The refusal of countries to release funds for the rebuilding of Haiti should not be considered as a lack of generosity or good will of the world leaders but rather an approach of distrust and prudence due to fuzzy objectives and the noticeable ineffectiveness of the UN/Haiti Rebuilding project team to produce a sound, detailed plan. The long history of corruption in Haiti and the swiping of $97 million by Haiti’s government from a recent project are also causing the hesitation of the potential donors. Affected by the global economic crisis, world leaders are under intense pressure from their citizens making them more financially conservative and reluctant to make dubious economic decisions.

To understand the position of the potential donors let me briefly explain the foundation of project management and how projects are selected for financing so you can understand what can be done to move the Haiti’s rebuilding project forward. It is simple; the project team must get back to work and put forth a completed project plan. Projects need project managers, whose role is to work with a qualified team and the sponsors to develop a comprehensive realistic plan to achieve the goals within a predetermined budget and a specific time. Project management is an engineering science that has a set of standard rules and principles overseen by a worldwide organization called the Project Management Institute (PMI). Today, public and private administrations have project management offices (PMOs) that use these criteria to measure effectiveness when selecting projects for financing.

Among the most important factors when planning a project: all stakeholders must agree upon the objectives, goals and the quality of a project. Among the people in President Rene Preval and Prime Minister Bellerive’s small clan, they claim that they want to transform the earthquake-ravaged capital into a small Caribbean paradise with hotels and resorts and no government offices. The UN promises to seize this opportunity to build a modern capital. The White House, more reasonably, is pushing for small eco friendly villages for the people the earthquake left homeless.

Meanwhile, Haitians living abroad, like myself, have begun to take loans to rebuild damaged homes; most of the time in the same anarchic ways they were built before the earthquake that caused so many casualties on January 12th. Many small NGO’s are struggling their way through the firewall of the US-backed, corrupt Preval government, to see at what cost they can help the Haitian people rebuild schools, churches, health centers and solve other critical problems. How will all of these activities be integrated into the UN/ Preval master reconstruction plan?

Many have been left with the impression that the Haitian government and the UN have no rebuilding plan and no intent to use the money that they are seeking in an orderly manner to rebuild the capital.

In this tohu-bohu (melting pot), no responsible administration will easily donate their taxpayer’s money. Where will the world’s governments focus their investments? In Preval/Bellerive dream paradise, the Clinton/UN modern capital or in Obama’s primitive eco friendly village? There is no Haiti rebuilding project yet. It is too risky for a responsible government to sign a blank check to the UN/Haiti Rebuilding project in its current state.

As I explained in a previous article, former president Bill Clinton missed the opportunity to make a good case on behalf of the Haiti rebuilding project when he went to the New York international donors conference with an incomplete project with no blueprints, along with a bunch of politicians and activists that made heart-breaking speeches. This was not enough to convince the donors to make a firm commitment.

This is not the first time a venture for a noble cause has become stalled and killed.