Clinton Bush Haiti Fund

Clinton Bush Haiti Fund Overview

HAITI’S NEED

Haiti experienced a devastating earthquake on January 12, 2010. The earthquake worsened an already desperate situation, destroying or damaging the main sources of income and jobs for Haiti’s poorest people: micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises.  An estimated $5.4 billion in assets have been wiped out, leaving businesses and property owners scarce means to recover.

Prior to this disaster, more than half the Haitian people lived on less than one dollar a day, with official unemployment estimated at 70%. These conditions have historically meant economic instability for Haiti and a vicious cycle of aid-dependency.

WHO WE ARE

Immediately after the disaster, President Barack Obama asked former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to join forces in leading a major fundraising effort to assist the Haitian people. Together they established the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund (CBHF), a 501(c)(3) designed to help the people of Haiti rebuild—and build back better.

WHAT WE BELIEVE

CBHF acts on the belief that successful and sustainable reconstruction in Haiti requires private-sector-driven growth from within, rather than aid-dependent development from outside.

CBHF seeks to promote an inclusive, diversified, environmentally-conscious and competitive Haitian economy that is decentralized and better integrated into the region—an economy that harnesses the entrepreneurial spirit of the Haitian people to help individuals, families, communities, and enterprises achieve their full potential.

HOW WE’RE HELPING

While CBHF will seek to meet selected near-term needs, its primary focus will be to support longer-term reconstruction, especially job creation and the promotion of economic opportunity.

Meeting near-term needs: These activities will fill gaps where critical requirements are currently unmet. These projects will lay a foundation for reconstruction efforts. Of the 230,000 CBHF contributions received to date, over $4 million has been distributed to provide near-term recovery assistance, such as essential medical equipment to critically injured patients, supplying emergency shelter kits and, delivering relief supplies such as purification kits and mosquito nets.

Meeting longer-term needs: These activities will support the sustainability and success of Haiti’s long-term development. CBHF will provide grants and program-related investments that can have a multiplier effect by leveraging additional funding and encouraging replication of successful models. CBHF works primarily through partnerships and collaborations with other nonprofit and for-profit entities -- particularly Haiti’s own. In short, we seek to help rebuild lives and livelihoods by:

• Supporting micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, in which women play a large role.

• Empowering individuals and enterprises in transitioning from the informal to the formal economy.

• Supporting job creation, particularly jobs providing direct social benefits, such as in education and healthcare.

• Preparing people, especially women and youth, with the job and life skills needed to embrace economic opportunity.

In all activities, CBHF will work with the Interim Haitian Reconstruction Commission to ensure consistency with the Haitian Development Plan.