An International Workshop on
After
the cameras have gone:
Rebuilding Sustainable Communities in Haiti after
the January 12 Earthquake
April 9, 2010
______________________________________________
The Center for Rebuilding Sustainable Communities after Disasters
(CRSCAD), in concert with a number of non-governmental organizations, will host
a one-day Workshop to examine ways in which we can rebuild the communities in
Haiti sustainably, following the recent devastating earthquake that hit that
country. Secretary of
State Hillary Rodham Clinton notes that about
three million people -- a third of the country's population - have been affected by the calamity and President Obama
has promised $100 million for the relief effort in that country.
Workshop objectives
Before
the earthquake, Haiti was a "country with
tremendous development needs and numerous impediments to development,"
according to Congresswoman Maxine Waters.
These impediments include an overwhelming burden of international debt; lack
of personal and community assets; and very little or no internal and external
capacities. In 2007, according to the Institute for Justice & Democracy in
Haiti, the country owed "over one billion dollars to multilateral financial
institutions, including $21 million to the IMF, $507 million to the World Bank,
and $534 million to the Inter-American Development Bank. Much of Haiti's debt
burden was accumulated during the oppressive rule of the Duvalier regimes,
neither of which used the money to benefit the Haitian people." In fact, the IMF estimated that Haiti would
"spend $56 million on debt service payments to multilateral creditors during
the 2006-07 fiscal year."
Against
this background, the Workshop will, therefore, examine the following:
- The
challenges of post earthquake rebuilding in Haiti
- New policy for urban/rural housing
- Social, economic, and infrastructural
development (health, schools,
higher education, water,
roads, etc.)
- The
reconstruction of state, public and commercial buildings
- Allocation of post-earthquake reconstruction financing to the
various sectors of the economy
- Participatory post-earthquake reconstruction planning and development
- Choosing a Paradigm for Disaster Recovery
- The roles of government, institutions of higher education, the private sector and non-governmental and community-based organizations in post-earthquake rebuilding
- The
participation of women and other special needs populations in the formulation
and implementation of reconstruction policies after the earthquake
- The
promotion of human dignity in the creation of sustainable environments that
empower women, the poor and low-income households
- Clean
and appropriate energy technologies
- Earthquake resistant design
- The Role of the media in the reconstruction of Haitian Communities
- Global case studies of post-earthquake rebuilding and best practices
The Workshop will seek to propose strategies, policies and programs for
the long-term reconstruction of the country.
Who should attend
Haitian community leaders; officials of government,
non-governmental, international and grassroots agencies; faith-based
organizations; disaster preparedness professionals; crisis managers; emergency
response workers and managers; employees of humanitarian relief organizations;
academics and students; leaders of industry and the private sector; physical medicine and rehabilitation
physicians, architects; urban planners; public policy experts; health
care workers; law enforcement officers; engineers; environmental risk managers;
epidemiologists; hazard experts; transport providers; etc.
For further information, please
contact:
Professor Adenrele
Awotona
Director
Center for Rebuilding Sustainable Communities after
Disasters (CRSCAD)
http://www.rebuilding.umb.edu
McCormack Hall,
3rd floor, Room 612
University of
Massachusetts Boston
100 Morrissey Boulevard
Boston, MA
02125-3393
Telephone:
617.287.7116
E-mail: crscad@umb.edu
For disability-related accommodations,
including dietary accommodations, please go to http://www.ada.umb.edu.
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