Peacebuilding and humanitarian organizations have the intention to build sustainable peace and reduce human suffering. Haiti has been affected by near-continuous conflict since its colonization in 1625. In more recent years, Haiti’s poor economy has been shaken by natural disasters, including a devastating earthquake in 2010. This has deteriorated Haiti’s political stability and overall welfare capacity. International intergovernmental (IGOs) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) along with local organizations and communities have been stepping in to provide a range of assistance from humanitarian aid (e.g., food, first aid) to building facilities (e.g., hospitals, schools) and institutional aid (e.g., running elections). Nonetheless, people do not always perceive these organizations’ efforts as helpful and often protest against their deployment.
This article explores Haitians’ trust on peacebuilding organizations, based on interviewing about 3,000 participants in Haiti. Trust, however, is a complex term and we suggest three dimensions: ability, inclusiveness, and integrity. Organizational ability refers to how organizations perform at delivering a project. Inclusiveness relates to organizations’ efforts at working with and including local populations and addressing their needs and concerns. Finally, integrity is defined as the organizations’ resilience against corruption.
We focus on IGOs such as the United Nations (UN), NGOs such as Action Aid and local community organizations (LCOs) such as local churches or Fonkoze. In our survey, we asked participants for their perceptions on peacebuilding organizations after providing them with information about a specific activity (i.e., building a clinic). We also primed participants on the type of organisation involved. This allowed us to compare trust levels at either IGOs, NGOs or LOCs. Importantly, we found that participants were aware of all types of organizations. 95 percent of our participants were aware of LCOs, 70 percent were aware of the IGOs and 63 percent of NGOs. To look closer at the different dimensions of trust relating to these organizations, we asked participants whether they think it could deliver a clinic on time (ability), deliver a clinic that meets the needs of the community (inclusiveness) and deliver the clinic unaffected by corruption (integrity). Across all organization types, participants expressed that they expected the clinic to be finished on time, yet did not express trust regarding inclusiveness and corruption.
Regarding ability, participants who were primed with information about either the IGOs or NGOs showed lower levels of trust versus LCOs. LCOs were also judged as better at delivering the project on time. When considering inclusiveness, participants perceived NGOs as most trustworthy in meeting community needs. Regarding integrity, 66 percent of our sample expected to see corruption, although more corruption was expected from LGOs than the IGOs or NGOs.The aim of this project was to explore different factors behind trust in different types of peacebuilding organizations. To design effective peacebuilding policy, we need to know how the population attributes trust to different organizations. We find that trust is indeed a complex term and there is variation amongst specific elements. Our findings highlight the important role of NGOs for inclusiveness despite the fact that they often have limited resources. IGOs such as the UN have long been involved in Haiti and people still acknowledge their efforts but also notice that they are often unable to deliver. Our findings also raise some doubts about the LCOs inclusive representation of local needs. Nevertheless, LCOs seem to be winning people’s trust at delivering a project and this may be justified by their everyday activities that are often low-scale and immediately noticeable.
Zorzeta Bakaki
Zorzeta Bakaki is an Associate Professor in the Department of Government, at the University of Essex, United Kingdom. Her research interests are International Relations, the quantitative and qualitative analysis of conflict management and resolution, international cooperation, and environmental politics.
Hans Dorussen
Han Dorussen is a Professor in the Department of Government, at the University of Essex, United Kingdom. His research among other topics focuses on peacekeeping operations and the governance of post-conflict societies.
