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Dominican Republic

• Child Protection and Interfamilial Safety, Dominican Republic

Child Protection and Interfamilial Safety, Dominican Republic

Project purpose: The project aims to build the capacity within the faculty of social sciences of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo, the Ministry of Women's Affairs, the National Council for the Protection of Children, and the Ministry of the Attorney General to design, implement and evaluate effective and sustainable programs and services for children and women at risk. The project will also establish a model for ongoing collaboration among these institutions to increase the effectiveness and impact of services delivered to these vulnerable groups.

Key results to date: Three new programs have been developed and are offered at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (AUSD). The Bachelor of social work has been approved by the authorities of AUSD and 140 students are enrolled in the first cohort. A graduate diploma of social work has been developed and 27 professors from AUSD have been trained. These professors teach in the new Bachelor's program. A certificate of social work has been developed for employees of the National Council for the Protection of Children (CONANI) and the Ministry of Women Affairs. To date, 24 employees from CONANI have been trained. A first incidence study on child abuse in the Dominican Republic has been launched with funding from the Social Science and Human Resource Council of Canada and the International Opportunity Funds at Ryerson University. The institutional ethnography applied research has been initiated. The findings of the survey will be disseminated to representatives of the child welfare system in the Dominican Republic.