Best Non-Profit or Agency working in the DR?

[MikeFisher]

and there are also people doing their little share in smaller amounts, but DOING it.
b/c even without an organisation every expat who is living on the Isle ha eyes to observe and a heart which tells him.her where some is needed.
everybody willing to do something can DO something.
30 minutes ago i found on the net a new website which i never saw before, i don't know that lady Amy which is running the private little project, but i left a message with my phonenumber to hook up and chat about what and where and why and how. it looks completely private, a private one person aid.
such is always possible.
check the site yourself on Meaningful Travel Punta Cana - Home
Mike

[mountainannie]

Originally Posted by MikeFisher

and there are also people doing their little share in smaller amounts, but DOING it.
b/c even without an organisation every expat who is living on the Isle ha eyes to observe and a heart which tells him.her where some is needed.
everybody willing to do something can DO something.
30 minutes ago i found on the net a new website which i never saw before, i don't know that lady Amy which is running the private little project, but i left a message with my phonenumber to hook up and chat about what and where and why and how. it looks completely private, a private one person aid.
such is always possible.
check the site yourself on Meaningful Travel Punta Cana - Home
Mike

Shows what one woman can do... Thanks for posting, Mike.

FYI here is a list of the contents of school kits that some Quakers are beginning to assemble for Haiti. We devised the list in consultation with the person who is helping the school.

Student Kits
A recorder or harmonica
colored pencils
pencil sharpeners
notebooks with UNLINED paper
game of jacks w/ ball
playing cards
blunt cutting scissors
small nail clippers with the nail cleaner
toothbrush & toothpaste
small rubber bands for girl’s hair
hair Comb (pick)
hair Brush

Parents Kits
sewing needles
Coats and Clarke embroidery thread
needle threader
small embroidery scissors
reading glasses 2.0 MAG
small nail clippers with nail cleaner
a small penknife

Teacher Kits
colored chalk
stapler and staples
pencils & a sharpener
lined notebooks
a ledger book

[minerva_feliz]

Here are 5 I think are good that haven't been mentioned (in no particular order )

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
Japan International Cooperation Agency

Progressio (based in the UK)
Progressio - home

Peace Corps Dominican Republic (US)
Peace Corps in Dominican Republic
Local projects you could help fund: https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm...bute.donatenow

Plan International Dominican Republic
Plan República Dominicana - Derechos de los Niños, Violencia Infantil, Abuso

Major League Baseball Dominican Development Alliance
Home

I'll save the Dominican ones for another post.

[mountainannie]

Originally Posted by minerva_feliz

Here are 5 I think are good that haven't been mentioned (in no particular order )



Peace Corps Dominican Republic (US)
Peace Corps in Dominican Republic
Local projects you could help fund: https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm...bute.donatenow


I'll save the Dominican ones for another post.

I went to the Peace Corp page and looked a couple of the projects and they looked very interesting except that they did not give the name of the town or even the area.

I have made friends with several volunteers and have seen the work that they have done which has been very impressive but the problem is that the Peace Corps does not have a continuity with its volunteers or projects -- each volunteer starts from scratch, and one time a community may get an agricultural volunteer, another time a business volunteer.

This might be a really good thing for some of the DR1ers and Dominican diaspora people to get involved with. I have the name of the local Peace Corp project director and will set up a meeting with her to talk about this and see if we can perhaps at least get the name of the towns posted in the projects. then perhaps we get the contact names for the local person who is involved in the project

Then perhaps some of the Dominicans who are on this Board will have family or connections with some of the people in that region who can perhaps keep the project going.

The Peace Corps has been in this country longer than anywhere else in the world and has the most volunteers here.I think that we can also make very strong connections with the former peace corps volunteers who have been here who all seem to have very warm feelings for the place.

I think that this might end up being a very good way for people who are coming to visit the country for a short time to plug in and help for a time. Every time that I have had dealings with the Peace Corps volunteers, they have been delighted to see me. Mostly they are on their own, in a remote area, and delighted to see another English speaker.

Minerva... This may be just what I have been looking for!! Since so many of the agencies here are really professional agencies, and don't know how to make use of volunteers, there is no room for people who just want to plug in for a couple of weeks or a month.

THANKS!!

[las2137]

Originally Posted by mountainannie

I think that we can also make very strong connections with the former peace corps volunteers who have been here who all seem to have very warm feelings for the place.

Try the National Peace Corps Association. There have a country group called Friends of the Dominican Republic.


If you do end up meeting with PC and make progress I'd be very curious to hear your results.

[mountainannie]

Originally Posted by las2137

Try the National Peace Corps Association. There have a country group called Friends of the Dominican Republic.


If you do end up meeting with PC and make progress I'd be very curious to hear your results.

Great link, LAS, Thanks, Already found one project that is really interesting, see this one
Building Homes Building Hope - Trip Information

It is amazing what one can do while hanging out on DR1 all morning not writing the article one is supposed to be writing waiting for the lawyer to call for going to get the chest xray for the residencia and no longer waiting for the refridgerator repair man who is not coming til tomorrow
and one is completely in denial about the fact that one has not eaten
and there is no food in the house.....
oh there must be something

[TheHoagster]

Originally Posted by mountainannie

I went to the Peace Corp page and looked a couple of the projects and they looked very interesting except that they did not give the name of the town or even the area.

I have made friends with several volunteers and have seen the work that they have done which has been very impressive but the problem is that the Peace Corps does not have a continuity with its volunteers or projects -- each volunteer starts from scratch, and one time a community may get an agricultural volunteer, another time a business volunteer.

This might be a really good thing for some of the DR1ers and Dominican diaspora people to get involved with. I have the name of the local Peace Corp project director and will set up a meeting with her to talk about this and see if we can perhaps at least get the name of the towns posted in the projects. then perhaps we get the contact names for the local person who is involved in the project

Then perhaps some of the Dominicans who are on this Board will have family or connections with some of the people in that region who can perhaps keep the project going.

The Peace Corps has been in this country longer than anywhere else in the world and has the most volunteers here.I think that we can also make very strong connections with the former peace corps volunteers who have been here who all seem to have very warm feelings for the place.

I think that this might end up being a very good way for people who are coming to visit the country for a short time to plug in and help for a time. Every time that I have had dealings with the Peace Corps volunteers, they have been delighted to see me. Mostly they are on their own, in a remote area, and delighted to see another English speaker.

Minerva... This may be just what I have been looking for!! Since so many of the agencies here are really professional agencies, and don't know how to make use of volunteers, there is no room for people who just want to plug in for a couple of weeks or a month.

THANKS!!

I'm a former PCV in the DR. Peace Corps will not post, nor will allow posting, of where volunteers are living in the DR for volunteer safety.

To clear up some confusion around PCV projects, volunteers work with government agencies and other non-profit organizations in the DR -- and volunteers are useful to those agencies. Government agencies and non-profit organizations can solicit for a volunteer in a particular Peace Corps focus area (e.g. education, business, water, youth.....) and it is very competitive for an organization to be selected. Volunteers have a specific work assignment (e.g. helping coffee farmers obtain organic certification so they can export coffee).

In addition, depending on what stage of development the project is at when the volunteer leaves, the VOLUNTEER helps to determine if the community/project needs a follow-up volunteer. There are MANY projects that receive follow-on volunteers. But, many times the project is completed OR the community takes on the responsibility to make sure the project continues to function. After all, Peace Corps is about creating sustainability (i.e. facilitating community members involvement throughout the life cycle of the project so that a project functions without the volunteer).

[London_Calling]

Is DED - a German agency - still operational in the country? They were always well resourced and gave the impression of achieving something.

[London_Calling]

One of the good things about Progressio (a UK based agency) is that most of their recruits for projects in the DR are from other Latin American countries. Although Peace Corp and other agencies have some great intentions unless the volunteer speaks the language and understands the culture you can spend a lot of time achieving very little.

[Chirimoya]

I was a Progressio cooperante back when they were called ICD. Even then a good proportion of my colleagues were Latin Americans, but the ones who didn't know Spanish before coming to work in the DR learned it PDQ because they are truly immersed in the language.

When I arrived at my project, the people I met asked me: "Are you Ecuadorian?" - No, I said. They looked again. "Are you from Scotland?" - those having been my two predecessors. Mind you, I was once asked whether I was from Finland when visiting a project in Nicaragua, for the exact same reason.