Haiti is a resourceful country with a young population and a significant history: studies have shown its great potential for agriculture, forestry, fishing, tourism and other productive sectors. On the other hand, Haiti is plagued by political instability, gang violence, natural disasters and high levels of multidimensional poverty, which explains its current standing as the poorest country in the western hemisphere and its near-bottom ranking in the 2021/2022 human development index (163 out of 189 countries).
The long-term National Development Strategy Plan launched in 2012 achieved none of its original Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and even less its vision of making Haiti a middle-income developing country by 2030. Various attempts to reshape the development strategy and relaunch investment have been abandoned or remained a dead letter, as they were trounced by political and security upheavals or quick interventions to address natural disasters.
Ever since its official launch in 2021, the joint programme Integrated National Financing Framework for the Development of Haiti continued working to construct a long-term vision of the country’s development. The programme initiated a thorough analysis of its financing landscape, the performance and priorities in sustainable development, as well as the potential of its economic sectors to generate the private investment and economic growth the country needs if it wants to ensure Haitian women and men a long-term and lasting rise out of poverty. It is currently the sole substantial and continued national exercise in Haiti to devise a long-term development strategy and plan.
The INFF initiative, approved in 2020 and supported by the UN Joint SDG Fund, is slowly approaching its end scheduled for May 2023. The programme is carried out by a partnership comprising the Ministry of Planning and External Cooperation (MPCE), the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), UNDP and UNCTAD under the coordination of the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office (RCO) and the active participation of several other ministries.
The joint programme has finalised and validated with major stakeholders nine studies and two nationwide surveys on financing for development and development priorities and policies. The joint programme will condense these results in a Development Finance Assessment (DFA) report: the government and programme partners will present the DFA report in a national forum on finance for development to be organised in April 2023.
Despite the difficult conditions in which the INFF initiative operates, which have delayed some of its activities and required adjusting its work plan, the INFF initiative has proven to be persistent in pursuing its objectives, while ensuring a strong appropriation by national authorities and stakeholders. Furthermore, the INFF contributed to revitalising the government’s process for the revision of the National Development Strategy Plan: in 2021, the Council of Ministries approved an official roadmap for the adoption of the SDGs, which will continue through 2023, and incorporates the elaboration of the financing strategy based on the findings of the DFA along with the revision of the National Development Strategy.
