PrintHaiti Working Group
Program Specialists
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Senior Program Officer, Centers of Innovation and Center for Post-Conflict Peace and Stability Operations
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The Haiti Working Group is directed by Robert Perito, Senior Program Officer in the Center for Post-Conflict Peace and Stability Operations. The purpose of the Haiti Working Group is to help focus the attention of Washington policymakers on Haiti. The Working Group meets monthly to discuss a major challenge to Haiti’s development and the response from the U.S. government and the international community. Meetings alternate between public forums and invitation only roundtable discussions. Membership is open to anyone interested in Haiti.
Since February 2006, USIP has hosted a series of public forums on Haiti through the mechanism of the Haiti Working Group. The forums feature US and Haiti officials, academic experts, writers, artists, and members of the Haitian Diaspora. The sessions are attended by representatives of the Haitian Embassy, the UN, the Organization of American States, other international organizations, and NGOs. Sessions have covered elections, security, politics, narcotics, business, the economy, and the relationship between conflict and culture. Twice yearly, the HWG convenes a closed-door meeting of the Haiti Advisory Council, a small group of Haiti specialists, including congressional staff members and State Department and USAID officials, for an in-depth discussion of Haitian issues. USIP is the only institute in Washington that regularly hosts public forums on Haiti that provide opportunities for public discussion of issues related to US-Haitian relations. HWG meetings provide the basis for a series of USIP Peace Briefings and an annual USIP Special Report on Haiti. These topical reports are unique in Washington and are widely read within the US Government and academic institutions concerned with Haiti.