Dominican Republic

Eddy Tejada, a second grade math teacher at Escuela Isolina María Cruz, participates in the USAID-funded Effective School Program.  His students had difficulty in reading and writing. He integrated the first grade math textbook that was developed by the program which has stories and pictures into his math lessons. Now his students have improved not only in math but also in their reading skills.

Overview

The Dominican Republic is the second largest country in the Caribbean, with beautiful natural resources such as beaches, breathtaking trails, and majestic mountains. Although the country has great wealth and a booming tourism industry, this prosperity does not reach down to the 43 percent of Dominicans who, according to a recent World Bank assessment, live in poverty. Sixteen percent fall into the extreme poverty category.
The country is still facing many challenges such as weak governance, inadequate rule of law, and frail public institutions. Other issues include poor quality and inequitable access to public health care and basic education, environmental degradation, and a growing gap between rich and poor.  The Dominican Republic also needs to improve the business and investment climate and adjust to a rapidly changing global economy.
Other challenges to the country’s development include low levels of public expenditures allocated to education (3.6 percent of GDP), high interest rates, frequent electrical blackouts, institutional rigidity, a shortage of qualified human capital, high maternal mortality rate (159 deaths for every 100,000 live births), corruption, lack of accountability, and limited citizen oversight of government expenditures.
On March 1, 2007, the Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) went into effect in the Dominican Republic.  To fully benefit from the trade agreement, the country is improving the efficiency and transparency in customs procedures, the protection of intellectual property rights, the enforcement of environmental and labor standards, sanitary and phyto-sanitary regulations, fair trade practices and dispute resolution, and government procurement of goods and services.  In addition, small businesses (including farms and tourism enterprises) have to become more competitive in order to survive and expand in an open global economy. 

Programs

Governing Justly & Democratically

USAID supports democracy and good governance in the Dominican Republic by advancing institutional reforms in justice administration and government transparency and accountability. At the same time, USAID supports civil society participation in and oversight of these reforms. Additionally, the Agency provides assistance to the Judiciary and local courts and the Public Ministry.  Assistance is also given to the offices of the district attorney and public defenders in efforts to establish fair and efficient management of trials. Another objective of this assistance is to help ensure that criminal investigations and prosecutions meet the requirements of the Criminal Procedures Code to protect the rights of defendants.  A crucial component in support of more government transparency and accountability is USAID’s technical assistance to public sector institutions and civil society groups in combating corruption and promoting fiscal integrity and responsibility. The program, in turn, assists the Dominican people in understanding the reforms being put into place and conducting social monitoring to promote their full and effective implementation.

Investing in People

Health
USAID is working to improve the quality of life for Dominicans through support for widely accessible quality health care services and disease prevention. Assistance focuses on prevention, care, and treatment of communicable diseases and on improvements in primary health care services for underserved populations.  Our program supports increased access to and use of basic health care services for sexually transmitted infections, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS among vulnerable and affected groups. USAID also helps underserved populations gain access to quality reproductive, maternal, and child health services provided by the public and private sectors.  Activities focus on increasing the efficiency and equity of basic health care services at the local level by strengthening systems and supporting public health policy reform. 

Education
USAID programs improve social and economic opportunities for the poor by enhancing teacher training for public primary school teachers in reading, writing, and mathematics.  Our assistance focuses on fostering active private sector and community participation in raising the quality of basic education in local public primary schools. The program encourages appropriate policy and curriculum reform and enhances human resource development so that the Government of the Dominican Republic can meet the education needs of its citizens, resulting in increased competitiveness and future economic growth. Additionally, these programs provide at-risk and disadvantaged youth with opportunities to become productive and active citizens through basic education, vocational, and life skills training.

Economic Growth

USAID is contributing to the Dominican Republic’s ability to compete in global markets and reduce poverty through increased economic opportunities for targeted populations. Programs provide technical assistance in economic policy reform, trade capacity building, rural economic diversification and development, and regional competitiveness initiatives so that entrepreneurs and small businesses in rural communities can become more productive and competitive in domestic and global markets. The economic growth program is also safeguarding biodiversity and natural ecosystems through strength-ened Dominican capacity to develop and enforce national environmental and natural resource laws and regulations, while increasing public sector capacity at the national and municipal levels to identify and implement activities that promote environmentally sustainable economic growth and assistance to civil society groups that advocate for and contribute to a cleaner environment and greater biodiversity protection.