Effective Philanthropy in the Caribbean
According to PIH's website, "Zanmi Lasante has become Haiti’s largest health care provider outside of the government, working in close relationship with the Haitian Ministry of Health, and serves a population of more than 1.3 million people" and is now a network of 15 clinics and hospitals. Additionally, they have over 6,300 staff in Haiti including 2,500 community health workers who work to provide "maternal and child health care, HIV and tuberculosis services, and more advanced secondary and tertiary care."
Their success can be traced back to their ability to work with the local population to hire teams of community health workers and the government of Haiti, to build a system that works to serve the impoverished population long term. This approach was made possible as Paul Farmer and other staff from the PIH team had worked in Haiti previously for multiple years and understood the importance of working with locals. In a recording from NPR, Paul Farmer mentions:
Fighting such stupid deaths [ones caused by diseases with existing cures and vaccines] is never the work of one or even of a small group. I've had the privilege of joining many others providing medical care to people who would otherwise not be able to get it. The number of those eager to serve is impressive, and so is the amount that can be accomplished.The full video can be viewed on this page where he talks about his passion for serving communities and his strong belief that healthcare is a human right.
Two other organizations that have worked to carry out philanthropic projects are PCI and Global Communities, which have now merged into one organization. During the period in which the American Red Cross had built 6 homes; PCI and Global Communities built 300 homes despite the difficulties and time constraints (Sullivan). To better understand the success behind their projects in developing countries like Haiti, we interviewed Lawrence A. Weitzen and his wife Mary Lynn Weitzen. Weitzen has been working with PCI and global communities for about 35 years and is currently on Global Community's board of directors as a trustee. Similarly, Mary Lynn has been involved with philanthropic organizations for over 50 years. Together, they have traveled across the world to visit project sites and help as volunteers. In this interview, we wanted to know which factors they believe are essential for successful nonprofit projects.
When asked about the importance working with locals and adapting to unique circumstances, Larry mentions:
The interview continues to discuss about the current state of philanthropy and challenges NPOs face while working in developing countries and to reach a decision regarding the continuation of philanthropy in different countries. After speaking to Larry and Mary Lynn Weitzen and taking into consideration their professional opinions, one the deciding factor in predicting the success of a project in a country like Haiti is the NPO's ability to work with locals and their ability to adapt to the environment.I think the difference between a failure of a program and the completion of a program is involving the local community- making sure you have buy-in. Not just the different government agencies that one has to work with but also with the people of the community. I can tell you that typically whether it is Global Communities or PCI in the programs, we’ll not only employ people in the field as supervisors of the projects but more often than not we also get people from the community volunteering for the programs.
I think we see failure is when people bring in goods and drop them off at an airport and hope that they get picked up sort of thing.
The reason I think that PCI has been so successful is in fact when you do involve the community; as the ultimate goal is to turn these programs back to the community itself.
