Haiti:  Building Back Better was the underlying theme of three meetings held at the United Nations on February 24.  UN Webcasts are available for all three — click on the blue titles below.  

David Stillman spoke at the morning session – the Communications Workshop.  A group of PPAF and related colleagues attended, including Scott Wright and Jeanne Betsock Stillman, board members; John L. German, Senior Fellow; Rosario Rodriguez, Associate; and colleagues Rodney Leon and Renan X. Pierre, Haiti Initiative for Building, Infrastructure and Sustainable Communities (HIBISCUS), Alex Krutansky (businessman) and Dr. Leo Slutsky.  Stillman’s remarks can be found at:   39’42″ and Q&A at 1:12′ 53″ and 1: 35′

UN Department of Public Information/NGO Communications Workshop on “NGOs responding to crisis: Meeting new challenges – The case of Haiti“.  1 hr 49 min. Ambassador Jean-Wesley Cazeau, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Mission of Haiti to the UN, gave opening remarks on the situation in Haiti.  Speakers included: Nicholas Reader, Deputy Spokesperson of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA); Patrick McCormick, Senior Emergency Communications Specialist and Deputy Chief of Media Relations at UNICEF HQ; Jocelyn McCalla, Senior Advisor to the Special Envoy of Haiti for the United Nations; David Stillman, Executive Director of the Public-Private Alliance Foundation (PPAF); and Patricia Sacristan, past Chair of the Young Professionals for International Cooperation, United Nations Association of the USA, Southern New York State Division.  The Moderator was Gail Bindley-Taylor Sainté, Information Officer, NGO Relations, UN Department of Public Information.

Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General focused on the Situation in Haiti.  1 hr. 4 min. Anthony Banbury, Acting Principal Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) briefed journalists on the situation in Haiti.

Special Event: “Haiti Re-Building Against All Odds: Fostering Partnerships”.  1 hr. 41 min. Organized by the United Nations Association of Haiti in Collaboration with the Permanent Mission of Haiti to the United Nations.   The event was opened by Harvey Dupiton, new Secretary-General of the United Nations Association of Haiti.   Ambassador Francis Lorenzo, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Dominican Republic to the UN, co-founder of the UN Association of the Dominican Republic, and Vice-Chair of the PPAF Board, gave welcoming remarks.   Ambassador Leo Merores, Permanent Representative of Haiti to the United Nations, gave the keynote address.   Panels included ”Community Level Participation in Education and Health,” “Partnerships in Microfinance and a Diaspora-originated Investment Fund for Haiti” and ”How Can Haiti’s Dynamic Music and Art Culture Boost Development?”

Currently all United Nations Webcasts on Haiti are being grouped at the following site:  http://www.un.org/webcast/haiti.html