Poverty reduction has been a prominent and critical goal of Haiti's main international donors, yet they have directed little economic aid to rural areas where a large segment of Haiti's poor live and work. Instead, donors have focused on re-establishing a vibrant urban-based manufacturing sector. While sidestepping agriculture is not a new trend, this paper argues that the policy set employed by donors since 2004-a conflict and development approach that stresses vulnerability to crime and political instability-has served to reinforce the country's historical bias against rural development. While the 2010 earthquake has provided the impetus to decentralise economic activity, it is too soon to know if and how the rural poor will benefit, particularly given continued security-related concerns associated with the capital region.

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This article builds on the work of scholars who have explored the links between poverty reduction and sustainable peace. It examines the recent shift by bilateral and multilateral donors to 'pro-poor' development strategies in fragile states by considering the case of Haiti, a country with high levels of poverty and intense donor interest. The paper examines whether recent insights on poverty reduction are driving the current economic development strategy in Haiti. It does so by comparing the strategies and programs advanced during the first round of peacebuilding efforts (1994 -2000), prior to donors embracing the poverty reduction imperative, with current efforts (2004 -07), which are ostensibly aimed at poverty reduction.There is increasing evidence to support the assertion that development programs tailored to address poverty and inequality are security enhancing. The fact that the World Bank and the OECD's Development Assistance Committee (OECD/DAC) have shifted their assistance away from 'pro-growth' to 'pro-poor' strategies, particularly in so-called 'fragile states', reflects the international donor community's acceptance of a renewed poverty reduction imperative. Building on the work of those authors who provide ample evidence in support of the links between poverty reduction and sustainable peace, this article examines the economic development strategies advanced by outside actors in Haiti. The article seeks to address the following questions: is the development model currently at work in Haiti indeed grounded in recent insights on poverty reduction? And, how likely are the current economic development programs to reduce poverty and entrenched group inequalities? In sum, this article will contribute to debates about whether the renewed focus on poverty by donors indicates a real shift in priorities, strategies, and policies -or whether it constitutes an attempt 'to breathe new life' into an older reform agenda, as suggested by some. 1 The article begins by providing a brief overview of the Haitian context with an eye to teasing out the roots of instability and strife. The second section traces how the economic prescriptions and strategies advanced by international donors in postconflict countries have evolved over the course of the last decade, veering away from a strictly pro-growth approach towards a so-called pro-poor model of economic development. The third section employs a poverty reduction lens to assess the economic development plans promoted by outside actors during the first peacebuilding mission in Haiti (1994 -98) and currently (