NGO's

What are the main NGO's working in the Dominican Republic? Are there any " faith based" ones ( affilitated with a religious group? )

Please excuse my ignorance, but what is a NGO?

Surprised no one answered this. Click on weblink below

HI there,Karen and everyone--

Regarding NGOs, there ARE quite a lot of them in operation in the DR, many of them "faith based" as you asked.

Compassion International [and several organizations of that type], Amnesty International, CARE,missionary groups have pewrsonnel assigned in the field[especially many Catholic, Adventist, Christian Reformed, Southern and American Baptist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, Methodist,the Mennonite Central Committee, and many,many more]. There are also a number of medical organizations which operate clinics and send mission/work groups on short-term projects.

I've been in the DR as a mission volunteer over the past six years and have met people from a variety of organizations.

FYI:NGO=NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION

hOPE THIS HELPS,

dEE

Karen,

There are many international and indigeneous NGOs, PVOs and CBOs working in the DR. Some that come to mind are: CARE, World Vision, Save the Children, Christian Children's Fund, Catholic Relief Services, and Fe Y Alegria. Two NGOs that I am personally very familiar with are CIPAF (Centro de Investigacion para la Accion Femenina) and EDUCA (which has a web page btw). My PhD dissertation dealt with NGOs in the DR, e-mail me if you have more questions.

Natasha

Ken, like Tom said an NGO is a Nongovernmental Organization. Sometiemes they are called NGDO, nongovernmental development organization. NGOs traditionally started as church affiliated organizations providing disaster relief. Today, they work in all sectors: environment, education, health, ect. There are many problems facing NGOs today even though their world wide growth has been astonishing. One thing is that just about any group can claim to be an NGO nowadays. There are also problems with accountability, and what I call the chamaleon factor: NGOs seem to constantly change their mission or purpose according to what issue is "hot" in the field. Today an NGO is involved in the environment, and tomorrow its education. Anyway, hope this helps.

Natasha