Recently, Jenna Bush Hager interviewed her father– President George W. Bush– in Haiti. The two discussed Haiti’s progress since the devastating earthquake earlier this year, and how the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund is working to meet the immediate and long-term needs of Haitians.

Worth a watch when you have a minute:

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InterAction's Haiti Aid Map

Danielle Heiberg of InterAction highlights a new mapping software that helps people visualize NGO efforts on a geographical level.

As a child, unfolding maps of Africa or Australia and seeing the names of towns dotting the vast lands, my imagination was sparked.  Today it’s rare to use a paper map; everything is online with detailed directions and nearby landmarks (need to find an ATM in Lima?  No problem, your phone can find one and map it).

I began working on an online mapping project of a different sort this year at InterAction. It’s not intended to help you get from point A to point B, but rather to give you a detailed look of the work NGOs are doing in post-earthquake Haiti. The new Haiti Aid Map provides a snapshot of who’s doing what where (under the same initiative, we are also currently mapping food security and agriculture projects).  Currently, the map is only in the prototype stage, but there will be a fully built out site mapping the work of InterAction members and other NGOs by the end of the year. 

What fascinates me most about this project is not the map itself, but how you can use the map to better understand the work of the NGO community.  Using public datasets available from the mapping software, you can overlay information to get a better understanding of where donations are being put to use or even see where more aid is needed.  Someone wanting to research school construction in Haiti could map educational projects and overlay it with data on collapsed schools or attendance records. 

I believe the power of today’s online mapping is its ability to tell a broader story than geographical locations.  The goal of InterAction’s mapping initiative is to help the larger community to see a fuller picture of how our efforts are helping those who need it most. 

InterAction is an alliance of U.S.-based international NGOs focused on the world’s poor and most vulnerable people.  To learn more about the Haiti or food security/agriculture mapping projects, please email mappinginfo@interaction.org. 

- Danielle Heiberg, Strategic Impact program associate, InterAction

Last night Congress voted to keep America’s commitment to Haiti by delivering promised funding that will assist with Haiti’s reconstruction and debt relief. The bill– which thousands of ONE members called on their elected officials to support– cleared when the House passed the measure on a 308 to 114 vote.

Here are some details about what’s included in this bill (HR 4899). It includes $2.8 billion in funding to support critical relief and recovery efforts in Haiti.  Specifically, the bill provides $913 million in international security funding and economic assistance for humanitarian relief, reconstruction, law enforcement and peacekeeping initiatives.  The bill also includes $465 million for International Disaster Assistance to respond to humanitarian emergencies and funding to cancel existing debts owed by Haiti– which was the focus of ONE’s effort. The bill also supports U.S. Treasury Department programs to strengthen the country’s financial systems and $96.5 million for increased peacekeeping assessments for the U.N. mission in Haiti.

This was a major victory for the people of Haiti. Great job ONE TEAM!

I don’t meant to nag, but…

In a surprise move, the Senate voted to send the Haiti relief bill back to the House, which means the House must act this week before members leave for August recess. Please sign our petition asking Congress to deliver the aid Haiti so desperately needs.

In a surprise late night move, the Senate sent the spending bill that contains the critical funding for Haiti relief back to the House further delaying final passage. The House had passed its version earlier in the month, but the Senate rejected the House changes. The House included additional funding for a number of domestic programs, and some Senators expressed concern that the House bill was too expensive. A filibuster ensued, and the Senate rejected further consideration of the House bill. Instead, they agreed to their own original bill that had already passed the Senate in May and sent it back to the House for consideration.

Now the House must act next week before going home for the August recess. They can choose to just pass the Senate bill. If that happens, the legislation will be sent to President Obama and will be signed into law. If the House makes any changes, it will need to go back to the Senate for them to pass. Both chambers need to resolve their differences quickly and before the recess, so Haiti can receive the aid it so desperately needs. If the bill is not signed into law before they leave DC, Haiti will be forced to wait another month before receiving this funding.

In January, an enormous earthquake hit Haiti—the worst of its kind in more than 200 years. The effects were devastating and took nearly 250,000 lives—but people everywhere jumped in to help. Doctors hopped onto planes; students took breaks from school; and kids donated their allowances.

To help with recovery efforts, more than 200,000 ONE members joined our successful campaign to erase Haiti’s one billion dollars in debt. It was a huge victory for Haiti and a proud moment for ONE. And I’m writing to you today because ONE members can make a big difference in Haiti once again.

Two months after the quake, our president pledged to give more than one billion dollars to Haiti for long-term rebuilding. But Congress still needs to pass the bill that contains this critical funding. Will you join us in asking Congress to follow through on America’s commitment to Haiti?

Ask Congress today to quickly pass the bill with long-term funding for Haiti:

Our petition reads:

Dear Senator,

Six months after Haiti’s devastating earthquake, please support quick passage of US assistance to Haiti for reconstruction and debt relief.

Thanks to the heroic work of the Haitian people, tireless volunteers and NGOs, the small island nation has made it through six hard months. But as the country fades from the headlines, we need to remember that the streets are still filled with rubble; families are still sleeping in tents; and people still need jobs.

The people of Haiti deserve much more than the bare necessities of day-to-day survival. They deserve to thrive—to rebuild better and stronger than before.

We promised that they wouldn’t have to do this alone.

And that’s why this funding from the US is so critical. While the work will be hard and the rebuilding time-consuming, this funding will help the country start to recover—by reconstructing homes to protect people from hurricanes and other natural disasters and building schools and hospitals to educate girls and help mothers deliver babies in a clean, safe space.

Will you let Congress know that we must pass the bill for Haiti now?

Let’s join together again and show the people of Haiti that we haven’t forgotten about them. Let’s show Haiti that we’re ready to help for the long-term.

“We will never give up.”

You may have heard of Jeremy Cowart—photographer and ONE member—has been capturing the situation in Haiti through his camera lens.

Since the earthquake hit in January, he’s been asking Haitians directly “How are you feeling” and “What do you have to say about all of this?” And each day he posts a new picture with another Haitian’s answer. Here are a few examples:

“A lot of hands make the load lighter. Let’s rebuild Haiti together.”

“Where will I go when it rains?”

To learn more about the “Voices of Haiti” project, click here.

This week marks the six-month anniversary of the devastating earthquake in Haiti and many of our partners and friends are featuring videos, stories, reports and more of the work that they’re doing on the ground. Here’s a round-up of several of our partners:

Videos, interactive maps, stories, news updates and more from the American Red Cross.

A grassroots plan for response moving forward from American Jewish World Service.

A profile of Mildrède Béliard, CARE’s National Communications Officer in Haiti.

A special online magazine on Haiti from Compassion International.

A six-month update report from Mercy Corps, which includes a host of stories from the ground.

An update on work on the ground from One Day’s Wages.

An interactive Google map that highlights videos, visuals, and updates from Oxfam International.

An interactive website that offers stories from the ground, updates on advocacy work, and photos from Partners in Health.

A six-month progress report from Save the Children.

A fact sheet on progress made over the past 6 months from the World Food Programme.

An interview with World Vision staff members about the quake and challenges ahead.

UPDATE:

Check out this fact sheet courtesy of the UN Foundation on “Helping the UN Help Haiti”.

And Food for the Hungry has another excellent report looking at Haiti’s last 6 months.

USAID head Rajiv Shah just wrapped up remarks at the National Press Club about US Haiti’s relief efforts. You can watch it here.

During his speech he announced that “over half of all U.S. families donated to assist Haiti”– a truly stunning statistic.

As always, you can read more about USAID’s work at their Impact Blog, which features regular contributions from Shah himself.

The Haiti Debt Relief and Earthquake Recovery Act of 2010, which previously passed both the House and the Senate, was quietly signed into law on Monday night; the will of the American people is loud and clear that all nations should come together to aid Haiti’s recovery.

The bill, which was significantly aided by the support of Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Senator Dick Lugar(R-IN), Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA 35), and Representative Spencer Bachus (R-AL 6), encourages eliminating Haiti’s remaining debt to international financial institutions, currently totaling $1 billion, and instructs these institutions to offer grants rather than loan assistance to Haiti in order to end the debt-relief cycle.

When the earthquake hit Haiti in January, ONE members came together in an unprecedented campaign on this issue, mobilizing for Haiti through extensive networking and contributions. In January, thousands of ONE members participated in a conference call to discuss Haiti’s debt earlier this year. In February, a petition with 400,000 signatures (200,000 of which were ONE members and another 200,000 from our partners) was delivered to the G7’s Finance in Canada by a Haitian-Canadian ONE member Michele Bertol.

You were heard by the Minister and now you will be heard by governments around the world: Haiti needs debt relief. This bill specifically shows that the American people support this initiative.

Despite relief through the World Bank’s Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, Haiti has still been borrowing from other nations. Haiti’s main creditor is the Inter-American Development Bank. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been making allusions towards cancelling the debt, but we must be vigilant to provide Haiti with debt relief.

The United States will help to relieve Haiti’s debt out of the 150 account, an important section of the Foreign Affairs portion of the FY 2011 Budget. Therefore, it is important to stay active and encourage your representatives to work hard on the appropriations process. ONE members are an integral part of our work; the Haiti bill would not have become a law without your support.