The State Budget Dining Rooms and the Attorney General’s Office of Santo Domingo Sign Inter-Agency Agreement

The State Budget Dining Rooms and the Attorney General’s Office of Santo Domingo Sign Inter-Agency Agreement
Santo Domingo, August 27, 2013

The administration of the State Budget Dining Rooms (Comedores Económicos del Estado) and the Attorney General’s Office of the Santo Domingo Province, signed an inter-agency agreement which will promote food security, by providing food to low income victims of gender violence so that they can meet their nutrition needs.

Also, the State Budget Dining Rooms will supply food rations to the Attorney General’s Office, Monday through Friday, for the administrative and support staff assigned to that office who commute daily from the prisons providing custody service to the inmates.
Through the agreement, both institutions commit themselves to performing joint community work and to promote healthy eating messages.

The agreement, which will be valid for one year, was signed by the Administrator of the Economic Dining Rooms, Ramón Monchy Rodríguez, and the Attorney General of the Province of Santo Domingo, Olga D. Dina Llaverías, in a ceremony that took place at the headquarters of the welfare agency.

After the signing, Justice Dina Llaverías thanked the Administrator of the Economic Dining Rooms, Monchy Rodríguez, noting that the agreement is an instrument to overcoming big problems that they face day after day with the cases of violence against women.

“One of the biggest problems we have is that when women are economically dependent and do not have the resources to provide their family with the food that is needed for the proper development of themselves and their children, they remain within the core of violence,” she deplored.

In turn, Monchy Rodríguez said that the Economic Dining Rooms adopt this cause with a sense of humanity toward the poor women who are victims of violence. “This agreement is in addition to all the actions that have been undertaken by the Economic Dining Rooms during a one year period.

The official said that during his tenure as head of the agency, it has increased the coverage of services and that the focus of the food support is on the sectors and the population segment that have not previously received this type of support.

“During this administration we are providing food that is appropriate, balanced and healthy for the elderly, single mothers, infants, pregnant women and people with diseases such as HIV and TB. This is also a reflection of the outstanding public policy strategy in favor of the most disadvantaged in society that is being implemented by President Danilo Medina,” Rodríguez said.

In addition, the agreement provides that, through the Department of Nutrition, the Economic Dining Rooms will provide educational lectures each month to the beneficiaries of this agreement, in order to counsel the victims about the importance of having proper nutrition and the correct use of the food that has been provided.

Through this agreement, the welfare agency is committed to providing food support to the victims of gender violence with open cases at the Attorney General’s Office, as a way of overcoming the chronic levels of poverty in the country, ensuring a decent life for vulnerable populations, and in an act of solidarity and a deep sense of humanity.

Meanwhile, the Office of the Attorney Genral is committed to formally providing information to the Economic Dining Rooms, on the socio-economic conditions of the victims, so that the Donations Department has evidence of the justifications of the rations provided to the families through the food baskets.