UNITED NATIONS -- Pledging to work in partnership with a Haitian-led reconstruction effort, foreign aid donors Wednesday promised more than $4.8 billion toward rebuilding the earthquake-ravaged country.

Heading the line of pledges at the start of the much-anticipated Donors Conference was the United States with $1.15 billion of the $2.8 billion the Obama administration is seeking from Congress to help jump-start the country's recovery over the next 18 months.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton set the tone for the gathering of at least 120 nations at the meeting, calling on Haiti's leaders to take responsibility for paving the way ahead. She told the international community -- known at times to work at cross purposes on Haiti -- it can no longer be business-as-usual.

``We cannot retreat to failed strategies,'' she said.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick put it much more bluntly as he urged donors to take advantage of a multidonor trust fund that Haiti's government has strongly endorsed as a key component of its reconstruction. The fund -- to be administered by the government and World Bank -- would allow donors to pool money for future projects.

``Please avoid feel-good flag-waving projects,'' Zoellick said, ``because building islands of developments in a sea of deprivation won't get us where we need to go.''

The urge to come to Haiti's rescue following the massive Jan.12 quake has been visible since the devastation left more than 300,000 dead and an equal number of Haitians injured. But the enthusiasm, which fueled a response from 140 nations around the globe, also spurred fierce competition in the walk-up to the conference.

There were nations that demanded an opportunity to speak, and there were those who as late as this week, continued to jockey for more of a say in the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, which will guide the dollars and construction over the next 18 months and lay the foundation for a Haiti Redevelopment Authority. For now, nations that provide $100 million in aid over the next two years, or $200 million in debt relief, will have a voting say in the reconstruction.

The framework still requires the approval of Haiti's parliament, and Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive on Wednesday alluded to issues that still need to be worked on. He and President René Préval, who also attended the session, have both focused their talks on the trust fund. The United States and other countries have focused on the entire effort.

Still, what remained unclear Wednesday even as nation after nation pledged aid -- from $20 million by Qatar to $172 million from Brazil -- was the priorities of the Haitian government. In a country where everything is needed, from schools to hospitals to decent housing to job creation, the international community has called on the Préval government to provide clarity.

``Very critical for the reconstruction plan of Haiti to be successful that we build in disaster preparedness and disaster response,'' Kristalina Georgieva, a representative of the European Union, said at a news conference. ``We also see a very important balance to be struck between reconstructing the part of the island that was hit by the earthquake and building the economy of the rest of Haiti....In this respect, the investment in rural development and agriculture are very important.''

Other priorities should include improving the lives of the women of Haiti, Clinton and others here said. Meanwhile, Préval thanked the international community for its efforts and called for not just direct budget support -- the country has a $350 million budget gap -- but education.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also told leaders not to forget that there remains an urgent need on the ground in Haiti in getting shelter to 1.3 million homeless, and feeding those individuals. So far, he said a humanitarian appeal for $1.4 million has only been funded by 50 percent.

He called Haiti's blueprint for a national strategy to rebuild ``concrete, specific . . . and above all ambitious.''

``Again, to quote the president,'' he said, ``it is a plan to create `a new Haiti.' ''

Miami Herald special correspondent Stewart Stogel contributed to this report.