Matthew (M.G.) Olson Contesting Decentralization: Agricultural Production, Peasant Movements and International Development in Haiti Summary of 2013 Stone Center for Latin American Studies Summer Field Research Grant

With the summer research grant provided by the Stone Center, I was able to continue building relationships with contacts from the previous summer as well as become acquainted with people and organizations tied more directly to my narrowing research interests in land, agriculture, water, food and community self-determination within the framework of international aid and “development” projects. In preparation to travel to various field sites in Haiti, I contacted professors at the l'Universite de l'Etat de Haiti (UEH) for recommendations of high-level graduate students who would have similar research interests and would want to travel to rural communities and meet with peasant organizations. I came in contact with many students, but in the end only one previously unscheduled research trip became a reality. A graduate student traveled with me to Leogane where we interacted with a few members of the Mouvman Kiltivate ak Distile de Leogan (MKDL), which is an organization of sugar cane land owners and rum producers. In contrast to the peasant organizations I would visit at other parts of my trip, this gave me insight into a more elite-oriented farmer organization with well-connected business men. Following up on research from the previous summer, I returned to the town of Gressier near the epicenter of the 2010 earthquake. The housing reconstruction project that was at a contentious stand still in 2012 between the private contractor of an international funding agency and the Haitian non-governmental organization was now advancing according to the prescriptions of the Haitian civil engineers who had brought concerns about housing design to the fore. The vision to rebuild all 1,700 homes for people who were further away from the national road up into the mountains was still on course, albeit delayed. Most importantly, equity had been restored to the reconstruction process because all homes would now have the same “earthquake-proof” standard. This project continued to pair with the organization's educational and agricultural programs to emphasize the need to have continual support for farmers and rural people of all trades so as to decentralize resources away from the capitol of Port-au-Prince. Likewise, I returned to the southern region of La Vallee de Jacmel where I had done research on medical volunteerism at a local hospital, but with a determination to better understand the agricultural challenges and organizations in the area. Alongside long-standing community members and professionals, I met with agronomists from the region, some of whom had recently founded the group La Vallee de Demain – La Vallee of Tomorrow. When I talked to one of the co-founders he told me that peasant organizations were not currently active in this region on any scale larger than informally among neighbors. Together we surveyed a lake near the local hospital and talked about visions for how it could further benefit local residents during the current drought. How this region and a nascent peasant organization deals with a drought could be a very compelling field site for my future research, especially as a contrast to the organization I visited subsequently. For more than a week, I stayed with the oldest continuous peasant organization in Haiti, Mouvman Peyizan Papaye, at their Lakay National Peasant Training Center in the central region of the country. During my stay there, I witnessed the graduation of a class of agro-ecology students and spoke with the main coordinator of the study program. The program lasted for nine months, featuring soil conservation, sustainable agriculture and effective animal husbandry methods that aim for holistic environmental health intertwined with human health and needs. Another site of interest were the eco-villages established by MPP to incorporate many of the families who migrated from Port-au-Prince and surrounding area to the central plateau due to the devastation of the earthquake. By this summer, ten eco-villages were in the process of being established with several completely finished. Each village houses ten families and falls into the categorical principle of mutual aid and also a vision of decentralizing the capital in ways that provide meaningful and sustainable livings for families in the countryside. They are re-learning agricultural knowledge and farming techniques, in a forced return to the land. As a means of facilitating the additional eco-villages and spreading the word of their work in North America, MPP has worked in partnership with several international volunteer organizations such as the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee in the United States and Quebecois Sans Frontieres in Canada. On the ground, I overlapped with many Canadian volunteers with whom I engaged about their experiences in Haiti and as solidarity volunteers. They were received with acceptance, affirmation and politeness by MPP staff, organizers and members, but had mixed interactions among eco-village families during the few days I was present. Interactions ranged from welcoming with smiles to open verbal confrontation about why volunteers were needed at the site. This contention could be considered through lenses of class and race primarily, but also of foreigners doing labor for free that Haitians could likely do more effectively and be gainfully employed. Solidarity volunteering is difficult due to the inequalities built-in to the relationship that come to the fore only in these moments of in-person encounter. The reality presents challenges for internationally recognized groups like MPP who strive to leverage resources in line with their vision and, meanwhile, strengthen ties with sympathetic, progressive volunteers who may become next-generation leaders. Unfortunately I came down with a sickness in Papaye and could not make the trip to Gros Morne to visit a mango co-operative I had been introduced to the previous summer. This also prevented my engagement in semi-structured interviews with members of Tet Kole Ti Peyizan Ayisyen, one of the largest national peasant organizations (along with MPP), whom I had planned to meet in Gros Morne. This poorly timed sickness limited data gathering about alternative decentralized economic models that are being attempted across Haiti's agricultural sectors and prevented any accompaniment with Tet Kole to further northern regions. Despite that disappointment, I used my time in Haiti to make some extremely useful institutional connections as well. In Port-au-Prince, I conversed with several Haitian directors of international foundations, Haitian and U.S. graduate students and made positive contacts at a new private educational institution, Enstiti Travay Sosyal ak Syans Sosyal. It is affiliated with the University of Michigan, awards Bachelor and Master degrees to Haitian students and can host Ph.D. candidates for Advanced Kreyol classes and to teach.