Dominican Republic
Project DR-306

Local Improvement in Basic Sanitation in the Dominican Republic

It was within a context of economic dynamism, attractiveness for poor immigrants and demographic growth that the local political power structure in the Town Hall of Constanza (Dominican Republic) and in the Municipal Council, decided to create the Inter-institutional Council for the Development of Constanza (Conselho Interinstitucional para o Desenvolvimento de Constanza – CIDC) in 1995. The main goal was for this NGO, created as an offspring of Town Hall, to organize development strategies and, most importantly, raise funds from international agencies.

Their agreement with the IAF, and analysed in the final report, established eight main aims linked to sanitation and capacity building programs:

a)      Sanitation:

·        Construction of 716 community latrines;

·        Set up sewage disposal systems in 125 houses;

·        Get safe water to 200 houses;

·        Build or rectify 1,500 m of water canals along the tributaries of the Pantuflas River.

       b) Capacity building

·        train 1478 families by holding 38 meetings and courses on environmental sanitation, garbage collection, health prevention and hygiene;

·        set up sanitation committees;

·        set up vaccination programs in communities within the scope of the project;

·        strengthen the organizational capacity of 365 popular leaders and 20 municipal employees by means of 150 meetings to assess needs, participatory planning, sensitivity to gender-oriented differences in treatment, project development and deployment.