Major disasters over the last several years (including the 2004 tsunami and 2005 Pakistan earthquake) have taught valuable lessons on the role of prevention, better coordination and the effective use of the private sector. Are these lessons being applied in Haiti?
Speakers include Catherine Bragg, Sadako Ogata, Cameron Sinclair, Barbara Stocking, Nicolas Mariscal Torroella, and the discussion is moderated by Simon Maxwell.
Bio
Catherine Bragg
Catherine Bragg currently serves as Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. She was appointed to this position by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in December 2007.[1] Bragg obtained a PhD in Criminal Justice from the University at Albany, SUNY, a Master of Philosophy in Criminology from the University of Cambridge and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Toronto.
Throughout her career, she has served in various capacities in the Federal Public Service in the Government of Canada. In the Privy Council Office, she formulated policy advice to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. In the Department of National Defence, she worked on human resource issues. In the Department of Justice, she focused on evaluation and strategic planning.
Prior to joining the United Nations, Bragg served as the Director-General of the Humanitarian Assistance, Peace and Security Programme in the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) since 2004. She is the Chair of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Donor Support Group and a member of the Advisory Group of the Central Emergency Response Fund.
Simon Maxwell
Simon Maxwell became Director of the Overseas Development Institute in 1997. He is an economist who worked overseas for ten years, in Kenya and India for UNDP, and in Bolivia for UKODA; and then for 16 years at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, latterly as Programme Manager for Poverty, Food Security and the Environment. He has written widely on poverty, food security, agricultural development, and aid. His current research interests include development policy, aid, poverty, food security, linking relief and development, global governance and bridging research and policy.
Sadako Ogata
Sadako Ogata is a Japanese diplomat, scholar and administrator. She served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 1991 until 2001. She was appointed as the president of the Japan International Cooperation Agency on October 1, 2003 and is still serving as of October 2009.
Cameron Sinclair
Cameron Sinclair is the co-founder and executive director of Architecture for Humanity, a six year old 501(c)3 charitable organization which promotes architecture and design solutions to humanitarian crises and provides design services to communities in need. Currently the organization working in seven countries on projects ranging from school building, tsunami and hurricane reconstruction to developing mobile medical facilities to combat HIV/AIDS.
Barbara Stocking
Barbara Stocking joined Oxfam GB as director in May 2001. Oxfam is a humanitarian, developing and campaigning agency, whose purpose is to work with others to overcome poverty and suffering. During the last six years, Barbara has led Oxfam's response to humanitarian crises in Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, for the Tsunami and the Pakistan Earthquake. She has strengthened Oxfam's campaigning (eg Make Trade Fair, Education) and pushed for Oxfam's scale up of development work eg on Livelihoods and HIV/Aids
Nicolas Mariscal Torroella
Nicolas Mariscal Torroella is Chairman of the Board of Grupo Marhnos in Mexico.
Country in the West Indies, occupying the western third of the island of Hispaniola, which it shares with the Dominican Republic to the east. Area: 10,695 sq mi (27,700 sq km). Population (2009 est.): 9,521,000. Capital: Port-au-Prince. Almost the entire population is of African or African-European descent. Languages: Haitian Creole, French (both official). Religions: Christianity (mainly Roman Catholic; also Protestant); also Vodou. Currency: gourde. Most of the land is mountainous, about two-thirds above 1,600 ft (490 m) in elevation. The mountain ranges alternate with fertile but overpopulated lowlands. Haiti's tropical climate is modified by the mountains and subject to periodic droughts and hurricanes. Its longest river is the Artibonite. The poorest country in the Americas, Haiti has a developing market economy based in large part on agriculture and light industries; coffee is the main cash crop. It is a multiparty republic with two legislative houses; the chief of state is the president, and the head of government is the prime minister. For early history, seeHispaniola. Haiti gained its independence in 1804, after former slaves led by Toussaint-Louverture in the 1790s and by Jean-Jacques Dessalines in 1803 rebelled against French rule. The new republic encompassed the entire island of Hispaniola, but the eastern portion of the island was restored to Spain in 1809. It was reunited under Haitian Pres. Jean-Pierre Boyer (1818–43); after his overthrow the eastern portion revolted and formed the Dominican Republic. Haiti's government was marked by instability, with frequent coups and assassinations. It was occupied by the U.S. in 1915–34. In 1957 the dictator Francois (“Papa Doc”) Duvalier came to power. Despite economic decline and civil unrest, Duvalier ruled until his death in 1971. He was succeeded by his son, Jean-Claude (“Baby Doc”) Duvalier, who was forced into exile in 1986. Haiti's first free presidential elections, held in 1990, were won by Jean-Bertrand Aristide. He was deposed by a military coup in 1991, after which tens of thousands of Haitians attempted to flee to the U.S. in small boats. When the military government stepped down in 1994, Aristide returned from exile and resumed the presidency. His associate René Préval replaced him in 1995, and in 2000 Aristide reclaimed the presidency, only to be driven from office and out of the country in 2004 as economic and political instability continued to plague Haiti. An international stabilization mission was established under the leadership of first the U.S. armed forces and then the United Nations. Under its oversight, an interim government led the country until 2006, when Préval again won election as president. In January 2010 a powerful earthquake struck the country, causing widespread destruction in Port-au-Prince and the surrounding region. Estimates of the death toll from the quake ranged upward to 200,000 or more.
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