Where do all our charity donations go?-Added COMMENTARY By Haitian-Truth

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Apr 30 2010 By Holiday Hypermarket

Many people pledged money to the Haiti appeal following the devastating earthquake last January. Overall £9.9 billion has been promised to the country in an effort to help the people, communities and infrastructure get back on their feet.

But how do we know that our money is actually reaching the stricken land?

As holidaymakers take advantage of cheap holidays in the Caribbean, the United Nations (UN) has launched a website which can track all donations from pledge to impact, meaning we can see exactly where our money is being spent.

The site, which is a joint project between the Haitian Government and the UN Development Programme, will encourage efficient spending whilst “ensuring transparency and accountability of the use of their funds”, according to a UN statement.

Nigel Fisher, a UN Resident Coordinator, said: “We believe it addresses all the concerns of the international community as to how the funds will be spent, by whom and for what.”

He explained that it also allows the people of Haiti to follow how funds are being used and have some input with their elected representatives on how the money is spent.

Aid has been promised by 138 countries and numerous international organisations with $5.3 billion pledged to Haiti over the next two years and $9.9 billion over the next three.

The website has been hailed as an excellent idea. It is believed that if donors can actually see where their money is being spent, they are more likely to pledge more or donate again in the future.

The earthquake, measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale, killed 220,000 people and left over 1.3 million homeless, totally devastating the island’s capital Port-au-Prince. Cruise ships have continued to dock in Haiti since the tragic incident, prompting many people to comment on the insensitivity of richer countries.

However, the business is very much needed to help get the island back on its feet and cheap holidays in the Caribbean, especially to the neighbouring Dominican Republic, are going ahead as normal.
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COMMENT: HAITIAN-TRUTH.ORG

This concept may appeal to the naïve, who still believe in Santa Claus, the Catholic Church’s honesty in handling child abuse, and Iran’s leadership’s claims of innocence, but it simply puts the potential criminal elements in charge of the accounting and audit procedures.

There must be a defined separation between the two areas.

What is needs for proper control of the massive inflow of funds is a totally independent audit agency. Past disasters have retained groups that have an international reputation, plus the technical ability and manpower to do the job. After the tsunami tragedy and Hurricane Katrina disaster funding groups retained Deloite, a specialized accounting group with over 150,000 staffers scattered all over the world.

Haiti needs something like DELOITE to make sure the $20,000,000,000 goes to where it is supposed to go, with a minimum in unfortunate diversions.

Without anything like DELOITE there will be many unfortunate diversions.

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