Haiti Country Assistance Evaluation
Summary — World Bank evaluation of 15 years of assistance to Haiti from 1986-2001, finding limited development impact due to political instability and governance issues. The report concludes that Bank assistance had negligible efficacy and low efficiency due to underlying political and institutional barriers.
Key Findings
- Haiti experienced extraordinary political instability with 13 governments and two periods when donor activities ceased altogether since 1986.
- Two-thirds of the population live in poverty, half of adults are illiterate, and health services are inadequate to address major public health crises.
- Real per capita GDP fell at 2% annually in the 1980s and 2.5% annually in the 1990s.
- Bank projects had unusually low outcome ratings with very limited institutional development impact and sustainability.
- The development impact of Bank assistance has been severely limited, with the assistance program outcome rated unsatisfactory.
Full Description
This Country Assistance Evaluation examines World Bank assistance to Haiti over fifteen tumultuous years following the overthrow of the Duvalier regime in 1986. During this period, Haiti experienced extraordinary instability with thirteen governments and two periods when donor activities ceased altogether. The country's social and economic indicators remained comparable to the world's poorest countries, with roughly two-thirds of the population living in poverty, half of adults illiterate, and inadequate health services facing major crises including TB, HIV/AIDS, and polio epidemics.
The Bank attempted to address Haiti's challenges through emergency projects supporting economic recovery, stabilization, public sector reform, privatization, and emergency social programs, along with infrastructure investments and projects in environment, education and health. However, while the Bank's objectives were consistent with Haiti's major economic problems, their relevance was limited by failure to prioritize resolving the political and governance problems that undermined economic development.
Projects in Haiti showed unusually low outcome ratings with very limited institutional development impact and sustainability. The evaluation found that positive results were mainly found in project components that bypassed traditional channels, using NGOs or autonomous agencies. Since 1994, the Bank led intensive aid coordination efforts, though with mixed results on the ground due to inadequate division of labor and complex processes that overwhelmed weak institutions.
The development impact of Bank assistance has been severely limited, with critical constraints to development - governance and public sector capacity - not diminished, and no sectors registering substantial improvements. The report rates the assistance program outcome as unsatisfactory, institutional development impact as negligible, and sustainability as unlikely, recommending extreme caution for any future re-engagement.