Canadians gave $220 million for Haiti relief efforts to charities of their choice expecting the government would match donations in the usual fashion, which is to give the promised dollar-for-dollar to the named charities. Instead, a separate fund — the Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund — was created and administered by CIDA, to be doled out how and where the government saw fit.
“The government has changed its method over the years,” said Ken Kim, associate secretary at PWS&D. “Following the tsunami, the matching funds were allocated in full to those who raised the funds upon the presentation of a viable and effective proposal. Since then, they have changed the method of how organizations can access the funds.”
Namely, individual organizations have to apply through a complex process to CIDA in order to receive funds for their relief projects. PWS&D is doing this through a colaboration of nine Canadian churches, called Canadian Churches in Action — the same coalition used to access funds and coordinate relief efforts following the tsunami, as well as the South Asia earthquake, and disasters in China and Burma.
“Our initial request for $1.89 million of the [matched] funds was not successful,” said Kim. “However, given our positive track record as Canadian churches working together, we are hopeful that we can access these funds. Together with the other members of Canadian Churches in Action, we’ve collectively raised over $15 million that was matched by the Canadian government in its Haiti fund.”
Face-to-face meetings with CIDA were scheduled for May to discuss this further.
Canadian Presbyterians gave over $1.5 million to PWS&D for Haiti relief, $1.2 million of which is eligible for matching.
In April, Minister of International Cooperation Bev Oda announced the first disbursements of the matched funds.
Half of the Fund went to the government’s contribution to Haiti’s reconstruction plan, and the other half ($110 million) will be available for NGO applications.
So far, the Canadian Red Cross is the major recipient of matched funds.
