In an isolated area in the Dominican Republic, Progressio has been working with a local partner, Solidaridad Fronteriza, to support people like Ramona to find ways of adapting to the challenges of climate change, deforestation and drought. The cross-border project promotes food security and sustainable agriculture.
YUNELSI PÉREZ, from the Dominican Republic, is a youth leader and advocate in the areas of prevention of teenage pregnancy and violence among young couples. She is a Member of the Montecristi Advisory Committee.
Progressio's Policy Assistant, Fatima Haase, recently arrived in New York at the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) to lobby for greater political participation for women living in fragile states. She describes her first impressions and hopes that the conference will create an inclusive environment where the voices of women living in fragile states, such as Haiti, Yemen, Zimbabwe and Somaliland can be heard.
Progressio welcomes a statement issued last month by the Jesuits of Haiti, to mark the fourth anniversary of the devastating earthquake of January 2010.
Four years on, despite all the international attention and billions in aid, the Jesuits’ statement outlines how “the hope that Haiti was finally going to know better days” has not been realised:
Our Food for a better future project ended in December 2013. Thank you so much for your support – here’s my final report on my work with the communities of Lamine and Gens de Nantes in Haiti.
I believe the people of Lamine and Gens de Nantes are really satisfied with the support they received from Solidarite Fwontalye, Progressio and also through my contributions, which brought many benefits to them.
Daniela with a group of colleagues from Association des Femmes Fonds Parisien Pour le Développement, in a Haitian border community. Daniela is holding a kwokitol - a type of local doughnut. This initiative was part of a micro-enterprise project with Haitian women, supported by Daniela/Progressio and Hermanas Vedrunas.
Daniela Peirano, from Chile, was a development worker with Progressio in the Domincan Republic and Haiti, from May 2010 to September 2011.
Progressio's Environment Policy Officer, Lis Wallace, writes:
I've always been an avid baker. When I want to bake a cake, the first thing I do is open the cupboards and check that I have enough of the essential ingredients: flour, margarine, sugar or eggs. If you're an expert baker then you’ll know that some or all of these ingredients can be substituted, but please stick with me – it's the analogy that's important here.
As delegates gather in Stockholm for World Water Week, Progressio is asking 'What about water for food?'
It’s easy to forget what efforts and resources go into producing food. So, what if the only food destined for your plate this autumn was growing on a small plot of land outside your house?
Mimose, 45, and her husband Elismar, 51, live in Lamine, Haiti. They grow sweet potatoes, yukkas, beans, plantains, pineapples and cabbages. They have a bumper crop of veggies growing in their garden and seem pretty self-sufficient.
Progressio's development worker Paloma Martinez works with FUNCAR-Centro Puente in the northern border region of the Dominican Republic. Read her update on how AYIKA are building relationships between Haitians and Dominicans, and raising questions about gender, through dance.
Since their first performance marking International Women’s Day in 2010, dance group AYIKA has grown in numbers and in strength. But you might ask, what has a dance group got to do with development?
Last week we started building the ecological stoves in Gens de Nantes – three stoves completed so far! We faced some major challenges, though.
The first was financial, as the budget was designed in 2009 before the earthquake and in the aftermath prices went up considerably. So we have a budget shortfall, but we are trying to be creative in order to build the target numbers of stoves – as beneficiaries have waited a long time to get an ecological stove that will have positive impacts on health, create an alternative energy source and reduce the use of charcoal considerably.
