More than 26 Haitian nongovernmental organizations have condemned international talks about the future of their earthquake-shattered nation, saying they have been excluded from the discussions and that their calls for a new model of development in Haiti are being ignored. Officials from a range of international organizations met in the Dominican Republic on March 16-17 to discuss plans for Haiti’s reconstruction before a donors’ conference in New York scheduled for March 31. The Haitian groups said, “The ongoing process has been characterized by an almost total exclusion of Haitian social actors themselves and scant and disorganized participation of representatives from the Haitian state.” The statement continued, “The path set out for Haiti’s reconstruction…cannot re-spond to the expectations of the Haitian people as it has not been conceived to stimulate development, but simply for ‘restoration,’ even though the Haitian context demands a complete rethink of the development model.”