HAITI

According to the 1987 Constitution (amended in 2012), Haiti is a unitary country with a presidential system. The president, who is also head of State, is elected by direct universal suffrage for a five-year term. The Constitution states that the president shall appoint the prime minister and that they shall jointly decide on the cabinet. The executive consists of the president and the government, which is headed by the prime minister. The legislative branch is composed of a two-chamber parliament with 119 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 30 seats in the Senate.

The 1987 Constitution, adopted following the Duvalier dictatorship (1957-1986), began the decentralisation of public governance by establishing three levels of local and regional authorities: the department, the commune and, at the sub-communal level, the communal section, of which the commune is the decentralised level actually in place, with constitutionally recognised financial and administrative autonomy. In 1996, the government passed two laws to create a fund to support local and regional authorities - the Fund for the Management and Development of Local and Regional Authorities (FGDCT or Fonds de gestion et de développement des collectivités territoriales). Five more decrees were adopted in 2006 to clarify how local and regional authorities are organised and work (on decentralisation, departments, communes, communal sections and the local and regional civil service). The communal section is the basic level of decentralisation but the Constitution does not grant it full autonomy. Communal section budgets must be ratified by their respective communes’ municipal councils and their responsabilities are often limited to backing up communal competences. Each decentralised authority must have a deliberative structure (the assembly) and an executive structure (the council), whose members are elected (directly or indirectly).

According to the legal texts, the departments should also be an autonomous entity. Due to the lack of organisation and elections, the departmental level with its interdepartmental council is not functional as provided for by the Constitution. The 10 departments, subdivided into 42 districts (arrondissements), are currently an administrative deconcentration of certain state services. Some ministries carry out their activities at this level. In each department and arrondissement, the government appoints a delegate and a vice delegate to oversee the supervision of local and regional authorities.

Since 2010, the Haitian government has undertaken extensive reforms aimed at strengthening decentralisation. Key among these are the Strategic Development Plan for Haiti (2012) and the State Modernisation Programme (2018), which contain important elements on territorial governance and local finance. To address gaps in coordination at the regional level, in 2017 the government started to create a regional planning authority in four regions (groupings of departments) and in the urban community of Port-au-Prince. Their role is to coordinate the realisation of the regional development plans and the annual implementation plans that result from them. Progress on the implementation of these regional authorities is not known.

Despite the reforms undertaken, the state of local and regional authorities in Haiti reveals that they lack the resources and abilities necessary to fulfil their responsibilities. Insufficient financial resources combined with a lack of clarity in the legislative framework on decentralisation are major problems that prevent them from completing the decentralisation enshrined in the Constitution.

On 28 October 2020, the government established the Independent Advisory Committee with a mandate to draft and propose a new constitution. This was to introduce, among other things, changes to the subnational government framework to address the inability of local and regional authorities to carry out their role in local development. The process of adopting this new constitution, including a consultation phase and a referendum scheduled for 2021, has been contested and is currently delayed.

In contrast to the decentralisation envisaged in the Constitution, the government exerts significant control over the communes, mainly through the Ministry of the Interior and Local and Regional Authorities (MICT or Ministère de l'intérieur et des collectivités territoriales). In addition, the Ministry of Planning and External Cooperation (MPCE or Ministère de la Planification et de la Coopération Extérieure) supervises planning and the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF or Ministère de l'Economie et des Finances) and the Superior Court of Accounts and Administrative Litigation (CSCCA or Cour Supérieure des Comptes et du Contentieux Administratif) supervises the finances of the communes.

There are three national federations defending the interests of local and regional authorities: the Federation of Mayors of Communes (FENAMH or Fédération des maires des communes), which is currently the most active, the Federation of Administrative Councils of Communal Sections (FENACAH or Fédération des conseils d'administration des sections communales) and the Federation of Assemblies of Communal Sections (FENASEC or Fédération des assemblées des sections communales).

TERRITORIAL ORGANISATION
MUNICIPAL LEVEL	INTERMEDIATE LEVEL	REGIONAL LEVEL	TOTAL NUMBER OF SNGs (2021)
146 communes
Average municipal size: 78 100
146			146

Name and number of sub-communal entities:

571 communal sections

OVERALL DESCRIPTION: Since the last change to municipal organisation in 2015, when the government created five new communes, Haiti has had 146 communes. In 2021, five of them were not yet organised or effectively in place. Under the Constitution, the government determines the number, boundaries, organisation and functioning of communes and communal sections by law. Communal sections are a sub-communal administrative level within the territories of the communes and play a limited role.

MUNICIPAL LEVEL: According to a 2015 census by the Haitian Institute of Statistics and Data Processing, the population of communal sections and communes varies greatly, ranging from less than 100 to more than 520 000 inhabitants for communal sections, and from just under 6 000 to almost one million inhabitants for communes. At that time, the communal section of Turgeau in Port-au-Prince had a larger population than some departments. This demographic asymmetry is especially visible in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, which has a population of more than two and a half million. This metropolitan area is composed of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and the communes of Delmas, Cité Soleil, Tabarre, Carrefour and Pétion-Ville. The conurbation has no special status, apart from the government’s desire to coordinate planning and development through the regional planning authority. Apart from the capital, the most populous communes have populations of between 200 000 and 400 000.

According to the World Bank, Haiti’s urban population has grown from three to six million in 15 years (from 2000 to 2015). Combined with the limited capacities of local and regional authorities, this phenomenon of strong and rapid urbanisation has intensified the problems and the lack of local infrastructure and services, which has hindered economic development.

At the commune level, the same number of representatives are elected every four years to sit on the council (executive) and the assemblies of the communal sections must each appoint a representative to sit on the commune’s deliberative body, the municipal assembly. In the last elections in 2016, municipal assemblies were not appointed. As the next elections were not held, the government transformed the municipal councils of 141 municipalities into municipal commissions with the same responsibilities by a ministerial order of July 2020. All members of these commissions (three officials per commune) have been appointed by the government and are in office until the next local elections (with no set date).

The current legal, administrative and financial arrangements lead to consider that the 571 communal sections are a sub-communal administrative level with very little financial and organisational autonomy. Elections by universal suffrage are held every four years at the level of the communal section to elect the members of the deliberative body, the communal assembly (which has five to nine representatives depending on the population of the section), three representatives for the council (executive), and town delegates to sit on the communal assembly. The last election took place in 2017 and the next one, scheduled for 2021, has been postponed.

HORIZONTAL COOPERATION: Under the 2006 framework decree on decentralisation, communes can be grouped together to manage one or more services. The Community of Municipalities of the Palm Region (CMRP or Communauté des Municipalités de la Région des Palmes) is a well-known experience of grouping four municipalities together in 2011. The CMRP set up a technical team to support the communes in project management, land use planning and development, and tax mobilisation. Despite the successes achieved and the recognition of its importance (by FENHAM among others), the CMRP lacks funding. The 2018 State Modernisation Programme proposed promoting inter-communal cooperation to strengthen decentralisation.

Decentralisation aims to ensure that local public services are provided by local and regional authorities in accordance with the norms and standards set by the central government. The legislation gives many responsibilities to the communes. In reality, very few communes have the financial and organisational capacity to carry them out, even partially. The government recognises this fact in the Constitution, decrees and laws by stating that any service that cannot be provided by a local or regional authority will automatically be taken over by the higher authority or the central government. The actual responsibilities taken on at local level vary considerably between communes, and it is not easy to distinguish between shared and exclusive responsibilities. The 2018 State Modernisation Programme proposed measures to review and standardise the legal and regulatory framework.

Main responsibility sectors and sub-sectors
SECTORS AND SUB-SECTORS	Municipal level
1. General public services (administration)	Managing cemeteries; managing land and communal buildings (shared)
2. Public order and safety	Traffic regulations; disaster relief; fire-fighting; funeral control; justice of the peace and community policing (shared)
3. Economic affairs/transport	Constructing and maintaining roads; constructing and maintaining public squares, railway stations, parking lots; constructing and regulating markets, slaughterhouses and slaughter areas; organising communal fairs (shared)
4. Environmental protection	Constructing and maintaining water sanitation infrastructure; forest protection and tree cutting control; protecting watercourses; protecting groundwater; waste disposal; managing natural hazards and prevention (shared)
5. Housing and community amenities	Development plan; zoning and permits; addressing; street lighting; production and distribution of drinking water (wells, fountains, boreholes) (shared)
6. Health	Constructing, maintaining and managing first-level facilities; health police; food and drug inspection; water quality control; sanitation control (shared)
7. Culture and leisure	Constructing and maintaining commune leisure areas, sports facilities, parks, museums and libraries (shared)
8. Education	Constructing and participating in the management of public schools for secondary education (shared)
9. Social welfare	Managing relief for vulnerable groups; managing commune shelters; managing orphanages and rehabilitation centres (shared)

Scope of fiscal data: No data available.

SCN 2008

Availability of fiscal data: Low

Quality/reliability of fiscal data: Low

GENERAL INTRODUCTION: The Constitution and the five decrees on the organisation and functioning of local and regional authorities aim to provide local and regional authorities with financial autonomy. As such, the communes receive their own revenue from taxes and tariffs, which are very low and unevenly distributed throughout the territory. To partly compensate for the lack of revenue sources, the subnational governments (communes themselves and communal sections through the communes) receive transfers and grants from the government. Communes may also receive direct financial support from external bodies (NGOs, international cooperation). Being under administrative control, communes must prepare and manage a budget in accordance with the rules established by the State.

Despite the will expressed historically by the government, the communes do not have the necessary revenues to exercise their powers. The overall lack of resources that communes face signifies, by extension, that they have a limited capacity to transfer financial resources to communal sections. In 2020, in addition to the impact of the pandemic, the finances and functioning of the country and its local and regional authorities were severely affected by social unrest, crime and political instability. According to the annex to the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s (MEF or Ministère de l'Economie et des Finances) budget, economic activity for the 2019-2020 fiscal year is estimated to have declined by 3.6%, with inflation at 22.6%.

Through the Ministry of the Interior and Local and Regional Authorities (MICT) and the Superior Court of Accounts and Administrative Litigation (CSCCA), the State audits communal budgets, however, it does not publicly release any data on the finances of local and regional authorities.

ⓘ No detailed data available for this country

ⓘ No detailed data available for this country

ⓘ No detailed data available for this country

OVERALL DESCRIPTION: Haiti’s communes have their own revenue sources. Legislation defines the nature and application rules of revenue and transfers.

There is no recent data on subnational government revenues except for the fiscal year 2012-2013, for which the World Bank (WB) has obtained statistics. The State budget for the same financial year makes it possible to identify transfers made through the Fund for the Management and Development of Local and Regional Authorities (FGDCT). Communal revenues, including revenue from their own sources and FGDCT transfers, amounted to about HTG 258 per capita (equivalent to USD 12.33 PPP 2013). In parallel to the FGDCT, other financial support was granted to certain communes by ministries.

The 2012-2013 WB data indicate that Haitian local and regional authorities are strongly dependent on intergovernmental financial transfers. Transfers from the FGDCT amounted to HTG 1 943.3 million (USD 92.8 million PPP 2013), which was almost three times the communes’ own revenue of HTG 744.9 million (USD 35.6 million PPP 2013).

There are considerable inequalities between local and regional authorities, with revenue concentrated in the area of the capital, Port-au-Prince. The deep economic inequalities in the territory partly explain the differences in own revenue collection.

TAX REVENUE: Local and regional authorities cannot set local taxes themselves as the State is responsible for this as defined by laws and decrees. The government can give local and regional authorities the power to set the rates or amounts of taxes. In terms of collection, the General Tax Directorate (DGI or Direction Générale des Impôts) of MEF collects taxes on behalf of the commune and pays them in full.

A property tax on rental values has been applicable for a very long time in Haiti, mainly in the urban areas of the communes. In 1979, the government modernised this system of taxation, which became the Land Tax on Developed Properties (CFPB or Contribution foncière des propriétés bâties), which is still in force despite several amendments. The tax is applied on the declared rental value of the buildings and the tax rates are uniform throughout the country. It is the most significant own revenue source the communes have. According to the WB report on the 2012-2013 fiscal year, the CFPB collected amounted to HTG 492.9 million (equivalent to USD 23.5 million PPP 2013), which is equivalent to HTG 47 per capita (USD 2.26 PPP 2013). Major disparities in amounts collected were observed across the country: for the department of Ouest, which includes the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince, the amount of the CFPB was HTG 425.6 million, or 86% of the national total, while its population was only 37% of the country’s total population. On a per capita basis, the revenue from this property tax was HTG 111 in the department of Ouest (USD 5.30 PPP 2013) compared to HTG 10 (USD 0.49 PPP 2013) in all the other departments (with a combined population of 6.5 million, i.e., 63% of the total). The vast majority of communes are struggling to collect even a small share of the CFPB owed.

According to the 2006 decentralisation framework decree, communal sections should receive 25% of the CFPB collected in their territory. This practice cannot be verified because all amounts paid at subnational level are transferred to the accounts of the communes through the Directorate General of Taxes (DGI).

The business tax (patente) is the communes’ second most significant own source of revenue. This is a tax on all profit-making activities (commerce, industry, business). This tax comprises a fixed part (based on the sector of activity and the class of the commune) and a variable part (according to turnover). 80% of the amount collected by the DGI is due to the commune. For the 2012-2013 fiscal year, the business tax accounted for 32% of all the communes’ own revenue, or HTG 234.6 million (UDS 11.2 million PPP 2013), equivalent to HTG 23 per inhabitant (USD 1.08 PPP 2013). The discrepancy was even more pronounced than for the CFPB: the revenues of the communes of the department of Ouest accounted for 96% of the amount collected through business tax in the whole country.

GRANTS AND SUBSIDIES: The main transfer from central government to the communes is through the Fund for the Management and Development of Local and Regional Authorities (FGDCT). Contributions to the FGDCT come from taxes on cigarettes, insurance, license plates, telephone calls, airline tickets, the lottery and several other items. The revenue from the fund is intended exclusively to finance the activities of local and regional authorities (communes and communal sections). The law states that this fund is to be distributed by the Interdepartmental Council, but if this council is not formed, the MICT shall take on this responsibility. The FGDCT is mainly intended to cover the operating costs of local and regional authorities, primarily staff salaries and the allowances of elected representatives. The estimate of the amounts due to be transferred is based, among other things, on the revenue recorded by the commune in the previous financial year. There is no publicly available information on the calculations and formulas that determine this allocation.

The total amount of the fund’s transfers to local and regional authorities is confirmed each year when the government’s budget bill is passed. In 2020, the annex to the State budget set the maximum amount of the fund at HTG 3 163.6 million (USD 76.9 million PPP 2020), 87% of which was earmarked for the operation of town halls, communal section councils and communal section assemblies. The rest of the fund was spent on unspecified projects in these local governments. For 2019-2020, FGDCT accounted for 1.6% of government spending, or HTG 277 (USD 6.75 PPP 2020) per capita, close to the 2012-2013 level (1.5% of the budget), when FGDCT was set at HTG 187 per capita (USD 8.92 PPP 2013).

In addition, according to the National Federation of Mayors of Haiti (FENAMH), the amounts of FGDCT budgeted for 2019-2020 had still not been paid to the country’s communes as of 5 March 2021.

The FGDCT amounts are the only data on local and regional authorities that can be clearly identified in the Haitian State’s annual budget. Several other entities such as the Ministry of Planning and External Cooperation (MPCE), the Ministry of Culture and Communications (MCC) or the prime minister’s office, contribute directly to the finances of local and regional authorities for operations or investment projects. At the national level, there is no accounting for these sporadic interventions. Communes are required to show these national contributions in their budgets.

Finally, many communes receive direct grants or donations that do not come from the government. This financial support can either come directly from other countries through international cooperation or through NGOs and various donations. No national accounts are available on these revenues.

OTHER REVENUE: Communes may charge tariffs, fees or charges for services provided or apply fines for offences. These are mainly: building permits (right of way), fees for the management of cemeteries, fees in markets, fees for the use of public roads, fees for the numbering of buildings, etc. These different sources of potential income are regulated by numerous scattered legal documents (some dating back to 1918). The amounts provided by the government are sometimes insignificant (HTG 11 per building for numbering, HTG 0.05 per meter squared for the use of public roads, etc.). According to the World Bank report, these other revenues accounted for only 2.3% of the communes’ total own-source revenues in 2013, or HTG 17.5 million (UDS 0.84 million PPP 2013) or an average of HTG 2 per inhabitant (USD 0.08 PPP 2013). In some departments these other revenues were more significant (13.5% in the department of Centre in 2013).

Communes may receive income from the sale of communal property (building, land) or equipment. There are no data available to assess the extent of these transactions.

ⓘ No detailed data available for this country

FISCAL RULES: Two legal documents were enacted in 2005 to govern the budget preparation and implementation of all government bodies, including communes. These prohibit voting for a deficit budget and require a balanced budget. The commune authorises spending and anticipates revenue using the budget for each fiscal year, which begins on 1 October and ends on 30 September of the following year. In the budget, all revenue covers all spending and specific allocations are not provided for, unless there is a specific exception.

The budget is submitted to various government agencies for approval. MICT verifies the legality and timeliness of spending, while CSCCA verifies the state of the accounts of subnational governments on a quarterly basis. The CSCCA can also investigate the management of local finances. Finally, the MEF exercises financial control over local and regional authorities by, among other things, appointing public accountants.

DEBT: According to the framework decree on decentralisation, a commune can take out a loan for an infrastructure investment project or for any other purpose within its remit, but the central government and the inhabitants must agree to this. The approval of the population must be sought through a referendum. The servicing of the communal debt must be included in the budget of the commune. As there is no compilation of communal budgets, it is impossible to know the extent of this practice.

TERRITORIAL MANAGEMENT OF THE CRISIS: On 15 March 2020, the Haitian government announced a first series of measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, including the closure of the border with the Dominican Republic, followed on 19 March by a state of health emergency. At the beginning of the pandemic, the Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP or Ministère de la santé publique et de la population) developed a COVID-19 preparedness and response plan. This ministry is primarily responsible for managing the crisis. The plan includes support for the organisation and operation of departmental divisions and care services in the territory.

In order to strengthen coordination, the Haitian government created the Multisectoral Commission for the Management of the COVID-19 Pandemic (CMGP or Commission multisectorielle pour la gestion de la pandémie de COVID-19) on 6 April 2020. This commission was supported by, among others, the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which reviewed its humanitarian response plan in the country. The CMGP’s objective is to communicate throughout the country and offer the population basic services in a difficult context. According to the Post-COVID-19 Response Plan (PREPOC or Plan de Réponse Post-COVID), in 2021 in Haiti, half of the population lived in rural areas that were sometimes difficult to access, only 42% of health institutions offered basic services (22% of communal sections had no services at all) and 35% of people in rural areas had to travel more than 15 km to obtain health services. The part of the national budget allocated to health services covered only 12% of the population’s health spending.

Haiti is managing the pandemic in a challenging economic, social and political environment (OCHA, 2020; UN Security Council, 19 June 2020). In 2018, major social unrest broke out (peyi-lòk) and lasted until 2020, resulting in an economic recession (-1.7% GDP growth recorded in 2019) and the closure of schools. The security, economic and food insecurity situation continued to deteriorate in 2020 and particularly in 2021 following the assassination of the president and the devastation of a region in the south of the country by an earthquake. All these factors made it difficult to respond to the pandemic.

EMERGENCY MEASURES TO COPE WITH THE CRISIS AT THE DIFFERENT LEVELS OF GOVERNMEN: In both MSPP and the CMGP’s original plan, local and regional authorities have no specific role to play. The government relies on local associations (women’s, business), community leaders, religious leaders and traditional healers to reach out to the population. Community health workers were trained during the pandemic to communicate information at the local level. According to OCHA’s humanitarian response plan, plans call for the government health services to take a differentiated approach to the 63 communes facing severe multidimensional challenges.

According to the national risk management plan 2019-2030, which was adopted a year before the pandemic, each commune and communal section was required to set up a local risk management committee and, in an emergency situation, an emergency operations centre (COU or centre d'opération d'urgence). In the absence of specific resources for local and regional authorities, this plan relied on the involvement of volunteers. Today, no information is available on the participation of local and regional authorities in the State’s efforts during the COVID-19 crisis and this national plan was not called upon during the pandemic. In June 2020, the State carried out a one-off intervention in the 17 municipalities bordering the Dominican Republic to raise awareness of pandemic management and ensure continued access to municipal services.

IMPACTS OF THE CRISIS ON SUBNATIONAL GOVERNMENT FINANCE: Haiti’s social and political context, combined with the international pandemic, have caused total government budgeted revenues for the 2019-2020 fiscal year to fall by a third compared to the average of the previous two years. Although there are no data on local finances, this decline in state revenues has certainly had some impact at the local level.

According to a survey conducted in the summer of 2020 by the UN OCHA, 69% of households reportedly saw their incomes fall in the first months of the pandemic (half of which estimated the decrease to be over 60%). Added to this, a context of increased food insecurity, major social unrest and recorded criminal acts (road closures, kidnappings, killings) must have disrupted tax collection operations in the communes. According to FENHAM, in 2020 local public finances reached the most critical level since 1996. The federation claims that some town halls have salary arrears for employees of up to 13 months.

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL STIMULUS PLANS: On 11 January 2021, the government presented the Post-COVID-19 Response Plan, or PREPOC, which aims to stabilise Haiti's macro-economic situation, strengthen the response to social needs and create the conditions for renewed economic growth, in particular by supporting the well-being of the population and creating decent jobs. Throughout its implementation period, from 2020 to 2023, the PREPOC plans to invest HTG 157.9 billion (USD 3.8 billion PPP 2020). Almost 90% of this amount was expected to be financed by international technical partners including the Inter-American Development Bank, the Caribbean Development Bank and the World Bank.

The plan includes some priority actions for decentralisation, such as strengthening communal staffing (at least six professionals per commune), improving services at the level of communal sections, economic development of border or tourist communes, adopting an integrated disaster resilience plan in at least 20 communes and building public facilities (40 town halls, 40 markets, 60 squares).