U.S. Congress has passed the “Assessing Progress in Haiti Act,” a bill which aims to track the billions of dollars of American aid money sent to rebuild Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.
“[We] need to provide more accountability of our efforts to rebuild Haiti as we work to produce sustainable local capacity and strengthen democratic institutions,” said Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), in a press release praising the bill’s passage.
The bill, which currently awaiting for president Obama to signs-off,  will seek to improve oversight, transparency and U.S. accountability on how money is spent on the ground, says the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR).
Ever since the earthquake, governments and foundations from around the world pledged more than $9 billion to help get the country back on its feet. And the U.S. alone allocated more than $1.3 billion for humanitarian relief efforts and $2.3 billion for recovery, reconstruction, and development.
But there has been no sign of noticeable improvement. Many Haiti earthquake survivals are still homeless and heartbroken.
Approximately 360,000 people still live in the temporary campsites — susceptible to stormy weather, poor sanitary conditions, and a cholera epidemic which has killed over 85,000 people and infected more than 700,000.  
The international community, donor countries, along with philanthropists across the globe have been are asking the same question: Where has all the money gone?
 “No one can really tell you. Because humanitarian/aid organizations are under no obligation to be specific and to be transparent, there’s no legal requirement,” explained Michele Mitchell, director/producer of the Film at Eleven documentaries “Haiti: Where Did the Money Go?
Less than a penny of each dollar of US aid went to the government of Haiti, according to the Associated Press. The same is true with other international donors. The Haitian government was completely sidestepped in the relief effort by the US and the international community.
Ninety-three percent of that money either went to United Nations agencies or international nongovernmental organizations.
The legislation calls on the U.S. government to do more to involve Haitians in rebuilding and development, including hiring more Haitians, using local contractors and companies, and publishing more information in Haitian Creole.
The Assessing Progress in Haiti Act, as the bill is known, will require the Secretary of State to submit to Congress a report every 6 months detailing the U.S. government strategy in Haiti, including program goals and outcomes, wrote CEPR