On Saturday June 4th, 2016 Mujeres Unidas celebrated Mother’s Day with music and bizcocho in front of Pica and Fany’s colmado in Los Platanitos. This was also graduation day for the 20 members of Mujeres Unidas who had completed a three-month training course on household cleaner production (“Curso de Producción de Detergentes”).
Members of Mujeres Unidas gather to celebrate Mother’s Day and the awarding of certificates.
Coordinated by CIAMF member Margarita Pinales and taught by Juana Milqueya Matos, the course has enabled Mujeres Unidas to produce household cleaners under their own label. The women sell the cleaning products sold door-to-door in Los Platanitos and neighboring communities, providing a new source of income for their families.
Project partner CIAMF awarded certificates of completion to all of the women who participated in the technical training course.Mujeres Unidas member Wendy poses for a picture as she fills bottles with homemade detergent during one of the training courses.Samples of the final detergent product that will be sold to the product under the Mujeres Unidas label.
In addition to the production and sale of organic compost, Mujeres Unidas has been working since January 2016 to consider other possible social enterprise activities to add to their organizational portfolio.
A community members examines a household cleaning product manufactured by Mujeres Unidas.
With the help of project partner CIAMF, the women organized trainings to teach members of the organization how to manufacture household cleaning supplies which could then be sold.
In March, the women’s group launched its first day of sales of household cleaning supplies, selling out their supply. The women sold from a tract of land on a busy commercial avenue that has been loaned to them for the next two years. The group hopes to use the plot of land as a base for their expanded social enterprise activities.
A temporary display of Mujeres Unidas manufactured cleaning products on their first day being offered to the public.
As part of their expanded enterprise activities, Mujeres Unidas is working with designers from the University of Texas to develop semi-permanent infrastructure on the commercial site including a green house, a composting area, and a sales area that would allow them to grow plants for sale, increase their compost production, and have a formal storefront.
In early February 2016 President Danilo Medina made a surprise visit to the community of Los Platanitos.
As part of the visit, he greeted residents, inspected the contaminated cañada, and observed the poor state of housing in the community.
President Danilo Medina in the community of Los Platanitos. Source: Oficina de la Presidencia, la Republica Dominicana
Medina announced that his administration will undertake a cleanup effort of the cañada, which will include dredging the drainage canal and covering it with cement casing. The president was accompanied on the visit by representatives of the national public works agency (Oficina de Ingenieros Supervisores de Obras del Estado- OISOE) who will be in charge of overseeing the work.
While formal plans for the project have not been shared with the community, it is likely that some residents living immediately adjacent to the cañada may have to be relocated as their homes are in the path of construction.
Reactions to the announced project have been mixed with some community members excited about the prospect of major physical improvements to the cañada, while some residents are concerned about the possible displacement the project might cause. Still others are skeptical that the construction effort will actually be carried out.
Local project partners CIAMF and COPADEBA are working with residents to lobby for transparency and community representation as part of the planning effort as the project moves forward.
See coverage of the visit from the Dominican daily newspaper El Nacional, here.
See an official press release regarding the visit and the proposed plans to clean up the cañada, here.
See coverage of the visit from the Dominican newspaper El Caribe, here.
Fundación Los Platanitos, which was formed during the 2010 class project, was formally incorporated as a community-based association in July 2012. Students worked with the leadership of FUMPLA in 2010 to develop the administrative structure and goals of the organizations. FUMPLA set as its principal goal to address the solid waste problem in Los Platanitos in partnership with the City of Santo Domingo Norte and the non-governmental organization and project partner FUNDSAZURZA. Congratulations to Pedro Almonte, Jose Mercedes and Aquilino Cuevas for moving the organization forward!
Members of FUMPLA pose with Dr. Sletto during a fieldwork trip in 2012.
On March 30, 2012, former and current students were excited to welcome our project advisor Juan Torres to the School of Architecture. He gave a lecture to students and faculty members on participatory budgeting and planning in Santo Domingo, translated by Lindsey Carte, Jared Genova, and Danielle Rojas. Juan Torres’ visit was facilitated with funding from the School of Architecture and the Lozano Long Institute for Latin American Studies. At the time of his visit, Juan was a municipal planning official with the municipality of Santo Domingo, Distrito Nacional. He currently works in private practice as an architect and engineer. Welcome to Texas, Juan!
Juan Torres with students during his visit to austin in March 2012.
On Wednesday, March 10, 2014, students in the 2014 practicum course presented the results of their ethnobotanical research in Los Platanitos to an audience of more than 50 students, civil society organizations and government officials at the Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña (UNPHU).
After the presentation, Marianela Pinales of the project partner organization Centro de Investigación y Acompañamiento a Mujeres y Familia (CIAMF) moderated a workshop between government and civil society representatives which started a still ongoing process to form a network of organizations to assist Los Platanitos in their community development efforts.
Members of Mujeres Unidas work with representatives of CIAMF at a community meeting in March 2014
Monica Bosquez and Martin Thomen published an article in the winter 2008/09 issue of the School of Architecture journal Platform about their research on risk and vulnerability in Los Platanitos.
After developing the vermiculture project in January 2012, Mujeres Unidas worked with project partner Benita García of Fundación Agricultura y Medio Ambiente to support the initial phase of the vermiculture project. She held a series of workshops in Los Platanitos offering technical training in vermicomposting and assisted the women with maintaining the composting bins.
On December 14, 2013, Mujeres Unidas held their first holiday party and elections for officer positions in the plaza in front of Pica’s colmado (convenience store). Members of Mujeres Unidas purchased food with proceeds from their sales of vermiculture products and the plaza was decorated for the holiday using recycled plastics. Fany Moises was elected coordinator and 9 other positions were filled.
Members of Mujeres Unidas pose for a photo at their 2014 holiday celebration and election meeting.Homemade decorations for the 2014 holiday celebration.
In March 2010, students in the second practicum course in Los Platanitos presented at a large Urban Forum in Santo Domingo Norte organized by project partner Ciudad Alternativa. Students, together with residents of Los Platanitos, spoke to a audience of more than 75 representatives of government agencies and civil society organizations about the need for improved solid waste management in the community.
Learn more about the work of Ciudad Alternativa here.
Community residents joined government officials and civil society representatives to participate in the Foro Urbano held in March 2010
An initiative of the University of Texas School of Architecture to address infrastructure challenges in informal settlements
