Anil Donkers 1001480952

The World Bank and Water: the Privatization of Haitis Water and Sanitation Services
Anil Donkers
TA: Lazar Konforti
Tutorial: Wednesday 12 1pm

Anil Donkers 1001480952

Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere, occupies the western portion
of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola and is home to roughly ten million people. Of the
ten million urban and rural citizens who call Haiti their home, only a small majority has
access to improved water sources, most of whom live in urban centers such as Port-auPrince or secondary cities (World Bank, 2014). The problem is intensified in rural areas,
where the lack of potable water has reached crisis levels and the majority of the
population is unable to access improved water sources (CIA, 2014). In an effort to
increase access to improved water sources in rural Haiti, the World Bank, in partnership
with the Haitian National Water and Sanitation Directorate and the State and PeaceBuilding Fund, implemented a plan that sought to shift the management and maintenance
of water services in rural Haiti from public committees to private contractors.
The article Improving Access to Water and Sanitation in Rural Haiti published
by the World Bank encapsulates the successes of the water and sanitization project, citing
the fact that tens of thousands of rural Haitians benefited from the new water systems
managed by professional water operators (World Bank, 2014). This paper will discuss
how the World Banks article on the privatization of water systems presents a neoliberal
discourse. Evaluating this discourse, I intend to argue that it further entrenches Haiti in
foreign-influenced neoliberal governance and promotes the trend of privatizing
government services in developing countries.
Founded in July of 1944 at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, the World Bank has
since been an active player in establishing and supporting neoliberal systems of
governance worldwide (Sparke, 2013). The World Bank is one of the worlds most
prominent international financial institutions, and as such it plays a large role in the

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economic development of the nations to which it provides assistance. The primary focus
of the World Bank is providing loans, credits and grants to developing nations with the
intent of reducing poverty and helping improve sanitation, infrastructure, health and other
vital services (World Bank, 2014). In the article Improving Access to Water and
Sanitation in Rural Haiti, the World Bank expounds the merits of shifting the
management, operation and maintenance of water services from public committees to
private contractors, which aligns with the traditionally neoliberal ideology on which the
World Banks programs are based.
In the context of this article, the World Banks neoliberal discourse is centered on
privatization, which is the transfer of government services and enterprises from the public
to private sector. The Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project was implemented in
Haiti by the World Bank and oversaw the transfer of rural water systems from local
committees to professional water operators, contracted by the communities which they
chose to service (World Bank, 2014). The communities that were chosen to receive
service were evaluate primarily on their willingness to pay for the water services, and
tariff structures for the services varied based on the level of service the community could
afford to fund (World Bank, 2014).
The implementation of a program wherein public water services are managed,
operated and maintained by private contractors is inherently neoliberal, as it is based on
the privatization principle of public sector services transitioning to the private sector. The
World Bank article promoting the private management of water systems in rural Haiti is
deeply rooted in neoliberal ideology, and as such it diminishes the role of the
government, and in turn the people, in managing, operating and maintaining vital services

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such as the supply of water. By diminishing the role of the people of Haiti in the
oversight of their own vital water services, the World Bank is contributing to the trend of
foreign-led neoliberal policies being enforced on the impoverished island nation.
Since Haiti gained independence from French colonial rule in 1804, the nation has
faced a series of crippling international debts (CHRGJ, PIH, RFK Center, Zanmi Lasante,
2013). This history of foreign debt was exacerbated by the economic mismanagement of
the Duvalier family, who ruled Haiti for nearly thirty years and left the Haitian economy
in utter ruin and unable to pay debts (CHRGJ et. al, 2013). Due to the high level of debt,
Haiti was forced to suspend vital government services such as sanitary water systems and
take out loans to rebuild their national economy (CHRGJ et. al, 2013). The loans taken
out by the Haitian government granted by international financial institutions were
given on the condition that Haiti would privatize government enterprises, cut funding for
social services and liberalize trade. Essentially, these conditions forced the country to
adopt neoliberal policies to survive (CHRGJ et. al, 2013). The neoliberal policies
enforced by Haitis creditors required the country to cut spending on vital government
services such as water and sanitation infrastructure, making private sector involvement
necessary for the survival of Haitians.
While private sector involvement in the management and maintenance of water
services has benefitted certain communities in rural Haiti, it is a continuation of foreign
creditor influence in the country. By developing a program wherein water services
management and maintenance is controlled by private sector contractors, the World Bank
and its partner institutions are furthering Haitis trend of corporate control over vital
services and foreign control over economic management.

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Though foreign involvement and private sector control is prevalent in Haiti, it

extends far beyond the Caribbean and affects many other impoverished debtor nations
worldwide. The World Bank, along with other prominent international financial
institutions, has historically been criticized for exerting too much influence on the
domestic affairs and economic management of the countries it deems to support (Olleta,
2007). This influence is primarily exerted through the conditionality of its lending
programs, which is to say the conditions and policy implications necessary for a country
to be the beneficiary of World Bank lending programs (Olleta, 2007). The conditionality
of World Bank lending programs has promoted public sector reform by means of
privatization, de-regulation and trade liberalization, leading to systems of foreign
influenced neoliberal governance (Olleta, 2007).
The privatization of government services and enterprises has been one of the most
successful policies implemented by the World Bank, and has been introduced through
lending programs in countries spanning the globe (Olleta, 2007). Through the promotion
of neoliberal policies such as privatization, the World Bank has effectively reduced
government involvement in various sectors, with water services being among the most
important (Olleta, 2007).
The trend of international financial institutions supporting the development of
neoliberal governance in developing nations and enforcing neoliberal policies through the
conditionality of lending programs has far-reaching effects on developing nations. By
enforcing a system of neoliberal governance through policies such as privatization, the
World Bank has effectively undermined the integrity of governments worldwide in

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regulating their domestic affairs and supporting their citizens through vital public
services.
Haitis water and sanitation program, as funded by the World Bank and its partner
institutions, is by nature neoliberal, as it promotes the privatization of government
services in favour of private sector contractors. This privatization is emblematic of Haitis
historical role as a debtor nation, and adds to the cementation of its position as an
impoverished country in need to foreign aid and influence to regulate domestic affairs.
The role of the World Bank in Haitis privatization is one example, of many, in which
international financial institutions have exerted their influence to promote neoliberal
ideology, primarily with regards to privatization. The privatization of government
services, especially water services, has nefarious effects on the nations that are subjected
to foreign influenced neoliberal governance. The privatization of these services
undermines the integrity of the government in regulating domestic affairs, which in turn
detracts from the power of the people in managing their country. Overall, the World
Banks policy of water privatization is a net negative for Haiti by further entrenching the
country in neoliberal governance and continuing the trend of Haiti as a debtor nation
incapable of managing its own affairs.

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7
Works Cited

1. Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, Partners in Health, RFK Memorial
Center for Human Rights, & Zanmi Lasante. (2013). Wch nan soley: The denial of
the right to water in Haiti Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, Partners in
Health, RFK Memorial Center for Human Rights, Zanmi Lasante. Retrieved from
http://chrgj.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/wochnansoley.pdf
2. Central Intelligence Agency. (2014). Central America and the Carribean: Haiti.
Retrieved 11/08, 2014, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-worldfactbook/geos/ha.html
3. Olleta, A. (2007). The World Bank's influence on water privatisation in Argentina: The
experience of the city of Buenos Aires. Geneva, Switzerland: International
Environmental Law Research Center. http://www.ielrc.org/content/w0702.pdf
4. Sparke, M. (2013). Glossary. Intoducing globalization: Ties, tensions, and uneven
integration (1st ed., pp. 468). West Sussex, United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell.
5. World Bank. (2013). World Bank history. Retrieved 11/10, 2014, from
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTABOUTUS/EXTARCHIVES/
0,,contentMDK:20053333~menuPK:63762~pagePK:36726~piPK:36092~theSitePK:
29506,00.html
6. World Bank. (2014). Improving access to water and sanitation in rural Haiti: Rural
communities of the south and nippes departments World Bank Group.
http://www.worldbank.org/en/results/2014/09/25/improving-access-to-water-andsanitation-in-rural-haiti
7. World Bank. (2014). What we do. Retrieved 11/10, 2014, from
http://www.worldbank.org/en/about/what-we-do

Anil Donkers 1001480952