Can Africa save Haiti? Leaders call for diaspora investment and Global South solidarity

In 2021, the late President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated, further destabilizing the country after years of socioeconomic volatility and a growing humanitarian crisis. Fast forward to 2025, the political instability has worsened, with gangs controlling over 85 percent  of Port-au-Prince, terrorizing citizens and destroying infrastructure, sparking renewed conversations on how to ‘save’ Haiti 

For Haiti’s minister of finance and economy, Alfred Fils Metellus, Africa may be the solution. 

“Because we need support with security, Benin wants to send soldiers to help Haitian police maintain order,” Metellus told The Haitian Times during the Financing the Africa-Caribbean Infrastructure Agenda Forum, held April 25 alongside the World Bank and International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C.

“We all know that Nigeria has a lot of oil. Nigeria is a rich country, they have knowledge also; knowledge can come from Africa to support Haiti. We are open [to] any cooperation with every African country,” he said.

Rufus N. Darkortey, an executive director for the African Development Bank where he represents a Constituency comprising Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Sudan, echoed similar sentiments, asserting that  Africa can step in to help Haiti even more, referencing the Kenyan-led MSS mission in Haiti. 

“We have the capacity to work together and ensure that where there are challenges and capacities, whether it’s in Africa or in other African countries or other parts of the world,” Darkortey said. 

“[That] capacity can be utilized to complement the efforts that are going on in those countries to show that when there are problems, those problems are resolved, based on those partnerships.”

Getting support in Haiti could prove difficult due to its reputational risk linked to gangs controlling much of the capital. The Federal Reserve defines reputational risk as “the potential that negative publicity regarding an institution’s business practices, whether true or not, will cause a decline in the customer base, costly litigation, or revenue reductions.”

That risk exists in Africa as well. Still  Darkortey noted, “I think sometimes we try to amplify the perception of the risk more than the risk itself.” He added that many companies in Africa are doing well despite the perception of risk on the continent.

“The perception of risk is much higher in Africa than the actual risk level. Notwithstanding, there are risks in Africa, but there are companies in Africa that are operational, that are maximizing on profits,” he added.

Many Haitian experts, including Vladimir Laborde, project executive of the National Alliance for the Advancement of Haitian Professionals, reiterated during a panel on unlocking private capital for Haiti and Africa that countries need to establish trust with people who want to invest in infrastructure. That trust, they said, is especially important to members of the Haitian diaspora eager to help rebuild Haiti once political turmoil subsides.

Despite ongoing conflict, Haiti’s finance minister insists the country’s roads, telecommunications, health systems and schools are ready for investment, including from the Haitian Diaspora, as the near “total chaos” in Haiti will have to eventually end.

“If we receive $3 billion, that’s 20% of our gross domestic product. It’s a lot. We have to put together a measurement to attract the diaspora in the private sector to do business. To invest, you have to create public-private partnerships, and if well organized, the diaspora can not only send money for consumption, but for investment,” Metellus said. 

“We need to create trust in Haiti to push the [Haitian] diaspora to invest in Haiti, not only to send money to the family for consumption.”

With the United States cutting U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) funding to Haiti, Sabine Bernard, the CEO of Smart Dev Global and co-convener of the Financing the Africa-Caribbean Infrastructure Forum, believes this is the time for the diaspora to act.

 “It’s time to actually move from conversation to action with mobilizing global diaspora remittances, looking at innovative financing tools that can actually leverage capital actually build concrete infrastructure,” Bernard said. 

“And then also ways to mitigate risk because I think the different risk appetites in these developing countries [are] what is not allowing these companies to concretely invest in these countries.”

Haitians in America are looking to build a dual purpose behind their efforts, which are meeting urgent needs in the present while laying the groundwork for a more sustainable future.

“We want to be able to build something that’s better for our folks back home right now and then better for us when we’re ready to leave.” 

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