ABSTRACT
In late 1981, the new US Agency for International Development (AID) Mission Director in Haiti recruited a team of experts to review the record of AID rural development programs and formulate new options for development assistance in the 1980's. The international agencies' over-estimation of the Haitian government's capabilities and intentions regarding economic development programs during the 1970's provides an essential historical context for understanding the recent reformulation of international aid strategies for Haiti in the 1980's. Despite Haiti's prior history of official malfeasance, most international aid was given directly to the government of Haiti to use in support of agreed upon development projects. AID's first emphasis was on building up Haitian government agencies so that they would be able to carry out development projects. Like AID, the World Bank was concerned with institution building and training in order to carry out its projects.
