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Haiti: Witnesses to a Disaster
As the eyes and hearts of the world focus on the devastated nation of Haiti – the sorrow of innocent victims lost; the struggle to carry on by those who survived the earthquake of January 12 – the disaster has sharpened the focus of the work of several members of the SIPA family. Six students, a member of the faculty, and two staff from the Earth Institute were visiting Port-au-Prince, Haiti when the earthquake struck. The story of their work before the earthquake, the providence of their survival, and their humanitarian response in the aftermath, is a testament to the ideals and values represented by the entire SIPA community.
Final Report: May 2010: "Harnessing Private Sector Potential for Haitian Statebuilding" 
"Students React to Haitian Tragedy":
Communiqué
"Columbians Recount, Respond to Haiti Quake": ColumbiaNews/The Record
"When Humanity is Your Only Light": John Burnett (MPA '11) describes the experience in Communiqué.
Before and After: A photo album on Facebook.
For the second year in a row, adjunct professor Elisabeth Lindenmayer, director of SIPA’s United Nations Studies Program, accompanied a group of students to Haiti during the second week of January 2010 – Annika Allman, Gabrielle Apollon, John Burnett, Megan Rapp, Gerald Stang and James Taylor. All were there to learn more about the impoverished nation, see the issues affecting the residents first-hand, and examine the United Nations’ state building and development projects.
"This was an opportunity for students to experience the realities of a United Nations peacekeeping mission,” says Professor Lindenmayer.“We want to help students move from the classroom and academic theory, to the practical realities on the ground."
What they found was a nation on the cusp of opportunity: improved security,a relatively stable and legitimate government, fresh attention from the international community, and more attention on job creation.That was the focus of the group’s research: to study the impact of private sector investment in Haiti on social and economic development, and how it supports the mission of the United Nations.
Building a Future for Haiti: Upon her return to SIPA after the earthquake, Elisabeth Lindenmayer moderated a panel discussion and fundraiser, reflecting on the disaster and a way forward. “In the space of just a few years, Haiti has seen a food crisis, civil unrest, change in government, hurricanes, cyclones, the financial crisis, and now an earthquake.” Watch the panel discussion here. 
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Panelists included:
- Jean-Marie Guehenno, Former Under-Secretary-General, DPKO
- Ambassador Rick Barton, U.S. Permanent Mission
- Robert C. Orr, Assistant Secretary-General, Office of the Secretary General
- Jeffrey Sachs, Director, Earth Institute
- Tatiana Wah, Earth Institute
- Jocelyn McCalla, Senior Adviser to the Government of Haiti
- Pablo Ruiz, Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery, UNDP
The event raised $2,000 for Partners in Health. “The tragedy that hit this country is unimaginable,” says Professor Lindenmayer. “I cannot begin to describe the misery and the tragedy that we have seen. We have also lost many of our UN colleagues. It’s probably the biggest loss that the UN has ever seen.”