Launch of the 'Women in Network' project

Launch of the "Women in Network" project with representatives of Spanish cooperation, the Dominican government, and Dominican civil society.

Spanish Cooperation (AECID) launched on March 15 the program "Women in Network - Articulation of women's and feminist organizations for the promotion of civil and political rights in the Dominican Republic" together with eight organizations defending women's rights.

The National Confederation of Rural Women (CONAMUCA), UASD (Autonomous University of Santo Domingo - Institute for Research and Studies on Gender and Family), MUDHA (Movement of Dominican-Haitian Women), LA CEIBA (Intercultural Connection for Well-being and Autonomy), CIPAF (Center for Research for Feminine Action), OBMICA (Observatory for Caribbean Migrants and Social Development), DIVERSIDAD DOMINICANA, and Mujeres Sociopoliticas MAMA TINGO have joined forces with the goal of contributing to the dissemination and exercise of women's political and civil rights and changing power relations in all spheres of participation and public representation.

The program, itself made up of eight projects, aims to strengthen the strategies of women's and feminist organizations aimed at empowerment for women's political leadership at the local and national levels, through affirmative actions toward women who suffer various forms of discrimination. Organized women, building alliances from diverse positions, strengthen their political leadership and build strong oversight and political advocacy networks to continue fighting inequality and violence. All rights for all women.

In addition, it contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals, commitments assumed by both the Dominican State and the Spanish State. Specifically, it contributes to SDG 5 (gender equality), SDG 16 (just, peaceful, and inclusive societies), and SDG 17 (global partnerships).

OBMICA

OBMICA's applied research component seeks to:

• understand the evolution of new Dominican public policies, their implementation, and their effects on the health of affected migrant women and their relatives;
• analyze women's knowledge of their rights;
• close gaps in knowledge about their rights, with emphasis on training Haitian community women leaders or Dominican women of Haitian origin;
• promote political dialogue between affected persons and competent authorities with a view to following up on the relevant reports of the United Nations system (UNS) and the inter-American human rights system (IAHRS).

Emphasis will be placed on communication through a campaign reaching broad sectors of Dominican society, with the purpose of challenging negative stereotypes about migrants and their descendants, including patriarchal or misogynistic attitudes that may exist. Fieldwork will be carried out in Santiago, Altagracia, and Elias Pina. This will be done after conducting a desk study that provides us with a picture of current access to public health for migrant women and their relatives, with an emphasis on maternal and child health.

Post-COVID-19 recovery

OBMICA's bet: it supports and prioritizes research in line with point 3.5 of the UN Research Roadmap for COVID-19 Recovery: "How have recent economic changes disproportionately affected women and how can recovery strategies be inclusive and transformative in terms of gender?"

In addition, at the regional level, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) launched a campaign to encourage Latin American and Caribbean countries to take measures to accelerate the reduction of maternal mortality, whose rate increased by 15% between 2016 and 2020. In short, our action will create synergies with the actions of all the other members of Women in Network, taking advantage of the strategic and indispensable support of AECID.