The Dominican Republic has many ongoing development projects occurring throughout the country. Some projects are government-funded, while others are funded by nonprofits or international organizations, like the World Bank. In a country with 10.2 million people, there are still many living in poverty and many who are underprivileged. The tourist economy does a lot to benefit the nation, but more needs to be done to meet the needs of the people. Here are five development projects in the Dominican Republic that aim to help the people of the country. 

The World Bank’s Dominican Republic Youth Development Program

The stated goal of the program is to “[improve] the employability of poor, at-risk youth by building their work experience and life skills and expanding second chance education programs to complete their formal education.” The program aims to improve job opportunities, access to education and social protections.

Through participating in the project, youth learn basic workforce skills and attain an education. The program has been fairly successful as it has met most of the intermediate result indicators. Thus far, not all the goals have been met: one goal is that 70 percent of students obtain a new degree, but so far only 63 percent have. However, the initial results indicate that the program has had a positive impact on youth and has taken a significant step forward to bolstering the job force in the Dominican Republic.

The Peace Corps’ Education Program

The Peace Corps has been working on improving Spanish among children in the Dominican Republic. This program has led to the collaboration between teachers and Peace Corps volunteers to help students succeed. Specifically, the project aims to address Spanish literacy, with a primary goal to involve the community so that students can learn to read and write in their language.

The DREAM Project

The DREAM Project was founded in order to make up for the lack of resources in schools of the Dominican Republic. Their programs consist of working with children in early childhood education and primary school education, as well as contributing to a holistic youth development. They also have summer camps and vocational training. According to the DREAM Project’s website, the organization “provides more than 800,000 hours of quality education to more than 7,500 children through 14 different programs across 27 communities in the Dominican Republic.”

USAID’s Dominican Republic Sustainable Tourism Alliance

Although the Dominican Republic has a large tourism industry, the industry has had negative impacts on the local community and environment of the island. In order to combat poverty and environmental issues, USAID created the Dominican Republic Sustainable Tourism Alliance (DSTA) to develop a more sustainable tourism industry.

The DSTA works to improve environmental management capabilities as well as stimulating tourism efforts through sustainable operations and the development of marketing and sales strategies. The “all-inclusive” model that the tourism industry currently has is changing quickly under this development project.

Project HOPE

Project HOPE works to combat the high maternal and infant mortality rates in the Dominican Republic. The organization just opened its third maternal child health clinic in 2017. The organization regularly works with the Dominican Association of the Order of Malta to train workers to care for mothers and children.

Thousands of women and children have been positively affected by the care provided by the organization and its partners. In addition to its work with maternal mortality, the organization has worked on village health bank programs and provided HIV/AIDS education and counseling.

Many organizations are concerned with developing job opportunities for the citizens of the Dominican Republic. They aim to bolster the economy and train a future working class. These five development projects in the Dominican Republic operate across several sectors to help the nation achieve long-lasting self-sufficiency and prosperity.

– Emilia Beuger

Photo: Flickr