Training and Production Center in Guerra Offers Opportunities to Residents

Training and Production Center in Guerra Offers Opportunities to Residents
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic – 11/ 5/ 2011

A project to enable the inhabitants of this city take action to develop and overcome poverty.

The First Lady of the Dominican Republic, Dr Margarita Cedeño de Fernández, opened a ‘Progresando’ Training and Production Center to provide opportunities for local residents to develop their skills and capacities and engage in creative and cultural activities while reaffirming important values.

The First Lady of the Dominican Republic, Dr Margarita Cedeño de Fernández, opened a ‘Progresando’ Training and Production Center to provide opportunities for local residents to develop their skills and capacities and engage in creative and cultural activities while reaffirming important values.

The engineering firm Acevedo Núñez & Asociates built the Center with an investment of 16,883,232.18 Dominican pesos, exclusive of equipment and installations costs. The Office of the First Lady received financial assistance for the project from the Reformed Businesses Fund (FONPER).

In her remarks, the First Lady said the Center will offer 2,700 families access to  comprehensive human development. She affirmed that the provision of training and preparation to the inhabitants of Guerra is a form of war (“guerra”) against poverty, unemployment, and social exclusion. “In our pursuit of this war, the opening of this Progresando Training Center is a battle in which you, through training and comprehensive preparation, acquire new tools with which to succeed and attain the desired prosperity and quality of life.”

Dr Cedeño de Fernández described the efforts by both individuals and the community to secure the donation of the land upon which the building was raised as an indication of the locale’s determination to have adequate and properly equipped installations for acquiring the skills and knowledge required to take an active part in production.

The First Lady said that the construction of the new facility is a further sign of commitment to education and training, consistent with her conviction that only by the acquisition of knowledge, job training and preparation in values can a country embark on a path of sustained development within a framework of peace and democracy.

“We have included a classroom for children with special needs or Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD in Spanish) so that the children of this community receive a fully integrated education, language therapy, psychological support, formation in values and habits of socialization as a way to promote equality and opportunities for persons with different capacities,” said the wife of the president.

She thanked principal Teodoro de la Cruz of the Mario Amador High School for putting his institution at the disposition of the Center for technical courses and also the mayor of Guerra, Martina García, for donating the land for the Center.

José Izquierdo, president of FONPER, said that with the construction of ‘Progresando’ training centers throughout the country, the Office of the First Lady had brought benefits to more than one hundred thousand families, men and women seeking opportunities for personal progress and development. “We thank God for leaders, men and women like the First Lady, with clear concepts, determination, dedication, intelligence and the tenacity to carry out projects that benefit the Dominican people.”

Youth speaking in the name of the community expressed their gratitude for the initiative. José Mejía sang the song, “The Color of Hope,” and Susan Alcántara thanked the First Lady personally, saying that before entering the ‘Progresando’ program, she was without dreams, goals, or employment. She said the training and knowledge she had acquired through the program made her a different woman, led her to study accounting, and stimulated her to educate her own children, take action to safeguard their health, and to instill in them the appropriate values.

Training Center

The construction of the Guerra Training and Production Center is part of the educational strategies entitled ‘Skills-building for Progress’ of the Progresando program that empowers participants to become protagonists in their own development and to escape poverty by opening up opportunities for them to enjoy health, education, housing and social integration.

The ‘Progresando’ Center for Training and Production is comprised of 880 square meters of constructed space on two levels and includes crafts workshops, household appliance repair shops, beauty shops, and rooms for sewing, computer learning and painting. There is also a classroom for theoretical classes and another for pastry and cooking classes.

Its auditorium will serve community center that can be used for its development activities. There are also administrative offices, a staff kitchen, a reception area, bathroom, two storerooms, a boiler and utilities room, an independent water supply and outer area.

“Progresando” is a program managed by the Office of the First Lady, whose mandate is to assist families in extreme poverty to improve their conditions through orientation, information, training and awareness …

“Progresando” is a program managed by the Office of the First Lady, whose mandate is to assist families in extreme poverty to improve their conditions through orientation, information, training and awareness about access to and enjoyment of the goods and services offered by the state and civil society to guarantee their basic rights.

The new Center is the 24th now in place throughout the country. In Santo Domingo there are centers in the neighborhoods of Cristo Rey, Villa Juana, Capotillo, Herrera, Villa Duarte, Manoguayabo and in the communities of Remanzo and Los Guarícanos in Villa Mella as well as Andrés and Los Botados in Boca Chica. In addition, there are similar centers in Don Juan, Yamasá, in the main municipality of Monte Plata and in Vicente Noble, Barahona, Samaná, Santiago, Jarabacoa, Mao, El Seibo, Villa Altagracia and Favidrio in San Cristóbal.

Also attending the ceremony were: Cristina Lizardo, senator for the province of Santo Domingo; Maritza García, mayor of Guerra; David Pérez, president of the Dominican Telecommunications Institute; Domingo Tavárez of the Indotel Governing Board;  Dr Ramón de Lara, director of the Military Hospital ; Gen. Hugo Pérez Comprés; and Jacqueline Vásquez representing the Tildan Duty-Free Zone, among other distinguished guests.