Haiti Disaster Development and Poverty

Transcription

1 Haiti Disaster Development and Poverty 3 rd Caribbean Conference on Comprehensive Disaster Management The Hilton Barbados, December Asha Kambon, PhD, Regional Adviser, ECLAC Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean

2 Poverty, Vulnerability and Risk Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and the most unequal (Gini Coefficient is 0.65); Nearly half of national income goes to the richest 10 percent of the population. According to the Haiti Living Conditions Survey conducted in 2001 by L Institut Haïtien de Statistique et d Informatique (IHSI), three quarters of the Haitian population (77%) are poor and over half (56%), or approximately four and a half million people, are extremely poor;

3

4 Vulnerability the conditions determined by physical, social, economic and environmental factors or processes, which increase the susceptibility of a community to the impact of hazards World conference on Disaster Reduction, Kobe Japan 2005

5 Selected Social Characteristics that reduces susceptibility and increases risk Social exclusion and marginalization, conflict ( recent food crisis) and instability, and a lack of education, health care and basic services all contribute to perpetuating the poverty cycle; 34% of the population has access to adequate sanitation; 54% have no access to potable water; 49% of the population is undernourished; health expenditure per capita is $83 USD (UNDP, 2005); expenditure on education is quite low and inadequate, at 2.5% of GDP for FY This level of allocation compares poorly with the low income countries (LICs) which average 3.2% of GDP, and even by Sub-Saharan African standards, of 3.4%, is low; Around 5.6% of the population is estimated to be infected with HIV/AIDS, the highest rate outside of Africa; Haiti ranked 153rd out of 177 countries on the Human Development Index

6 Debt, underdevelopment and risk reduction According to the most recent data from Haiti s Economy and Finance Ministry, the country s total foreign public debt reached $1.54 billion in September 2007 (end of the fiscal year in Haiti); If this completion point is not reached by September Haiti would have to pay an additional $44.5 million in debt service payments to multilateral institutions (mostly the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank); immediate cancellation of Haiti s debt would provide desperately needed resources to the most impoverished country in the hemisphere; Funds made available through debt cancellation would also give Haiti the opportunity to address urgent humanitarian needs in the wake of recent natural disasters.

7 Contribution to Haiti GDP Contribution to GDP Agriculture, 25% Industry, 16% Services, 60% Industry Services Agriculture

8 Gender issues In Haiti, women comprise 52 percent of the population and some 58 percent of the households are identified as having women as the main wage earner; Among those households where women are described as the main wage earner, some 58% live in extreme poverty in comparison to 53% of households where men are considered the main wage earner, women hold 9.1% of the seats in parliament; Data from the IHSI indicate that in the area of commerce, among those who have identified Marche as their principal form of livelihood, women comprise 91% or 211,241 as compared to men who account for a small 8.9% or 20,578; It is estimated that 500,000 students in Haiti do not attend school; adult literacy rate is estimated at 51.9%; The gender gap is wide, with more girls, some 20%, outside of the school system than boys, who account for 16%. The picture is not good for those in the system either, as it is expected that only 2 children out of 10 who enter in the first year of primary education, will reach the fifth year. Even less (2%) are expected to complete secondary school.

9 Sources of income in Haiti Haiti s labor force consists of about 3.6 million people, and more than two-thirds, or 2.4 million, are not formally employed; The IHIS survey revealed that the most important sources of income for Haitian households are: self-employment (37%); transfers (25%); wage income (20%); and self-consumption (11%). property income 3% transfers 25% other 4% selfemployment 37% wage income 20% selfconsumption 11%

10 Income Sources by Poverty Status in Haiti 90% 75% 60% 45% 30% 15% self-consumption self-employment transfers wage income 0% Extremely poor Poor Non-poor Extremely poor Poor Non-poor Metropolitan area Rural areas

11 Haiti was devastated by 4 weather systems in 2008 Total effect: Over 800 lives were lost; Total macro socio economic impact was over US$897 million; Magnitude: 14.6% of GDP Haiti received a world bank grant of US$20 million and no debt cancellation

12 Disaster and its impact

13

14 Loss of Employment

15 Loss of employment by women

16 Disaster, development and poverty in Haiti what can be done Advocate for policies and programmes in Haiti that address vulnerability reduction, poverty eradication and greater equity; There is no doubt that increased resilience of the population will reduce vulnerability ; CDERA and its NDO s should do all in its power to work with Haitian counterparts to build capacity in DRR and DM in Haiti.

17 THANK YOU Asha Kambon, PhD, Regional Adviser, ECLAC Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean