GFDD and FUNGLODE participate in the Tenth International Book Fair of Dominican Women Writers

The Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD), and its sister organization, Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE) participated in the Tenth International Book Fair of Dominican Women Writers, which took place March 15 – 17, 2013, in New York.

The event was organized by the Dominican
Women’s Development Center with support from FUNGLODE and GFDD, the Hostos Community College, CUNY, the Dominican Cultural Commissioner and the Dominican Consulate in New York City, among other organizations.

Elina María Cruz, Director of the Center for Communication Research and FUNGLODE’s Director of Communications, participated in the get-together with a lecture on "Dominican Femicides and the Role of the Media as a Weapon
for Prevention."

Ms. Cruz discussed the way in which the Dominican media reports on the phenomenon and highlighted to what extent they join the prevention campaigns that government agencies and NGOs carry out. She shared with the audience three examples of how the Dominican press is dealing with the drama of femicides, through actions aimed at, above all, prevention, by raising awareness among the population on behalf of the victims of gender violence.
These are awareness campaigns that have been developed by three important communication groups in the country: Noticias SIN, Omnimedia (Diario Libre) and Zol 106.5.

In the course of a separate speech during the same event, Elina María Cruz addressed the issue of the evolution of the media in the Dominican Republic and the media landscape they present today.

The book fair, brainchild of DWDC director, Karina Rieke, is a meeting
point for writers from around the world, because it features special guests from Spain, Argentina, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic and Mexico, among other countries. Under the slogan "Reading makes our dream a reality," the given event was dedicated to poet Yrene Santos; educational researcher Marybelle Ferreira de Oleao; Dr. Marilu María D. Galván, and to community activist Jacqueline Guilamo.

Lectures,
round-tables, youth literary competitions, book signings, educational workshops, spaces for reading, and book selling opportunities, were offered at the event.

The opening ceremony took place at the Isabella Home Center Theater, where these activities also took place during the morning and afternoon of Saturday, March 16. On Sunday, March 17, the Dominican Cultural Commissioner in New York hosted the fair and its exhibitors.

The objective of
the International Book Fair of Dominican Women Writers is to broaden the future of books and to ensure that they become the educational and cultural vehicle of the modern society.

Dominican Women’s Development Center is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1988 by nine Dominican women who identified the need for Latin American women to organize around critical issues and seek solutions to systemic problems affecting their families and community,
such as sexism and discrimination, high housing costs, low-achieving schools, limited access to health care services. The mission of the Center is to aid in the growth and development of women’s self esteem through multicultural and holistic social services as well as through the provision of educational, economic and cultural development programming.