CBHF 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
• The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund 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.
• The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund 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 the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund 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.
Meeting longer-term needs: These activities will support the sustainability and success of Haiti's long-term development. The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund will provide grants and program-related investments that can have a multiplier effect by leveraging additional funding and encouraging replication of successful models. The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund 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.
➢Preparing people, especially women and youth, with the job and life skills needed to embrace economic opportunity.
• In all activities, the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund will work with the Interim Haitian Reconstruction Commission to ensure consistency with the Haitian Development Plan.
