The IHRC (Interim Haiti Recovery Commission) formed in the wake of the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti, January 12, 2010 to administer the billions of dollars in international humanitarian aid pledged to rebuild shattered infrastructure. René Préval, President of the Republic of Haiti, signed a decree empowering IHRC and defining its structure to include equal Haiti representation on the board of directors.

A year after the earthquake, Oxfam wrote a scathing assessment of the progress being made in Haiti, noting there still isn’t adequate housing, sanitation or clean water. The IHRC in defends against charges by Oxfam with a list of accomplishments that essentially confirm the Oxfam report.

# In the healthcare sector alone, projects valued at $202.4 million have been approved and are in progress, including the reconstruction of Port-au-Prince’s only University Medical Center and an innovative health facility slated to open next year in Mirebalais.
# Two projects in water and sanitation, valued at $200 million, have been already approved and will give 160,000 people access to adequate quantities of safe water—a top priority as Haiti battles cholera.
# In housing, nine projects have been approved, valued at $191.3 million.
# Within the productive sector (energy production, agriculture, investment financing), currently funded projects total $894 million. Among the projects is an industrial park in the northern region of Haiti, scheduled to break ground in the coming months, that will provide full-time employment for 60,000 Haitians.

More than a year later IHRC boasts little more than the approval of projects yet to be undertaken or far from completion, despite an outbreak of cholera.

Decaying conditions has led to a great deal of political unrest with deposed dictator Jean-Claud ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier reentering the country despite facing charges of corruption. Jean-Bertrand Aristide another former president ousted by a military coup has also expressed a desire to return to Haiti and topple the Préval regime. “Préval, after bowing to U.S. and French and Canadian dictates over the past decade of his presidencies, is now finding out that once he begins to resist a little bit or try to do something his way, that he’s going to be quickly dispensed with,” says Kim Ives, speaking with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now.

It would be interesting to dig deeper into the influence the IHRC, co-chaired by former US president, Bill Clinton, has on Haitian public policy.