The ReCrearte program, an initiative of Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD), participated last December 9th in the activity “Sharing experiences for the conservation of biodiversity”, in which the Pro-Nature (Pronatura) Fund showed the cooperation work that has been carried out by civil society organizations, government institutions and the private sector to promote the effective management of La Humeadora Mountain National Park.

The French Development Agency (AFD) and the French Embassy in the Dominican Republic sponsored this event, whose main goal was to exhibit, share and appreciate the experiences of best practices and lessons learned from projects that have been carried out in recent years with the sponsorship of the Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund (CEPF).

The idea was to visualize on site, through a field visit to La Humeadora Mountain National Park, the outcomes of linking biodiversity conservation and the local communities. In this regard, ReCrearte, through its coordinator, Bertha Santana, attended the event to share some of the experiences it fostered during the course of the four creative recycling workshops it carried out in the community of Guananito, within the area of impact of La Humeadora Mountain National Park, between November 5th and December 2nd, 2014. During these workshops, community women learned about the three golden rules, or the 3Rs, for the proper management of solid waste: reduce, reuse and recycle, and experienced firsthand how recycling waste and transforming it into art can strengthen both the individuals and their communities.

The activity was attended by representatives of various organizations, including Pronatura; the Loma Quita Espuela Foundation; the Sur Futuro Foundation; the Dominican Center for Agricultural Development and Forestry (CEDAF – Centro Dominicano de Desarrollo Agrícola y Forestal), the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), and the French Development Agency, in addition to the administrator of La Humeadora Mountain National Park, experts from the Ministry of the Environment and a representative of the city council of El Puerto.

The Experience of the Community

The group of women from La Esperanza neighborhood in Guananito who participated in the ReCrearte workshops shared their experience through a presentation in which they explained the pieces they created and the materials they used, which included fan grills and discarded fabrics. Community leader Alex Dominga spoke before all the participants and representatives of national and international institutions about the change, “from the emotional to the economic”, that is taking place in their lives after participating in the workshops. She encouraged other women to create handcrafts at home using recycled materials.

At the end of the activity some of the attendees bought a number of the pieces created by the group of women from Guananito, including necklaces made with seeds, curtains, carpets, butterflies made from aluminum cans, and a basket made with a fan grill. “This resulted in an overflow of enthusiasm within the group, because, for the first time, they lived in a surprising way the experience of seeing the benefits their work generated, not only for them but also for the environment,” said Santana.

The ReCrearte Program was created in 2012 in response to the interest shown by the students who participated in Bertha Santana’s Recycled Art workshop during the second edition of the Dominican Republic Environmental Film Festival (DREFF).

For more information: www.r3crearte.org