GRAND GOAVE, Haiti — Five years is an eternity in the news cycle of natural disasters. It’s been that long since the 2010 Haiti earthquake killed hundreds of thousands of people (no one really knows how many died) and triggered an influx of international aid (an exact accounting remains elusive). Haiti’s trauma has been eclipsed by Oklahoma tornadoes, Pacific typhoons and New York hurricanes. The world moves on.

Over the last five years, working as an architect here on reconstruction projects, I’ve witnessed some physical and social recovery. But the disheartening reality is that Haiti’s post-quake economy is identical to its pre-disaster model: Haitians remain dependent on foreign donations to maintain their subsistence existence. NGOs with tunnel vision and international aid agencies with top-down agendas hobble the weak government and cite Haiti’s culture of corruption as an excuse to deny distributing aid through local channels. Economic autonomy is not disaster relief’s primary objective. But Haiti will be a global stepchild until it makes something people want to buy.

Different countries have relative economic strengths. The United States fosters innovation, China excels at production, but Haiti barely participates in the global economy. Yet as a low-wage country close to the world’s largest consumer market, it offers advantages. Shipping goods from Haiti is a bargain because containers importing humanitarian aid often leave here empty. Its annual exports are about a third of neighboring Jamaica and less than half of its African cousins Mali and Senegal.

Yet Haiti faces big impediments to becoming a successful exporter of manufactured goods. A history of unstable governments and restrictive policies on foreign investment keep multinational corporations away. Convoluted bureaucracies and corruption make business transactions difficult. An unreliable workforce impedes efficiency.