Dominican First Lady Receives Prestigious Recognition at University in Brasilia

Margarita Cedeño de Fernández, the Dominican Republic’s First Lady, is in Brasilia where she received an honorary Doctorate Degree from the prestigious University Center of Brasilia (UNICEUB) located in Brazil’s capital city Brasilia. Dr. Cedeño de Fernández received the tribute in honor of her long history of social work.

The Doctorate Degree was bestowed upon the First Lady by UNICEUB’s Rector, Getúlio Américo Moreira López…

The Doctorate Degree was bestowed upon the First Lady by UNICEUB’s Rector, Getúlio Américo Moreira López in the presence of Carlos Fernando Matías de Souza, President of UNICEUB’s Consultative Council and Minister of the High Court of Justice; Manuel Morales Lama, Dominican Ambassador in Brazil and university officials, professors and students.

In her acceptance speech, Mrs. Cedeño de Fernández expressed her satisfaction at receiving such a prestigious award. She took the opportunity to emphasize the importance of achieving equality in Dominican society ensuring that it is a fundamental goal of her government office and the engine behind the activities she intends to undertake with her team.

She stressed the virtues of the Dominican people, whom she described as “noble and hardworking who struggle to achieve sustainable development with social justice and equality in a country that has undergone a huge financial and institutional crisis yet is managing to restore macroeconomic stability and confidence in its institutions.”

The First Lady supports and collaborates with the social policy of the Dominican government of President Leonel Fernández which involves the carrying out of programs and projects that make feasible the exercise of social, economic, political and cultural rights of Dominican families by completely integrating them in programs that promote education, training for productive occupations and reinforcing technological knowledge as fundamental strategies for personal and family development.

She continued to cite the goals of the Progressing program, which, as part of her own office, has given more than 100,000 families the opportunity to become productive entities in society by offering them the necessary knowledge, tools and opportunities.

The First Lady stressed the important role of the Community Technology Centers (CTC), which have been instrumental in closing the digital divide by bringing this important technology to the socially marginalized from 47 installation points around the country that ultimately provide the opportunity for people to become involved in the labor market.

All programs promoted by the First Lady are oriented to promoting reading as well as educational and recreational activities in an effort to provide a better quality of life with dignity for all Dominican citizens.

In the area of health, the Dominicans have opened pediatric emergency centers to the public. They have remodeled pediatric centers and built a new area in the Doctor Robert Reid Cabral Children´s Hospital. They are also maintaining an intense prevention campaign.

Included in the activities oriented toward education, the First Lady and her team have turned old buses into libraries and multi-grade classrooms. They have also installed child-care centers at universities so that mothers can continue their studies.