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From Our Own Correspondent

Haiti: Republic Of NGOs

From Our Own Correspondent

BBC

News, News Commentary

4.41.3K Ratings

🗓️ 22 February 2018

⏱️ 28 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Many Haitians see Oxfam’s actions as the latest part of a much bigger problem. Kate Adie introduces stories, wit and analysis from correspondents around the world.

“Being poor, we’re a market for the NGOs” one Port-au-Prince resident tells Will Grant, “but it’s time to admit that we cannot develop our country with international aid.”

Ahead of elections in Italy, Dany Mitzman watches fascists and anti-fascists face off in Bologna - a city famed for its left-wing politics.

In Mozambique they’re trying to persuade parents not to give up on disabled children – Tom Shakespeare examine the latest development in inclusive education there.

In Uzbekistan, Caroline Eden visits the capital Tashkent - famed for its chewy, golden bread and its kindness.

And Alastair Leithead takes a trip along the Blue Nile with Marvin – a ball on a stick that sees virtually everything.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This is the BBC.

0:03.7

Hello. Today the word fascist is back on the political scene in Italy as feelings run high

0:10.0

before the country's general election in 10 days time. The future for disabled

0:15.6

children in Mozambique where there's a campaign to persuade parents not to give up

0:20.6

on them but to get them into education. In Uzbekistan we visit a city

0:26.2

famed for its golden and chewy bread and for its kindness. And he's got eyes in the back of his head as well as in the front.

0:35.0

Could a grapefruit-sized ball called Marvin be the future of journalism?

0:41.0

Oxfams fall from favour has been swift and sharp. In the aftermath of the

0:46.1

earthquake that hit Haiti in 2010, the charity was one of the most active agencies

0:51.3

in the country. Now we know that some of its staff were using

0:54.5

sex workers and that others accused of sexual harassment threatened witnesses.

0:59.1

Appearing before MPs this week, the charity's chief executive apologized for the damage done to the people of Haiti and to wider efforts for aid and development by possibly undermining public support.

1:13.0

But as Will Grant has found, many Haitians see Oxfam's actions as simply the latest part of a much bigger problem.

1:21.0

Not for nothing is Haiti known as the Republic of NGOs.

1:26.1

The steep hillsides of Porto Prince are awash with the liveried SUVs, jeeps and trucks of every

1:31.9

aid agency under the sun, weaving through the choking traffic.

1:36.6

From big and well-established organizations like Christian Aid and Save the Children to little-known

1:41.6

evangelical groups in the poorest nation in the America's

1:45.2

development is big business.

1:47.7

USAID, MSF, WFP, ICRC, UNDP, the list is endless.

1:55.0

In fact, there are more aid agencies per capita in Haiti than anywhere else on earth.

2:00.0

Chief among them, of course course was Oxfam.

...

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