Latitude in collaboration with MIT (USA) is launching the study on the Strategic reintegration of Haitian Field Staff of NGO in the local economy.

The study starts from the observation that perhaps one of the strongest factors compromising the recovery and the rebuilding of the country has been the draining of the surviving skilled human resources from government, business, and the professions, who were recruited by the flood of outside NGOs and up-scaling agencies. International actors were placed in a dominant role as they filled the void, compromising the future rebuilding and governing of the country as the NGOs depart.

The analysis will explore the possibility of effectively reintegrating Haitian Field staff in local sectors, providing long-term support on central and local level, towards relevant sectors that suffered depletion of their personnel in the emergency 
phase or sectors that were already very weak before, while a shift towards development is finally occurring – three years after the earthquake.

Additionally, we want to investigate how to minimize the drainage of skilled staff in government structures and private sector to serve the flood of international actors at an early stage, compromising government’s role on longer term in effective recovery.

In immediate terms, while most relief actors are leaving Haiti (or already have), we want to conduct a baseline survey that will include the elaboration of profiles of field staff and identification of key affected sectors. Thus timing is clearly of essence to conduct the baseline survey with priority, before the emergency actors all together leave the field and their national staff spreads.