Growing the Grassroots or Backing Bandits? Dilemmas of Donor Support for Haiti’s (UN)Civil Society

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Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Fiona Macaulay as well as the anonymous reviewers and the editors at JPD for constructive comments on earlier drafts of this paper.

Notes

1 I conducted 35 interviews between June and December 2013 with community leaders, religious leaders, current and former gang members, local NGOs, CSOs, peace initiative workers and a number of international agencies working in communities with gang presence. In order to increase the validity of the research, I triangulated the data by carrying out overt observation within informal settlements in Port-au-Prince between June and December 2013.

2 Author interview, Pétion-Ville, October 2013.

3 For a discussion of the concept of community-based armed groups, see Schuberth (2015a).

4 The substitutive logic entails making CBAGs obsolete by replacing the different functions they fulfil, for instance by reforming the security sector so that communities do not have to rely on vigilantes, or by offering alternative means of income for gang members.

5 Author interview, Pétion-Ville, September 2013.

6 Author interview, Port-au-Prince, November 2013.

7 Author interviews, Haiti, November and December 2013.

8 Author interviews with HSI staff, Port-au-Prince, October and November 2013.

9 Author interviews, Haiti, September to November 2013.

10 Author interview with Haitian development worker, Port-au-Prince, November 2013.

11 Author interview, Pétion-Ville, November 2013.

12 Author interview, Pétion-Ville, November 2013.

13 Author interview with Monitoring and Evaluation consultant, Pétion-Ville, October 2013.

14 Author interview with Community Violence Reduction (CVR) section of MINUSTAH, Port-au-Prince, October 2013.

15 Author interviews, Haiti, September to November 2013.

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Notes on contributors

Moritz Schuberth

MORITZ SCHUBERTH is a PhD candidate in Peace Studies at the University of Bradford. His research focuses on non-state armed groups, peacebuilding, statebuilding, and urban violence. He is the author of recent articles in Africa Spectrum, Conflict, Security & Development, and Contemporary Security Policy.