Norway's US$ 100M+ for Haiti & Norway's Inconvenient Truths on Haiti

TAKK NØRGE! Long viv Ayiti!

From The Government of Norway - Ministry of Foreign Affairs >

Press release, 01.04.2010

No.: 31/10

Norway pledges USD 100 million in assistance to Haiti

Norway will provide assistance totalling NOK 800 million (USD 100 million) to Haiti over the next four years. The announcement was made by State Secretary Ingrid Fiskaa in New York today.


Following the earthquake that struck Haiti on 12 January, Norway has provided NOK 200 million (USD 35 million) in emergency relief.

Norway will step up its long-term assistance to Haiti by providing an additional NOK 600 million (USD 75 million).

“The earthquake has caused great suffering among the Haitian population.

More than a million people have been left homeless.

But helping Haiti requires more than building houses.

We must help the Haitians to build an entirely new society.

The average citizen must have political influence and economic opportunities, said Ms Fiskaa.

The Norwegian assistance was announced at the International donors’ conference towards a new future for Haiti today.

An important aim for Norway will be to promote political dialogue.

In addition, Norway will help to make the country less vulnerable to natural disasters.

Reforestation, agriculture and alternative sources of energy are relevant fields of cooperation with Haiti.

Protecting women and children will be a cross-cutting element in Norway’s efforts.

The assistance needed in Haiti over the next 18 monts has been estimated at about USD 3,9 billion.

In Norway’s view, the Action plan for national recovery and development of Haiti, is promising.

But Fiskaa underlined the need to learn from the mistakes of the past.

Decades of assistance to Haiti have not delivered the desired results.

As a result of poor economic advice and excessive centralisation of power, rural areas have become poorer year by year.

The Haitian government must be in the lead in the development of the country.

But regional and local authorities must be given more resources and more power.

There is also a need for transparency and control of the use of funds,” said Ms Fiskaa.

The Norwegian assistance will be channeled through multinational organisations, non-governmental organisations and civil society organisations.

Minster of the Environment and International Development Erik Solheim will visit Haiti in April.

During his visit he will have meetings with the authorities, the opposition, UN representatives and other actors to discuss the way ahead for Haiti.

As a consequence of the increase in Norway’s assistance to Haiti, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has appointed a Special Envoy to Haiti and set up a broad-based team to follow up the assistance.

U.S. Donations Sit Unused. But while they plan for the long-term, there is an immediate crisis.

From ABC News >

Rebuilding Haiti: Billions in Aid Promised at U.N. Event

As World Pledges More Aid,
Americans' Donations Sit Unused

By DAN HARRIS

April 1, 2010—

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon Wednesday called for more help for Haiti, and the world responded by promising $5.3 billion in aid in the next two years for rebuilding.

Ban called the response "far beyond expectations" of the U.N.'s goal for $3.9 billion in aid.

The United States government has promised $1.15 billion in aid.

"We need Haiti to succeed," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at Wednesday's meeting at the United Nations. "What happens there has repercussions far beyond its borders."

U.S. Donations Sit Unused

Since January's earthquake, Americans have already given $800.9 million in private donations to help the country rebuild. 

The money has gone to 23 charities that ABC News has been tracking.

Only about 37 percent of the money has been spent. 

Nearly $588 million in donations is still sitting on the sidelines, as millions of Haitians continue to suffer.

Charities say that spending too quickly would risk creating waste and robbing money from the long-term work that must be done. But while they plan for the long-term, there is an immediate crisis.

More than a million people are homeless and a fifth of them still have no shelter, with the rainy season officially starting Friday and the hurricane season just around the corner.

Already, tent cities have been slammed by torrential rains, creating a soggy new layer of misery that has alarmed aid workers.

"The biggest issue that we're facing is simply shelter," one worker said.

"This country still faces a very grave crisis," another said. "A very grave humanitarian situation."


Country Still in Crisis

There are other needs, too.

There are still only 17 rehabilitation centers in the country, far too few to support the 1,500 amputations that have been performed since the quake.

Of the 9,000 latrines needed, only about half have been built.

There has been real progress, though, with U.S. dollars helping to fund the delivery of food to 4.3 million people and the delivery of more than 33,000 gallons of water to child care centers.

The charities say that Americans who gave money should be confident that, by and large, it is being well-spent.

They say the response has been much more effective and organized than what followed the 2005 tsunami in Asia.

For example, the Red Cross has spent $100 million in less than three months in Haiti, while it took six months to spend that much after the tsunami.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Haiti Donations: New Rules for Getting a Tax Break

Go to Original (CBS Money Watch) >

by Kerry Hannon | Feb 22, 2010

Donate to a charity helping
Haiti earthquake victims
before March 1,
and the Internal Revenue Service
has some relief for you.

Under a new law, you can actually write off a 2010 Haiti donation on your 2009 tax return if you itemize. (You can put the donation on your 2010 return next year if you prefer.) “This is quite unusual,” says Tom Ochsenschlager, vice president of taxation for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. “But there are a number of requirements to qualify for this break.”

Here are the five key rules:

• Your donation must be dated no later than February 28. That means, if you’re mailing a check, the postmark will need to be the 27; the 28^th is a Sunday and post offices will be closed.
  
  
• Your gift must be cash. Donations of clothes or other goods won’t qualify.
  
  
• The charity must qualify as tax-deductible according to the IRS. The agency’s Publication 78 has a list of many approved groups. Churches, synagogues, mosques and government agencies are also eligible, even if they are not listed in Publication 78. But contributions made to foreign organizations generally are not deductible, so if you have your eye on a foreign charity, check to see if they have an American subsidiary. (For example, you can’t claim a deduction for a donation directly to Médecins Sans Frontières, but you can deduct a gift to Doctors Without Borders.)
  
  
• You must be able to prove the donation was for Haiti relief. Be sure you have documentation that your contribution was earmarked to help victims of the Jan. 12 earthquake. The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund qualifies, and MoneyWatch blogger Kathy Kristof has noted some other groups worth considering. For contributions made by cash, check, credit or debit card, you’ll need either a bank record such as a cancelled check, a credit card statement, or a receipt from the charity. A receipt should show the name of the charity, the date of your donation and amount you gave. And if you zapped a text-message donation from your cell to the American Red Cross, United Way, or Catholic Relief Services, a phone bill will satisfy the recordkeeping requirement, as long as it has the required documentation for receipts.
  
  
• Donations of $250 or more will demand additional documentation. For these gifts, you’ll also need written acknowledgment from the charity showing whether the organization provided any goods or services in exchange for the gift.

Check back on MoneyWatch.com every day between March 1 to April 15: We’ll be giving you a tax tip a day.