The Community Development Program is structured with the objective of preserving the environment. The development program implemented by Save the Children República Dominicana-FUDECO is composed of three components:

Community Infrastructure

We strive to build structures which benefit the whole community and will be of advantage to the development and improvement of the quality and conditions of each element of work on.

Construction of:

- Vados.
-Bridges.
-Irrigation-channels.
-Hydroelectric generator.
-Community and home solar lighting systems.
-Others.

We are pioneers in the installation of solar wells and solar home systems. 17 wells have been installed along the Dominican-Haitian border as well as 212 solar home systems.
The work was done with funds donated by the Spanish Organization Movimiento por la Paz, el Desarme y la Libertad (MPDL), the Canadian Embassy and USAID.

One of the few communities in the country privileged with electrical service 24 hours a day is the community of El Aguacate. In 2001 with support from the community, USAID, German Agro Action, Group E. Leon Jimenes, the Municipal authorities from Loma de Cabrera, the Department of Rural Electrification CDE and Save the Children República Dominicana-FUDECO, helped install the first hydroelectric plant within the border area.

Natural Resources and the Environment

The natural heritage that we can leave to future generations must be preserved, thus Save the Children República Dominicana-FUDECO’s Natural Resources and Environment program aims to improve the living conditions of underprivileged people by taking measures to improve the quality of soil and by restoring and preserving the environment. Save the Children República Dominicana-FUDECO, counts with two valuable resources: two nurseries with capacity of producing 90,000 trees a year.  We have developed community reforestation program, especially for those areas where natural resources have been depredated. Due to bad practices, trees are cut down and burnt, leaving deforested slopes as well as river headwaters which are gradually diminishing the flow of water thereby degrading these to streams.

Within this framework projects are implemented for:

-Reforestation of degraded areas.
-Tree production in the nurseries.
-Training on environmental management in basins and sub-basins of rivers located in the area where Save the Children República Dominicana-FUDECO works.
-Inclusion of children in the environmental protection and reforestation projects as well as their training.

During this period we worked in communities on the Haitian and Dominican side for the recovery of degraded areas through reforestation with fruit trees and in private farms, as well as slopes and river headwaters.

Support for income generation

With the objective of helping to improve income generation from agricultural production and micro-enterprises:
-Micro-credit for small rural businesses, emphasizing the gender.
-Implementation of poultry, goats and sheep modules.
-Planting trees for timber, coffee and other species of fruit and vegetables.

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