Haiti – Bandaids, the Long-Term & Our Ability to Make Change

Posted by kboon on February 11, 2010 under General | 2 Comments to Read

The main theme of my website is to explore wealth creation.  I am interested in how we create money, both individually and collectively through our businesses and organizations.   Technology and our ability to connect, I believe have changed the playing field for creating wealth.  There are more opportunities today than ever before.

Although my main focus is around businesses and entrepreneurs, I have a passion for asking how can we improve the quality of life for the most impoverished people around the world.

A couple of weeks ago I posted some initial thoughts on how make longer term change in Haiti and in other developing nations.  It prompted response and a number of people asked that I go into more detail.

Here goes…

The Short-Term View

The aid pouring into Haiti is astounding and people (I believe) have good hearts.  The majority want to see good things happen in Haiti.  In the short-term aid helps to re-build a society and provide the necessities of the life for the people affected.  Aid organizations, construction companies, doctors and thousands of volunteers give their time to help.   I have a great respect for what these people do.

Unfortunately much of this work is like a band-aid.  It helps heal a wound but often the underlining cause of the illness is not treated.  While our efforts are genuine, our society is conditioned to think short-term.  Our government leaders hold power for 4 to 8 years and their goal is to get re-elected. A new government comes into power and they change everything the previous government created to fit their political view.

Yet countries that prosper and move forward have political leaders that create a vision that will live beyond their political term in office.

The Long-Term View

The crisis in Haiti, Africa and all of the countries of the developing world will never really find solutions until (as a global community) we start thinking long-term.  The UN says (and I quoted in my last post) over a billion people live on less than $1 a day, and 2.7 billion live on less than $2 a day.

So Haiti is not the only problem area.

The way you begin long-term thinking is to have a vision, find partners, set goals and in our technology world, build a community.  For the long-term you think beyond 1 year, a business cycle or a typical politicians 8 years in office.  You must think 20, 50 or 100 years ahead to make real change.  This means thinking beyond our own ego or personal goals, and look at the bigger picture.

If we want to create a better world, there is no one person who is going to make it happen.  It takes millions, if not billions to affect real change.

Technology, online communities and our ability to communicate have greatly enhanced our ability to get the job done.

Create a Vision, Partnerships, Goals & Accountability

The challenge with short-term aid, is it’s difficult to create a long-term outlook.  An aid organization (or construction company) goes in, does their work, might stay for while, but eventually they either leave or have to put resources into another disaster.  Don’t get me wrong the work of these organizations is critical and makes a big difference.

But what if we could give it a boost!

What about a long-term strategy where a country from the developed world (the G8 or G20) partners with a poor country.

Let me give you an example.

Let’s say Canada partnered with Haiti.  They create a 50 year agreement (from 2010 to 2060) whereby in that time both countries agree to the following:

• Free trade pact between both countries
• Canadian help, guidance and funding to help Haiti build a stable government, financial system, legal system, healthcare and education.
• Educational Exchange where the brightest minds from Haiti can attend Canadian colleges and universities
• Cultural Exchange where Haitians and Canadians can connect
• Canadian Investment and Support on Haitian economic infrastructure
• Automony for Haiti to have guidance, but ultimately make their own decisions

When you think about it a lot of factors would need to be aligned.

First the government of Haiti (and it’s people) would have to decide if they wanted this partnership.  Would it be something they could commit to?

Canadians would have to decide what’s the benefit for them?

How would cultural aspects be addressed?

The system would not work well if Haitian leaders didn’t have the best interests of their people in mind.  I’m talking about the dictators of the world and government leaders who milk money out of their citizens, buy villas in Switzerland and who don’t give a rat’s ass about the people.  This approach would require a different type of leader (or even better yet) a community of citizens committed to making their country better.

From the Canadian side it would take political leaders who looked beyond the short-term and their ability to get re-elected.  But the commitment would really come from the people of Canada to take and active interest, give their time and resources and be involved.

Someone made the comment on my last post that you can’t get governments to commit to these kind of projects.  I agree.  But I believe in our socially connected world it’s not the governments job.  As communities we can create the interest, create the demand and then bring the brightest minds together for the execution of the project.

Has it been done successfully before?  Yes.

Hong Kong – 1898 to 1997 – The 99-year lease

The world was a much different place back then.  Britain (at the height of the British Empire) took Hong Kong as a colony.  And for 99 years Britain ruled the colony helping to create legal structures and and build an economic system that thrives to this day.  One often wonders where China learned to build their own economy?  Hong Kong was a great teacher for them.

The idea is similar in the 21^st century, but I believe we can do this without colonization, war or a desire to control another country.

So what’s stopping us today?

More ideas to come and I am always interested in your comments.