This is the controversial UNICEF/IBESR report, conducted by Sociodig, a Haiti-based research company. I’ll let interested readers be the judge regarding the quality of the work. But as can be seen from the report, it was a massive amount of research. Quite simply, there is no study of orphanages in Haiti that comes close to its scope and use of statistical resources. Notwithstanding the effort, the UNICEF directors were not happy with the findings, ostensibly because it contradicted their family reunification priorities. Specifically, we found that children we interviewed overwhelming wanted to stay in orphanages, i.e. did not want to return home. We also found that, yes, most orphanages can be understood as businesses and some are dilapidated. Nevertheless, most provide the children with substantially better living conditions than the average Haitian household. And most provide the children with educational opportunities and prospects for travel overseas that they are unlikely to find elsewhere. In any case, UNICEF withheld pay. I’ll spare the reader the political details. Suffice it to say that having already delivered what would have been $200,000 or more of research from any other organization and UNICEF and IBESR themselves having modified the terms of reference without compensating us, we refused to do more research without being paid for what we had done. In the end, we were not paid at all. As compensation we took possession of the report. It was not worth anything to us monetarily, but it does, in our opinion, give us the right to share it with people or institutions that might find the information useful. Note below that you have PDF first for the English Version (albeit title page in French) and then the French version.
Rapport_UNICEF_FRENCH_5_28_14
Unpublished_UNICEF_Orphanage Report_English_2014
