By: Staff Writer
June 18, 2024
A Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) discusses the priorities and interventions for Haiti in this critical time in that nation’s development.
H.E. David Commssiong, Barbados Ambassador to CARICOM, said on a panel hosted by the CDB and Canadian government, said: “The concept of resilience basically defines the Caribbean people and the Caribbean civilization. If there’s one group of people on this earth, that are resilient, it is the Caribbean people. And it’s because of our history, our history is one of great victimization and suffering on the slave plantation economies of the Caribbean, but also of resistance, of courage, fortitude, and most importantly, of resilience. That is why we are still here.
“The Caribbean, in a semi industrial economy for centuries, that sugar economy, and out of that out of the cultural inheritance we brought from Africa and the complex socialization processes in the Caribbean, we produce a very resilient people, and none more so than the people of Haiti. And they demonstrated that resilience in the Haitian Revolution, the cornerstone of our Caribbean civilization. And so it is because of that we have every confidence that there is nothing, no misfortune, that the Haitian people cannot overcome they are a resilient people.”
Corrine Cathala, country representative for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), also said: “Every external shock has had a significant impact on all the countries but on Haiti specifically. And that has been proven by all the latest impact assessments realized in the past years after the earthquakes and after the hurricanes. So, resiliency is crucial from an IDB perspective and for us resiliency is remaining present in Haiti through the crisis and through all the crises.”
She also said: “We have continued implementing projects even in this very difficult context and we will continue doing so. That means increasing resources not only financial but human resources on the ground as well. So, it’s really remaining consistently present on the ground and working with the government to make things better for the population.”
Jason Cotton, lead economist at the CDB, added: “In the CDB we’ve been doing a lot of work on this idea of resilience. But when I think about Haiti, in particular, an academic term or definition really doesn’t come to mind.
“To me, our resilience in the context of Haiti is the way they live. This is about not giving up, it is about getting back up. After being knocked down by political unrest by COVID-19, by crime by inequality by insecurity.”
Cotton also said: “To me, in the context of Haiti, resilience is an unrelenting and a persistent will. Firstly, just to get back up, and then to move forward and to me that that will is lodged deep within the DNA of every Haitian citizen, everyone living there. So, to me, the Haitian people are the living embodiment of the term resilience.”