Haiti receives between $1.5-1.8 billion in remittances each year. In the immediate term, it’s vital to ensure that remittance flows to Haiti are not disrupted for people’s very survival.

It’s not often that an account of financial systems and money transfers reads like a tale of derring-do. But Anne Hastings’ account of a middle-of-the-night airlift of cash co-ordinated by the US Department of State to Haitian MFI Fonkoze is a true Hollywood-style action-adventure. Anne details the hour-by-hour progress of ten boxes of cash ($2 million originating from Fonkoze’s accounts in City Bank of New Jersey) as they are transported from JPMorgan Chase in Miami in armoured trucks to a C17 diverted from Langley, Virginia to Homestead Air Force Base, and from there flown to the newly-functioning airport in Port-au-Prince.

Anne met and signed for the cash on the runway at 03:30 on Sunday morning, and it was transferred immediately by helicopter to Fonkoze’s 34 branches across the country not shut down by the earthquake.

The dénouement nearly 24 hours later: “our branches worked throughout the day to pay the money transfers our clients so desperately needed to begin to put their lives back together… it’s time to announce to the Diaspora that Fonkoze will be able to pay out their transfers throughout the country without problems!”

World Bank economist Dilip Ratha estimates an additional $360 million in remittance flows to Haiti in 2010--and they could become a critical part of Haiti’s recovery, fuelling local and national development.

For MFIs working to get money to poor people in Haiti, the biggest constraint right now is liquidity. Until last week, banks in Port-au-Prince weren’t operating. Families living in the diaspora – including half a million in the United States – have been unable to get vital money transfers to their relatives and friends right at the time it’s most needed.

Haiti receives between $1.5-1.8 billion in remittances each year. In the immediate term, it’s vital to ensure that remittance flows to Haiti are not disrupted for people’s very survival. In the longer term, these remittances are likely to increase dramatically–World Bank economist Dilip Ratha estimates an additional $360 million in remittance flows to Haiti in 2010–and they could become a critical part of Haiti’s recovery, fuelling local and national development.

Time was of the essence in this mission to ensure that Haitians have access to their own resources to begin rebuilding their country. Anne titled her email: “mission accomplished”. But the incredible story of the partnership between civilian government, military, and civil society is less one of courage (though that’s certainly needed to move $2 million in cash around a country that’s been devastated), than commitment and co-operation. And that’s what Haiti needs right now.