U.S. Department of Agriculture positively assesses the work conducted by BRA in the Dominican Republic

U.S. Department of Agriculture positively assesses the work conducted by BRA in the Dominican Republic
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 07/14/2013

M  argie Bauer, Attaché from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica, gave a positive assessment to the work being conducted by the Batey Relief Alliance (BRA Dominicana) in the implementation of the Project to Promote Food Security and Economic Self-Sufficiency for 35,000 people in the poorest rural areas of the country

The official expressed her satisfaction with the results of the project, stating that: “In particular, I was impressed by the success they have achieved in the implementation of sustainable projects in the poorest rural areas of the Dominican Republic,…

Bauer said that “BRA implemented a project on agricultural development worth US$2 million through the program ‘Food for Progress’” and added: “BRA is one of the best partners that our office has ever had in the Dominican Republic and one of the best NGOs in the developing countries that I have seen in my 25 years or more working with the U.S. government.”

In 2009, BRA implemented the 2-year project on agricultural development in order to promote the food security and economic self-sufficiency of 35,000 people, including farmers and their families, who were living in extreme poverty in the bateys of the Monte Plata province.

The official expressed her satisfaction with the results of the project, stating that: “In particular, I was impressed by the success they have achieved in the implementation of sustainable projects in the poorest rural areas of the Dominican Republic, covering all rural issues, such as health, water, sanitation, education and agriculture.”

Mrs. Bauer also recognized BRA’s ability to raise and incorporate funds from different sources to build a community program that encompasses everything.

Since its founding in 1997 in New York City, BRA has raised over US$80 million; it has mobilized hundreds of volunteers; and it has formalized strategic alliances with local and international advocacy groups, and government agencies to carry out projects on food security, health, community development and emergency services in cases of disaster. Through these programs, each year, services are provided to more than 200,000 people in the impoverished and vulnerable communities of the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and now in Peru.

Although funding from the USDA to BRA ended in 2011 with the successful completion of the agricultural project, the organization expanded its agricultural activities in other bateys of the province of Monte Plata through a new partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which Bauer referred to by saying that: “BRA not only maintains a flawless accounting system that meets the various and complex U.S. Government requirements, but it also has the unusual willingness to learn and collaborate with other NGOs, which has resulted in more effective projects.”

The official concluded her intervention regarding BRA’s works by saying: “The spirit, enthusiasm and passion for what they do, emanate from them and it reaches all those who work with them.”

BRA is a humanitarian aid organization dedicated to addressing the socio-economic and health needs of children and their families who are severely affected by poverty, disease and hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2005 it built the first modern medical center in a batey since the establishment of the economic model of the sugar industry more than 400 years ago, in Batey Cinco Casas in the Monte Plata province. It implements projects of cooperative agricultural development, primary health care, prevention and treatment of HIV / AIDS, economic empowerment of women, microcredit, education, water and sanitation, mainly in the bateys and the urban areas of the Dominican Republic, and in the border regions of Haiti.

During that same year, BRA achieved its most significant success when former U.S. President Bill Clinton provided support to the humanitarian efforts it was carrying out in the Dominican Republic.

In 2011, BRA became a member of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), which collaborates with the private sector, NGOs and other world leaders who are committed to effectively tackle the world’s most pressing problems and to find innovative solutions to reduce poverty, improve the environment and increase access to health and education services.

For more information on the work of BRA in the Dominican Republic please visit their Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/Batey.Relief.Alliance), Twitter (http://twitter.com/bateyrelief) and web site (www.bateyrelief.org).