Dealing with the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake is a daunting task, but one which has opened up new opportunities for partnerships between the public and private sectors. A report by the World Economic Forum shows how new, creative thinking was put into practice by companies and NGOs to try to help Haiti recover from this devastating disaster. In “Innovations in Corporate Global Citizenship: Responding to the Haiti Earthquake”, private sector organisations are encouraged to continue contributing expertise, personnel and equipment, as well as building more lasting relationships with the NGOs on the ground. The report includes case studies of successful partnerships and addresses gaps in the coordination where further involvement could make a big difference.

Selected case studies:

• The World Food Programme’s (WFP) partnership with US-based game developer Zynga: Two days following the quake, Zynga launched campaigns on Facebook that generated US$ 1.5 million within five days and reached more than 300,000 users. At the end of the campaign, Zynga gave players of its FarmVille game – which itself raised US$ 1 million – a virtual “high energy biscuit” that made avatars work twice as fast in the game.
• The joint initiative of Agility, TNT and UPS, called the Logistics Emergency Teams (LET), supports the United Nations’ Logistics Cluster which is led by the WFP. While none of the LET companies maintained a significant business presence in Haiti, UPS’s operations in the region were most established. In conjunction with LET; UPS and TNT sent personnel to Haiti to coordinate on-the-ground operations in Santo Domingo, oversee warehouse operations and improve efficiency of supply transfer.
• World Vision and automated food distribution in Haiti: World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization founded in 1950, committed several years ago to improving the efficiency of its food-aid provision. In 2006, it began working with Canadian technology firm FieldWorker to reduce cumbersome paperwork processes for logging and processing food distribution. After several months of developing software and vetting systems internally, it launched a one-year pilot programme to test mobile technology involving hand-held scanners and bar-coded identification cards. This system combined hardware from Intermec, a US-based company specializing in mobile computing systems, and FieldWorker’s software, which World Vision licensed at a reduced rate. The result was a system that drew on best practices from the private sector and was customized to meet the needs of humanitarian agencies: food aid recipients were issued bar-coded identification cards, and aid workers could scan these cards with hand-held, wireless computers. The device would automatically calculate rations and log food distribution at the particular site.