Keeping in check our confirmation bias

con·fir·ma·tion bi·as

noun

the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one's existing beliefs or theories.

I was on a call the other day when someone said the that Red Cross (RC) raised nearly $500 million after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and built only five (5) homes. Another participant on the call, a doctor who works in the development sector, added that Senator Grassley's investigation revealed that Red Cross used 80% of the 2010 of the earthquake fund for its own internal management needs.

I wrote the good doctor separately to share with him senator Grassley's own press release that stated:

"Grassley’s inquiry found that of the $487.6 million donated for the Haiti relief, the Red Cross spent $123.9 million or 25.4 percent on three categories: management, general and fundraising expenses; program costs; and a contingency fund. The remaining funds — approximately $363.7 million — were provided to partner organizations, which took their own cut for administrative expenses."  

https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/grassley-releases-memo-red-cross-haiti-earthquake-relief-response-finds-red

From the hundreds of organizations that received grants from the Red Cross, only one JP HRO publicly admitted to receiving said funds, which I found amazing. As RC was getting pilloried I learned a big lesson in crisis communication. RC likely recognized that there was no putting genie back in the bottle and so they [RC] stopped fighting in the press and didn't bother even releasing the names of the organizations it funded. RC opted to let the fire burn itself out.

Most people rightly do not get all those details and, unfortunately, Red Cross did waste a lot of money as it got involved in doing development when it is a purely relief organization (lesson is that organizations should stay in their lanes). Red Cross has been around since 1881 and most Americans who donated their dollars in 2010 trust it then and still do so today because if their homes burn down or their communities get flooded or hit by hurricane, the first organization that will respond is the Red Cross and it is really good at that. We also need to remember that Haitian Red Cross, founded in 29 May 1932, is not the RC USA.

The US RC did raise a lot of money and did not have the visible impact people had expected in the recovery. As a result, for most Haitians, 11 years later (2021), Haitians legitimate anger against the RC is still burning red hot. On the other hand, what they miss is that for most Americans the Red Cross is a five star organization they can count on if their homes are under water. 

 

And what if we lit a similar fire to demand accountability for the Petro Caribe funds? Those funds were not donations but a debt being repaid by the Haitian people. "Haiti's High Court of Auditors released a report Monday slamming the fraudulent and often illegal management by various ministers and administrations of nearly $2 billion in aid from Venezuela between 2008 and 2016. https://www.france24.com/en/20200817-petrocaribe-scandal-haiti-court-accuses-officials-of-mismanaging-2-bln-in-aid

My point is two-fold: first, seek the details to make sure you are not just confirming your own bias. Second, prioritize what should be the priority. We should be upset that donations were mismanaged but livid that Haiti's own money, billions of dollars borrowed from Venezuela, was mismanaged and outright stolen by fellow Haitians. In its report, the court of auditors urged parliament to put in place mechanisms to recover sums of money misused, in order to allow the Republic of Haiti to possibly reduce its debt to Venezuela.

As we look at the devastation of the last earthquake, Haiti's lack of preparation and lack of healthcare facilities -- even the General Hospital, Haiti's hospital of reference, has not been rebuilt. As we look at another "recovery" effort, Haitians have every right to question the work of NGOs but more importantly the officials who are paid to serve and protect the public.

We should be angry and we should demand accountability for the billions borrowed from Venezuela that could have served to prepare for this and the next disaster.