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.
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
In May 2010, the students in the 2010 practicum course organized a fundraiser to support the newly established community organization Fundación Los Platanitos (FUMPLA). The students met their goal of raising $1500 to cover the cost of a capacity building course. The 12-week course was taught by community educators of Centro Juan Montalvo, now Centro Bonó, in Santo Domingo.
Centro Bonó works in four strategic areas: 1) to strengthen social movements, 2) to accompany vulnerable and excluded populations, 3) to build collective capacity and encourage critical thought, and 4) to strengthen organizations and institutional sustainability. Learn more about Centro Bonó here.
In May 2013, project partner Centro de Investigación y Acompañamiento a Mujeres y Familia (CIAMF) began a series of capacity building workshops in order to support Mujeres Unidas. The workshops are designed to help guide Mujeres Unidas’ continued development and growth. This picture is from a workshop dedicated to organizational structure held on November 23, 2013, in preparation for the relaunch of the vermicomposting project in January 2014.
Members of Mujeres Unidas work with CIAMF representatives to develop strategy documents to support the organization’s continued growth.A sign announcing the organizational development workshop CIAMF facilitated for Mujeres Unidas.
An initiative of the University of Texas School of Architecture to address infrastructure challenges in informal settlements
