IdeaWave

Moto Logistics: A New Approach to Development in Haiti

Greg Bennick

Last year, I spoke at IdeaWave about the psychology behind compassion in terms of why we are drawn to help in Haiti. This year I bring the results of that compassion: Moto Logistics, a new approach to development in Haiti. My registered charity One Hundred For Haiti was founded after the earthquake as a relief organization to benefit the people of post-earthquake Haiti. Over the last two years we have delivered tons of supplies to Haiti and helped medical clinics and orphanages via financial support and delivery of supplies. For 2012, we are shifting our focus based on the ideas I delivered in IdeaWave 2011, and are launching Moto Logistics, a program that combines a desire to focus on development rather than relief and thus empower people rather than have them become increasingly dependent on aid. Moto Logistics will see us buy, on no-interest loan, two motorcycles (dirt bikes) for one medical clinic and one orphanage in a pilot program to see if our new idea for how these motorcycles can be used for income generation and job creation will be effective. Each organization will use the motorcycles by day to transport supplies and patients, and by night as a private moto-taxi service. The income raised from the moto-taxi service will be split between a repair fund for the bikes, a portion to repayment of the loan, and the rest as profit to the organization itself. Details about the program, the concepts behind it, and why an approach of development rather than relief is the most effective for Haiti will be discussed in the talk. I will use first hand accounts of people I have met in Haiti on my seven trips there and the needs and humanity they expressed to me. The talk will provide a model for development that other social/humanitarian workers can use in their own communities to create jobs and generate real change.

About Greg Bennick:

Greg is the founder of One Hundred For Haiti and has been to Haiti seven times since the earthquake. Immediately after the January 12th earthquake in Haiti, Greg was on the crew of the Liberty Schooner, an all-volunteer mission that sailed from Miami to the southern coast of Haiti to bring 10,000 pounds of medical supplies and food to the people in most dire need. The Liberty and its crew were the first independent relief boat to reach the southern coast of Haiti from the United States and Greg received international press coverage of the trip on the Peter Greenberg Worldwide radio program. He realized the need for ongoing involvement and One Hundred For Haiti campaign responded to that need, through ongoing support and development projects. Greg is also the co- founder of The World Leaders Project, a multi-year initiative to discuss issues related to the psychology of human violence face-to-face with world leaders, an initiative that led to a meeting with the President of Guyana as well as correspondence with other governments as well. He was the co-producer of the multi-award winning documentaries “Flight From Death: The Quest for Immortality” and “The Philosopher Kings”, two films which explore often unseen sides of the human experience: our relationship with death and the effect that this has on our psyche, and the quest for wisdom and with whom in our social strata does that wisdom reside. He makes his living as a keynote speaker worldwide.

2012 IdeaWave