Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies
stated. Some in government and among the elites emphasize
the importance of recognizing generational differences and
supporting the efforts of younger generations to "play by the
rules." The creation of revamped chambers of commerce in
the country's secondary cities and the work of the Center for
Free Enterprise and Democracy (Centre pour la Libre Entreprise
et la Democratic—CLED), a private-sector association
founded in 1993, are cited as examples of these efforts.
Some of these younger members have emerged from the
intermediate classes (those between the wealthy elite and the
impoverished masses) that grew significantly during the Duvalier
era, principally as a result of Papa Doc's political strategy of
providing avenues of patronage to the black middle class as a
means for creating a new political constituency. Others are the
educated sons and daughters of middle-class professionals who
emigrated from Haiti in droves to Europe, Africa, Latin America,
and the Caribbean, and, most commonly, to North America
during the Duvalier years, or who have been educated
abroad. Returning home, they bring resources, experience,
expertise, attitudes, and values that reinforce Haiti's efforts to
change.
Civil Society
In a report issued in 1992, the Inter-American Development
Bank estimated that between 800 and 1,000 development
NGOs were active in Haiti prior to the coup d'etat. Not
included in the bank's figures were the thousands of community-based
religious, social, and economic groups that had
emerged by 1991 to become involved in improving the lives of
their members and communities. The groups, and the national
and international NGOs that work with them, tended to coalesce
around such interests as literacy, agricultural production
and marketing, credit, the status of women and children, civil
and legal rights, and access to improved social and economic
services. They should be distinguished from the so-called popular
organizations that arise in response to timely issues; these
organizations are more informally structured, and sometimes
do little more than serve as mouthpieces for various politicians.
During the 1990s, particularly since 1994, civil society organizations
also have been deeply involved in reforming Haiti's
political process and making the government responsive to citizens.
Haitians in organized civil society associations formed the
core of the Lavalas political movement's strength. By 1995, hav-
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