» Slums of Santo Domingo, Simon Bolivar

» Marginal Communities of Juana Saltitopa, La Piņa and El Lebron, Santo Domingo West


Over the past 25 years IDDI has worked intensively within the slums of Santo Domingo to improve the problem of environmental pollution due to the lack of water and sanitation infrastructure. Currently the Dominican Foundation and IDDI are focused on two key water and sanitation projects within Santo Domingo. The first involves the neighborhood of Simon Bolivar, one of the worst slums of Santo Domingo. The other project involves the marginal communities of Juana Saltitopa, La Piņa and El Lebron in the west of Santo Domingo.




Slums of Santo Domingo, Simon Bolivar

Environmental pollution dramatically affects Santo Domingo's slums, especially the neighborhood of Simon Bolivar, thus affecting the quality of life for its residents whom increasingly invest more in health; which high costs worsen their already rough economic situation.

Families with higher levels of poverty and social exclusion tend to build their homes on land unfit for living. This is the case of the community Simon Bolivar where the majority of homes are located on hill slopes and on areas very close to the river's fringe characterized by unstable ground as a result of mudslides caused by heavy rains and sedimentation.

This situation poses serious problems for the municipality of Santo Domingo and the central government, neither of which have the necessary means to react to a growing and unorganized urbanization rate, nor to obtain the adequate resources to establish basic services required by the community.

According to an IDDI survey, in the last 5 years, the most significant problems afflicting Simon Bolivar are the following:
  • Close to 20% of homes do not have access to a waste pick-up service on a regular basis.
  • Presence of serious illnesses: Dengue Fever (25%) Hepatitis (33%), Malaria (22%), Meningitis (18%), Tuberculosis (32%), all result of poor hygiene.
  • 35% of those surveyed received medical attention in the last three months due to an illness or accident injury.
  • Only 9% of the population obtains drinking water from the pipe. A great majority of the population, 40 % of cases, from bottled containers.
  • The domestic use for water, not including the usage for sanitary purposes, is discarded in backyards (40%), in the sewage system (21%), in nearby alleyways (21%) and in ravines (4.2%).
  • 55% of homes are built on unstable ground, 15% on slopes, 14.6% near ravines or streams, 8% on ground prone to landslides and 7.2% on areas near the river bank.
  • The main sources of pollution for homes are nearby ravines or streams (38.6%), street ways (49%), latrine outlets (47%) and latrines adjacent to homes (37%).
  • A majority of homes, most with only one floor, are located on roads inaccessible to vehicles (29%), on trails (6.37%) and on stairways (14.7%).
  • 93% of cases, floors are constructed of cement, 80.6% of homes have cement walls, 75.5% of such have zinc roofs and 23.5% have cement roofs.
  • Municipal and private waste management trucks do not have the technology to access the narrow and almost non-existent roads that lead to this neighborhood.
  • Ravines have become natural ways for the disposal of garbage, which is dragged by the Ozama River up to the coast of the Caribbean Sea during heavy rainfall.
Proposed Solution:

Considering the present situation, the intention of our projects are to improve the population's lifestyle through the construction of pedestrian paths (alleys, stairways, bridges, etc.) that allow the access of small wagons and appropriate vehicles to areas nearly impossible to reach with the objective of retrieving all solid waste.

A community coalition will be created for the proper disposal of waste in order to reduce the existing high levels of garbage in the interior of the neighborhood and the disposal of it through ravines to the other sources of water in the city.

With the objective of contributing to the improvement of environmental and human sanitation, the project is considering the creation of a network of filtered water pipes. Likewise, the project will protect the existing network with the intention of educating families about preventive health measures through a group of trained volunteers. Ultimately, the project will treat and vaccinate children in many of the preventable disease discussed earlier, once the root of these problems is addressed and underway.

Ultimately, our goal is to divert the passage of all residual and rain water in order to prevent the formation of contaminated puddles of water mixing with waste which leads to the rapid degradation of waste before it can be disposed.

The three components critical to this project are the following:
  1. Community training on the proper management of waste disposal and the creation of neighborhood coalitions on waste disposal.
  2. The establishment of community leaders that can administer waste management neighborhood coalitions.
  3. To formalize agreements with Santo Domingo's City Council and Government officials to support this initiative.
  4. To formalize sponsorship of the project with private health companies to assist monetarily and technically, reducing the spread of preventable diseases.
Beneficiaries:

Each project is designed to benefit approximately 1,000 families with a population of 5,000 people with the following distribution: Children under the age of 5 (3,300), other (1,700).

An additional 700 families (3,500 people) are expected to be indirect beneficiaries in the critical areas of Simon Bolivar. The positive impact of these environmental sanitation activities will extend to the families adjacent to the intervention area.

It is also expected that this program will have repercussions on the rest of the population since it will help reduce the levels of pollution in water and ground. Consequently, this will reduce the number of plagues (rodents, roaches, etc) and will overall improve the population's health due to fewer factors affecting environmental pollution in the area. For this reason, 15,000 are expected to benefit indirectly from the project.

Expected Results:
  • An established and self-sufficient waste pick-up system at the community level.
  • City Council will provide a waste pick-up and disposal service operating on a regular basis.
  • Established work agreements with government officials and agencies with an objective of assuring technical and material support for the continued sustainability of the waste management program.
  • A community-based network capable of managing the waste pick-up and recycling services.
  • A community-based network of 20 people (specialized work force) with access to adequate equipment for waste pick-up. For these 20 local individuals this will provide a source of income they will earn.
  • A network of 40 promoters/volunteers able to educate on environmental and health sanitation.
  • Orientation and educational sessions to at least 3,000 families, within the project's immediate area, about environmental pollution prevention, and proper hygiene to prevent disease.
  • A skilled community task force skilled to manage the micro-enterprise aspects of the community waste management program.
  • Creation of 45 jobs in the area of immediate attention for the project.
  • The future prevention of disease afflicting this community including Dengue Fever, Hepatitis, Malaria, Meningitis, Tuberculosis and water-born parasites.
  • Create a social and economic viability study on the recycling of solid wastes that could permit the creation of small micro-enterprises for long-term environmental sustainability.
  • Create organizational models for the community so they may control and manage their garbage, environmental sanitation and health problems.
  • 30 community leaders will receive training on Environmental Sanitation organization and administration of solid wastes and in other areas relating to the project.
  • Develop a minimum of 5 supervisory community groups that will guarantee the continuation of the Project and long-term sustainability
    




Marginal Communities of Juana Saltitopa, La Piņa and El Lebron, Santo Domingo West


The project's goal is to improve the quality of life of the habitants of Juana Saltitopa, La Piņa and El Lebron through environmental education and for their health, physical infrastructure with community participation, and putting into action a micro company that picks up solid waste. The inexistence of drinkable water, drainage and solid waste collection in this area makes it especially vulnerable to disease.

The program involves environmental education and health, physical infrastructure with community participation, and develops micro company that will collect solid waste in these communities.

Additionally, the project will work towards strengthening the local capacity to maintain the waste disposal system while also working with City council of Santo Domingo West for the long-term sustainability of this project.

Geographic area and exact location

The sector Los Alcarrizos is one of the largest recipients of internal migration that the Dominican Republic has ever witnessed. A few decades ago it formed part of the rural zone in the metropolitan area of Santo Domingo, but at this moment it has become part of the marginal urban area of the city.

Essentially, each family is composed of five or six people, with one income, coming usually from the male member of the family. The average income is less than the national minimum salary, while many do not have any stable income or job, which means they often cannot cover the basic expenses of their family. The immediate impact is of increasing social problems, such as drug addiction.

In cases where the woman is the sole provider, the situation is even worse due to difficulty in finding jobs and usually their wages are lower than of their male counterparts. This phenomenon becomes worse because not only do they need to work, but they are also responsible for the basic needs of their family, including the elimination of solid waste and getting drinkable water.

One of the most serious problems these communities face is the passageways and spaces between houses. Often houses are only separated by very narrow dirt alleys, very pronounced steps, and ravines. The infrastructure within these marginal communities does not facilitate drainage and endangers the lives of these families. Additionally, there are few emergency exits in case of sickness, and so system of solid waste removal. The public space is barely existent, not enough for children to play without risking their health. Very few streets are vehicle accessible and the few that are, do not have sidewalks or are paved.

In the area of health, the deficiency in the infrastructure of accessibility are noticeable, due to high rates of diseases, the most common being diarrhea, skin and sexually transmitted diseases, the flu, malaria, ferine cough, tuberculosis, measles, etc.

The houses are built with waste materials such as: cardboard, tin and other disposable materials, without a common green area and with an average of 6 rooms every 20 square meters. Most of the houses do not have indoor plumbing and the ones that do have their waste disposed into the streets. The electricity wires are put anywhere, near a wooden or cardboard house, near a tree, on a branch, which has caused fires and deaths due to electrocution.

Many of the problems these families face are linked to lack of sanitary and environmental education, and due to these deficiencies frequent deaths, especially in children, have occurred, deaths that could have been avoided.

Sustainability:

To guarantee the sustainability of the actions, many actions have been foreseen:
  • Strengthening the primary attention program in health within the area
  • Increase the productive capacity of the community with the creation of the recycle companies of solid waste
  • Carry out monthly meetings with community leaders and the community business authorities
  • Establishing agreements with the governmental offices such as the Public Health organization, and the City council and CAASD
  • Strengthening of the community infrastructure
To assure the socio-cultural sustainability, a network of community agents will be formed, where follow-up will be done at least 12 months after the project ends. Either way, it is estimated that an educative action and community services in waste recollection will contribute in the maintenance of the cultural sustainability.

If you would like to know about other water and sanitation projects the Dominican Foundation, and its partners IDDI, are involved in, please contact us at info@dominicanfoundation.org.

    

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