Three months after the August 2021 earthquake, accountability advocates and journalists were already raising questions about the pace and effectiveness of the humanitarian response and the destination of the hundreds of millions of dollars pledged by international donors for earthquake recovery. The questions echoed concerns that had been raised about the 2010 earthquake response, when massive international funding had produced results that many argued were disappointing relative to the investment.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that the humanitarian response plan for the earthquake was significantly underfunded relative to assessed needs, with only a fraction of required funding committed by donors. The gap between pledges and actual disbursements — a chronic feature of humanitarian response globally — was particularly damaging in a context where immediate cash was needed to restore shelter, healthcare, and livelihoods for hundreds of thousands of affected people.
Communities in the earthquake-affected south reported that aid delivery had been uneven, with some communities receiving assistance multiple times while others had received nothing. The logistical challenges of reaching remote mountain communities, the security constraints in some areas, and the coordination failures that were endemic to complex humanitarian responses all contributed to inefficiencies.
Haitian civil society organizations called for transparency in aid management and for greater involvement of Haitian organizations and community representatives in directing recovery resources. They argued that the pattern of international organizations managing large sums with limited Haitian participation reproduced the same accountability failures that had undermined the 2010 response.