Thursday, June 9, 2011 at 09:53PM

Port-au-Prince, June 9 2011 – Why hasn't reconstruction begun in downtown Port-au-Prince, the area of Haiti most savagely hit by the January 12, 2010, earthquake?



Why are there still tent cities surrounding the National Palace?



Why is planning conducted and decided behind closed doors, with secret contracts nobody sees?



Why are the beneficiaries – the capital’s poor majority – also kept out out of the planning and in the dark?

Source: CHF International

Two new investigations by Haiti Grassroots Watch and students from the Laboratoire du Journalisme at the State University of Haiti tried to figure out what is blocking the reconstruction of downtown, and why the Champ de Mars is still home to thousands of families.

Journalists found a lack of transparency, lack of coordination, rivalry and sometimes even outright disagreement, in a context where no single authority seems to have a complete picture, or accept complete responsibility.



The results of the impasse or – at the very least – confusion? Thousands of families braving the rains, winds and cholera under tarps and infrahuman conditions, undisbursed funding, and a rubble-strewn downtown characterized by empty plots and dying businesses.



Read the two series here:

Impasse? What's blocking the capital's reconstruction?



While the heroes are watching



Students from the Journalism Laboratory at the State University of Haiti's Faculty of Human Sciences collaborated on this series.

Haiti Grassroots Watch is a partnership of AlterPresse, the Society for the Animation of Social Communication (SAKS), the Network of Women Community Radio Broadcasters (REFRAKA) and the community radios of the Association of Haitian Community Media (AMEKA).

Source for the photo on the "index" page: Newbeatphoto﻿