Advice for volunteers in Haiti
All of the aid workers I know are advising people not to go to Haiti, I have written on the topic myself. However the reality is that people want to personally help despite all the arguments laid out against it. Therefore, I’m opening this blog to aid workers to provide advice to potential volunteers so that if they choose to help their assistance does the greatest good. I will update this post whenever new advice is received.—-
My personal advice to volunteers is to offer whatever specialized skills you have to local organizations. These small organizations often find themselves having to quickly expand their operations and staffing and to do this may require skills that are not easily available locally. These needs are all behind the scenes and not in the field, their local staff can handle field needs. Although this is not what most volunteers envision, the best support you can give will be in the office. Some of these things you could even do from your own home. Their needs could include:
- Developing a website
- Creating promotional material and presentations
- Translating their website, promotional materials, presentations, etc.. into English
- Applying for grants and other new funding opportunities
- Assisting with presentations to an all English speaking audience
- Training staff on using computer programs and email
- Solving computer problems, setting up computer networks, purchasing IT equipment
- Teaching English to the staff that suddenly have to interact with people from all over the world
- Setting up bidding processes and streamlining accounting procedures to handle the increased income and expenditures
- Assisting with planning new staff trainings or gathering together technical resources, especially if you have expertise in the area of work the organization does
- Developing systems to monitor and evaluate programs
- Staff development issues
- Coordinating with the English speaking staff of other organization
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From Linda Raftree who blogs at wait… what?
Suggests volunteering with Ushahidi – they need people to help entering data into an online mapping and information system – or with Crisis Commons which are developing technology for humanitarian crisis management. Because both of these projects are online they could be done from anywhere.
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From J. the author of Tales from the Hood writing from Port au Prince
Don’t find us, we’ll find you: don’t pester aid agencies with inquiries about opportunity or information about why you’re special.
When we need international volunteers (we occasionally do) we’ll say so. And we’ll be very specific about what we want.
Don’t cold call us or clutter our inboxes with offers of help.
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Excerpts from From Three bad ideas for Helping Haiti in the blog Blood and Milk written by Alanna Shaikh
(Instead of) volunteer doctors and nurses are banding together to charter a flight to Haiti and help with medical care…. in about three months, when rebuilding gets serious and Haitians have time to think, groups could choose a Haitian hospital to partner with. They could fundraise to help it repair, and donate supplies and equipment. They could visit the hospital quarterly to train the providers there as needed, and make sure that the equipment is in good shape and well maintained.
Short-term volunteers could offer brief, targeted English or French classes to Haitians who needed them. They could cover technical topics that local teachers might not be able to offer. Not in a week. There really isn’t anything useful you can do in a week. But two months might work. It really wouldn’t qualify as disaster response – or rebuilding – but it would at least be useful.
See Alanna’s full post here
Also see her guest post on this blog: Sometimes, you need to do something
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General Advice and Cautions:
- Don’t go to Haiti until 4 or 5 months after the disaster. Until then organizations will be too busy meeting immediate needs to give you the time of day. Additionally there will be better access to food, water, and shelter later on – which you will need.
- There is no guarantee that any organization will actually take you on, so understand it’s a calculated risk.
- Don’t go if you only have a few weeks to give, it’s not worth their time to orient and train you and it will hurt them more than it helps them.
- Don’t expect to be taken on by an international organization, the chances of this happening are slim.
- Take time now to learn as much French Creole as you can. The more of the local language you can speak before you go to Haiti the faster you’ll learn the language once you’re there. Also the more you speak the language the more opportunities you will have and the lower your chances are of being taken advantage of.
- Read some of the Listening Project’s findings (by country or issue) to understand aid from the recipient’s perspective
- Read my post on which activities I advise volunteers against, as well as my series on volunteering internationally
- Learn what the best practices are for the type of aid your helping provide. If the organization doesn’t follow best practices – jump ship.
- You will need to be prepared to cover all of your own costs for food, lodging, health, etc… Don’t expect the organization to arrange all of this for you. Consider a health plan that includes evacuation from the country for illness or death.
- If you get sick in Haiti you may have to leave the country to get treated. The health facilities will likely still be very limited and foreigners are likely to be exposed to many new illnesses they haven’t built up an immunity to.
- Don’t barter too hard. One of the greatest help volunteers can give is to pump money into the local economy. Pay to stay in locally run guest houses, eat at locally run restaurants, and take local transportation as much as possible.
- Be extremely cautious of people taking advantage of your naivete. Talk to as many people as you can about the organization before committing and keep your ears open while you’re there. Don’t get taken in by charismatic personalities of the director or staff. Just because they’re a good talker doesn’t mean their projects are good.
- Go with humility, realizing that there is much you do not know. Do not assume that the way things are done back home will work in Haiti. Don’t fight the system but learn to work within the system.
- Be aware of the unspoken messages, often more is conveyed through body language and diversionary tactics than is conveyed through what is actually said.
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Related posts:
CDC Cautions Volunteers to Haiti
How to evaluate volunteer opportunities in Haiti
Sometimes, you need to do something
Voluntourism: what could go wrong when trying to do right
Guidelines for volunteering overseas #1, #2, #3, #4
Well intentioned efforts to help after a disaster may make a confusing situation worse
Get to know industry standards and best practices
Why do we so often give in ways that don’t support the local economy?