to Kenya. And, as my father, a former diplomat, points out, the days of colonialism have neatly blended into the proxy Cold Wars fought in African countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Now, international development and aid have become, in large part, a cover for forcing poor and unstable countries into adapting the norms and ideals of other nations so that the West can export their products and ensure their own long-term financial health.

Despite these very real moral obstacles, international development — in the sense of cross-cultural integration, stemming poverty and establishing global economic stability (but not necessarily growth) — remains an important component of African advancement. In a sense, the funds and quality of work necessary to jump-start countries is often still found in the West. Therefore, despite all the subversion that aid delivers, it is necessary to build a connection between these two regions, the minority and majority worlds.

But, how about a different connection? PD seems to offer a unique solution to these two difficulties: development should be home grown with the necessary cultural, linguistic and religious nuances to be successful. At the same time, Western resources are often necessary to start-up projects (even PD, strictly averse to aid, understands this).

PD envisions harnessing the knowledge and financial resources (including $40 billion annually in remittances) of the African Diaspora, mostly living in the West, in the interest of social and economic development in Africa.

This means encouraging members of the African Diaspora to contribute to the advancement of their countries; either by coming back and directly contributing their skills; or by acting as advisors to government, non-governmental organizations and the private sector. PD hopes, in a sense, to reverse the “brain-drain” that has been overwhelmingly crippling the African continent.

Instead of imported World Bank employees at $100,000+ tax free per year, such international organizations can focus and draw upon an influential African Diaspora working in the West and start re-building these broken links.

In the long-run, this could bolster the faltering middle class of countries like Uganda and allow a stronger political voice among the people. By ensuring a cultural continuity in development, one also has the opportunity to lift people out of “victimhood” and bring the role-models home.

However, this is only a first step. The idea of re-branding Africa must be included. In practice, this concept would allow for the awakening of a new market built on the talent of Africans, Diaspora and non-Diaspora. As explained in TMS’ speech, customer service is key to the development of countries like Uganda. I don’t mean in the traditional sense — even though Teddy refers to it — as exporting computer troubleshooting labor from the US to Uganda.

Instead, I think he (and many other Ugandans/Africans) mean that businesses in places like Uganda need to step up to the plate and produce the products and service currently delivered both in the West and new economic superpowers like China and India. Simultaneously, we need to use the individuals behind these businesses as proof that African countries are not defined simply by corruption, instability, poverty and war. This involves both bringing these individuals to international light and helping the West understand that there is an investment to be made, while ensuring that African countries deliver on the work that is desired.

Lastly, while globalization has its merits, I think Africa can do it differently — and better. With all the “big” lessons being learned by countries like China (pollution) and the US (dependency on oil), African countries have the opportunity to posit a ‘healthier’ form of economic and social development.

Brenda, one of the orphaned children at the CYCA Center for Orphaned Children. Photo credit: TMS Ruge (tmsruge.com).

International development and foreign aid is a complicated and contentious field. A thousand different components—such as water, sanitation, food security, child care, education, infrastructure—need to be addressed simultaneously. The targeted community must be the leader of all changes. Financing must come from a sustainable source, such as partial subsidization by the community itself, to ensure a sense of “ownership.” Hand-outs lead to laziness and a lack of responsibility.

The traditional model of development, the one I first became familiar with in 2007, is no longer applicable. There is no room for “imposed” development. While a one-week orientation might be enough to put a thin mask over “imposition,” if the community is not at the root of the development process then the project will inevitably fail as donors leave.

While the “imposition” model is less and less common, it is still hard to find “home-grown” development projects. Many are crowded out by mainstream development networks with larger budgets. Others have not harnessed the Internet to communicate with the media and the public. In many regions in Eastern Africa, civil society is limited and local non-governmental organizations uncommon.

Because of these circumstances, when I come across a project like the CYCA Center for Orphaned Children, I find its accomplishments remarkable. Founded by Armstrong Ongera, a philosophy graduate from the University of Nairobi and Founder/President of the Armstrong International Development Network (AIDN), the orphanage is a sustainable development model based on local funding. It is developed by Kenyans, for Kenyans.

While the local volunteering ethos is only just starting to make an impact in Eastern Africa, Ongera has harnessed the talents of friends and family, as well as the Diaspora, and ensured their contribution to a variety of projects—from the orphanage to banana growing in Kisii, South-Western Kenya. Members, both in Kenya and in the Diaspora, contribute $20 a month.

Ongera moved to Nairobi, the country’s capital, as he started high school. He settled in one of the city’s many slums, living with his brother and later by himself. He describes slum life as a “culture” unto itself, offering a variety of experiences and a tight, impermeable community. While he mentions the many problems that come with extreme poverty—rape and domestic abuse, among others—he speaks fondly of the mentality slum-life engendered: a sense of community and togetherness.

This mentality was eventually translated into the orphanage located in Ongata Rongai, a community on the borders of Nairobi. Founded in 2007, the center takes care of 22 children between the ages of 5 and 14.

The orphanage is not about getting children off the street to only see them return as adults. Ongera aims to ensure that they leave as independent and successful young adults with the resources to achieve the dreams they have now.

Willa, a five-year-old Maasai girl, wants to be an actress; another wants to be a journalist; yet another a pilot. “I want to make sure they are exposed to these dreams,” explains Ongera, who incorporates a type of career planning into their five-day school week. “I want to make sure they know what it takes to be what they want.”

The orphanage’s main room is covered in paintings and pictures, sign that the children are given the opportunity to explore and use their imagination. We sit in circles singing songs and they proudly show me their art creations. While sleeping quarters are tight, there is a large playground outside. For dinner, they sit at a long table and eat healthy portions of ugali (protein filled maize) and sukuma (green vegetables). Many still wear face paint from the afternoon’s field trip.

Most children are sourced from a local slum where they were left with extended family or the community, neither which could not care for them adequately. Some lost their parents to HIV/AIDS, others to the 2008 post-election violence. Some have family who come to visit on Sunday, but Ongera says he rarely see anyone.

Inspired by his own upbringing and his unique position to help these children, Ongera has teamed up with other Kenyans and stepped in to help. While they may not have a traditional family, these children have found a new home in the orphanage, one which offers the stability of field trips, regular schooling, healthy food, close friends and adopted parents.

AIDN is looking for Kenyan Diaspora members to help contribute to the program, primarily in terms of mentorship. Please contact AIDN via Project Diaspora.