CEG INTEC brings the results of climate displacement research to communities through workshops and training programs
The Center for Gender Studies will develop participatory workshops in ten communities across the country and offer a specialized course to strengthen the capacities of community leaders, government representatives, and local actors in the South.
SANTO DOMINGO. - Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC), through its Center for Gender Studies (CEG), launched a new stage of the project “Forced Displacement due to Climate Change: its impact on the lives of women and girls”, with the development of community workshops and a training program aimed at strengthening the capacities of communities and local actors in the face of the effects of climate change.
Both initiatives arise as a response to the research findings, which highlighted the need to strengthen institutional and community capacities to understand and address forced displacement associated with climate impacts, particularly on women and girls.
Workshops to build solutions from the communities
As part of this process, the CEG conducts community workshops in the ten locations where the research was carried out. These three-hour sessions are designed as spaces for dialogue, participation, and collective action, where the study's main findings are shared, reflection on the challenges facing each territory is encouraged, and community input is gathered to strengthen local responses to climate change.
The workshops address topics such as climate change and community vulnerability, forced displacement and human mobility, impact on women and girls, community resilience strategies and the development of local proposals with a gender and human rights focus.
The events are held in Guaymate (La Romana); Hondo Valle, Juan Santiago and Pedro Santana (Elías Piña); Las Charcas and Tábara Arriba (Azua); Cristóbal (Independencia); Las Salinas (Barahona), and Tamayo (Bahoruco).
Training to strengthen local leadership
In addition, the CEG offers the Course on Forced Displacement due to Climate Change and Community Resilience, an academic program aimed at community leaders, government representatives and other local actors in the Southern region.
The course lasts 20 hours, spread over four weeks of in-person training, and takes place at two locations: the Padre Guido Gildea School in San Juan de la Maguana, and the Southern Women's Promotion Association (PROMUS) in Barahona. Its objective is to strengthen capacities to understand, prevent, and manage forced displacement caused by climate change from a human rights, gender equality, and territorial resilience perspective.
The program is organized into seven thematic blocks, ranging from the fundamentals of forced displacement due to climate change and gender and human rights approaches, to tools for territorial analysis, community resilience strategies, and the design of local action proposals. Upon completion of the training, participants will have the tools to incorporate these approaches into their interventions and promote actions aimed at strengthening resilience in their communities.
The courses and workshops are academically coordinated by Dr. Solhanlle Bonilla Duarte and are also taught by Yasilis Andújar and Jenifer Vanderhorst, facilitators from the Center for Gender Studies.
Chair of Forced Displacement in the Dominican Republic
El Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC) is the only university in the Caribbean that participates in the Chair of Forced Displacement in the Dominican Republic, an international research project led by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).
The initiative's main purpose is to address forced displacement caused by climate change from a multidisciplinary perspective, incorporating local priorities into global agendas and increasing the participation and voice of forcibly displaced populations in political decision-making.
Objectives include conducting research on the effects of climate change as drivers of forced displacement, with a focus on gender disparities, and formulating national and global policies based on the evidence collected.