Canada has had a presence in Haiti since 1954. More than simply longstanding, Canada’s involvement in Haiti has had meaningful impact in many areas like security, stability and long-term reconstruction. Canada is Haiti’s second largest contributor and has made this country its foremost development assistance beneficiary in the Americas. For instance, Canada has facilitated greater involvement from the Haitian diaspora in the reconstruction process. New development opportunities present themselves now that the UN’s presence in the country, the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), has succeeded in bringing a level of stability to the country. Still, Canada faces various challenges in all aspects of its engagement in Haiti. FOCAL seeks to link Canadian initiatives and programs with work being done by other actors in the international community, specifically targeting the Haitian diaspora, and South American countries participating in MINUSTAH as well as other critical potential participants such as Mexico and Spain. Through a critical analysis of emerging trends and convening the relevant actors from the public and private sectors the primary contribution of this project is to advance research, improve development interventions and to create new policy options.
FOCAL work in Haiti involves three related components:
