(2024-07) Meeting the Moment: The Role of the Diaspora in Haiti's Future

USIP (United States Institute of Peace) • 2024 • 12 pages

Summary — Esnold Jure and Georges Fauriol argue the 1.2 million-strong U.S.-Haitian diaspora, which contributes up to 30 percent of Haiti's national income through remittances, is an under-organized asset. To help stabilize Haiti it should unite behind core policy priorities, complement remittances with targeted investment in reconstruction sectors, and channel professional expertise into Haiti's public administration through coordinated mechanisms such as a diaspora committee.

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Key Findings

The roughly 1.2 million-strong U.S.-Haitian diaspora contributes up to 30 percent of Haiti's national income through remittances but lacks the unified voice and strategic focus of Cuban or Dominican communities.
Remittances overwhelmingly fund personal and family needs and are not a sustainable contribution; targeted investment and greater capital flows into key sectors are needed.
A diaspora committee, modeled on Jamaica's Global Jamaica Diaspora Council, could synchronize diaspora skills with U.S. initiatives (GFA) and Haitian partners including the Transitional Presidential Council.
Legislative levers for diaspora advocacy include the Global Fragility Act, the Haiti Criminal Collusion Transparency Act and the HOPE/HELP acts.
Governmental integration paths include a promised parliamentary seat under the Tardieu constitutional reform, diaspora voting rights under the amended 1987 constitution and ministry fellowship programs for young Haitian Americans.

Full Description

Published after Prime Minister Garry Conille's July 2024 visit to Washington to mobilize the diaspora against 'Haiti fatigue', this USIP analysis assesses how the roughly 1.2 million U.S.-based Haitians could become a decisive factor in the country's stabilization. Unlike Cuban or Dominican communities, the Haitian diaspora lacks a unified voice and strategic focus, limiting its policy influence despite contributing up to 30 percent of Haiti's national income through remittances. The authors propose a sequence: an accurate socio-economic mapping of the community (building on the Haitian American Foundation for Democracy's survey), broad outreach to build a consensus policy agenda, and advocacy for concrete instruments such as the Global Fragility Act's Haiti strategy, the Haiti Criminal Collusion Transparency Act and the HOPE/HELP trade acts. Because remittances mostly finance household consumption, they are not a sustainable development channel; the diaspora should enable targeted capital flows into key economic sectors and transfer professional expertise through coordinated mechanisms, modeled on Jamaica's Global Jamaica Diaspora Council or the U.S. Presidential Advisory Council on African Diaspora Engagement. Within Haiti, avenues include linkages to the Transitional Presidential Council's priorities, revival of embassy fellowship programs placing young Haitian Americans in ministries, a promised parliamentary seat under the Tardieu-sponsored constitutional reform, and exercising diaspora voting rights under the amended 1987 constitution.

Topics

Geography

Time Coverage

2014 — 2024

Keywords

Haitian diaspora, remittances, diaspora investment, Global Fragility Act, HOPE/HELP acts, diaspora committee, capacity building, public administration, Garry Conille, constitutional reform, advocacy, series:usip-haiti-analysis

Entities

USIP, Esnold Jure, Georges Fauriol, Garry Conille, Haitian American Foundation for Democracy, Ayiti Diaspora Collective, Global Jamaica Diaspora Council, National Alliance for the Advancement of Haitian Professionals, Transitional Presidential Council, Jerry Tardieu, Ministry of Haitians Living Abroad, Haiti Policy House, Louverture Investment Plan

Notes

Recovered from Wayback Machine (USIP 2025 publisher takedown); web article printed to PDF