Poverty, hunger, political crises, natural disasters – the eleven million Haitians have hardly experienced a disaster. Again and again they pull themselves together – sometimes with the help of Switzerland. For years it has been active in the form of humanitarian aid and bilateral development cooperation. And is one of the six largest donor countries in Haiti. Now things are changing.
Patricia Danzi (53), the head of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (Deza), flew to Haiti this week. She met, among others, with the interim Prime Minister Ariel Henry (72). She had bad news in her luggage. Switzerland is realigning foreign aid for the Caribbean country. Ends the longer-term programs of bilateral development cooperation by the end of 2024, focusing only on humanitarian aid. And converts the embassy into a «Humanitarian Office». The reason for this is the new Swiss strategy for international cooperation that Parliament has passed. They want to withdraw from Latin America and the Caribbean. Haiti is hit hard: in 2021, 23.7 million Swiss francs flowed into projects from Switzerland, in 2025 there will be six.
The projects should be pursued further
Deza boss Danzi says to Blick: “It is not an abrupt exit from bilateral development cooperation. Some programs are to be continued.” The SDC is currently looking for partners such as NGOs to take over. The goal remains the same, according to Danzi: “Society should become more resilient. So that they will need less humanitarian aid in the future.”
The news reaches Haiti after a difficult year. An earthquake and hurricane wreaked havoc in the south. Prices have gone up. Particularly serious: President Jovenel Moïse († 53) was murdered in July. Gangs now have a firm grip on the capital, Port-au-Prince. Kidnap random people on the street. And kill them when the families cannot pay the ransom. Danzi felt the same: she didn’t travel a meter without an armored car, escorted by armed security guards on motorcycles.
Deza relies on disaster preparedness
Switzerland is powerless against the violence. Unlike in disaster preparedness, as a visit to the south showed, in Port-Salut. Here the Deza trains bricklayers and carpenters. And builds earthquake and storm-proof residential and civil protection houses with the local population. The buildings are to become standard in Haiti, and the government must be involved in this. That’s what Danzi came for, too: persuasion.