Excellent post, as usual.
BTW, did the donor realize that the funds had been diverted? And if so, did they care?
I for one would love to participate in an environmental education campaign, especially one targeted at litter. I tried to interest some government folks in one when I lived in SD in 1999, but no go...
As I frequently remind people, when I was a kid in the 1960s (boy, that dates me!
) litter was a huge problem in the "educated" U.S. It took the Advertising Council, supported by private biz &
PR/media donating time & talents, the ad with the Indian with a tear in his eyes and many years of concerted beating the anti-litter message into people's heads before the US became the relatively "clean" place it is now.
So I suspect we can do it in the DR too, with some careful crafting of the message & steady, constant pushing of the message over time in many fora.
Chiri, in designing your proposal, did you contact Educa? They used to do some good work.
http://www.educa.org.do/
If you were to recommend a private party to spearhead such a campaign, which NGO might it be? Or do we need to consider a new one?
I know a company or two that might interested in sponsoring an anti-litter campaign if they feel it is not just throwing money away (i.e., an effective, visible, long-haul campaign, not just a one-off for show, soon forgotten). Maybe we can persuade E Leon Jimenez (bottlers of Presidente & Coke), Brugal (
http://www.brugal.com.do/), Barcelo (
http://www.barcelo.com.do/), McDonalds, Carrefour (which does it in Brazil and Argentina) and Asonahoras (
http://www.asonahores.com/) to get involved....