Qatar has formed a special fund to improve health, education and housing in the impoverished nation of Haiti, its envoy has said.

Some $12 million will be spent to rebuild parts of Haiti that were destroyed by an earthquake in 2010, Ambdassador Mohamed Bin Abdulla Al-Rumaihi and former US president Bill Clinton said in a joint announcement earlier this week.

The Associated Press quotes Clinton, the U.N. Special Envoy to Haiti, as saying:

“I hope it will set an example for other donors who have committed funds but have not been specific yet about when they will deliver. The Qataris have kept their word and done it in an intelligent, forward-looking way.”

The money will go toward projects that include:

• A $2 million grant toward a mobile health clinic 
• A $1 million for scholarships for students who can’t afford school
• $700,000 toward the Haitin government and New Orleans, to impart lessons from Hurricane Katrina to Haiti

Qatar donated some $100 million to help repair the massive damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2006 in New Orleans and surrounding US states.

Thoughts?

Credit: Photo of Haiti’s earthquake-damage presidential palace courtesy of Wikipedia