The Papaye Peasant Movement's Vision: A Haiti for Everyone

The leader of a major peasant movement in Haiti painted a stark picture of the challenges facing the earthquake-ravaged country, and said international relief efforts must focus on long-term solutions as well as providing immediate humanitarian needs.

"This is the moment to reconstruct the country, to provide a country for everyone, a Republic of Haiti and not a Republic of Port-au-Prince," said Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, leader of the Papaye Peasant Movement (MPP). "In Haiti, 80 percent of the people live in rural areas. More than 800,000 [displaced] people in the provinces are receiving no aid." Yet, the government wants to declare an end to the emergency period. Most of the 150,000 people in the Central Plateau still haven't received any assistance from the World Food Program, which is set to end its emergency food program in Haiti at the end of March.

Jean-Baptiste said several things need to happen to make the recovery effort a sustainable success, which the New York Times echoed in an editorial on Saturday, March 27. Haitians need a real place at the table in development talks. Port-au-Prince needs to be decentralized. Long-term solutions need to focus on providing jobs for earthquake survivors in rural areas, especially in the communities to which hundreds of thousands of Port-au-Prince residents have fled.

Jean-Baptiste outlined MPP's major priorities for a sustainable recovery during a visit to UUSC's Cambridge, Mass., offices on March 26, 2010. He was in Boston for a number of meetings and public appearances, including a day-long conference at UMass Boston, "Haitians Building Haiti: Towards Transparent and Accountable Development."

MPP goals in building a sustainable recovery include:

• Providing food and work for earthquake survivors, by way of integrating displaced people into work plans throughout the country and creating jobs in rural sectors
• Increasing food production and food sovereignty in the recovery and redevelopment process
• Protecting the environment as an integral part of agricultural development, through reforestation, renewable energy, agroecology, and more

Martha Thompson, manager of UUSC's Rights in Humanitarian Crises Program, asserts the importance of MPP's grassroots work in the face of the Haitian government's ineffective response to the earthquake and unwillingness to tackle the real needs of the Haitian people. Combined with poor coordination of international aid, the lack of government leadership has only exacerbated the dire situation throughout the countryside and Port-au-Prince.

While expressing gratitude for UUSC's support and solidarity in the wake of the earthquake, Jean-Baptiste characterized UUSC and MPP as "brothers and sisters working together," highlighting the eye-to-eye partnership model in action.