GFDD / Funglode Opens Its Doors to the Geography Week 2017

As part of the preparatory events for the annual Geography Week, Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) and the Foundation Global democracy and development (Funglode), in collaboration the Plan Lean, organized a conference in Santo Domingo, in the Auditorium of Funglode, directed to technicians and directors of the Ministry of Education of the Dominican Republic (MINERD, for its acronym in Spanish) and Natural and Social Sciences teachers.

Friday, February
3, 220 representatives of the Dominican education system attended the dissertation by professor Morales Troncoso Bolivar on this year’s topic: “Learn! Our Protected Areas: Source of Sustainable Life”.

The welcoming remarks were delivered by Yamile Eusebio, GFDD’s New York Office Director, while the exhortation was made by Javiel Elena, MINERD Coordinator of Operations.

Eusebio thanked Rosario Vasquez, from Plan Lea, for trusting GFDD / Funglode, once again, to support
them in the celebration of this conference. As Eusebio explained during her presentation, “environmental issues occupy an important place in our institutional agenda, as shows the annual celebration of the Dominican Republic Environmental Film Festival; the program RDescubre, that seeks to provide Dominican children and youth with the opportunity to participate in educational expeditions to places of interest in the Dominican Republic; the screening of environmental films throughout the
year; the Dominican Republic Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Environment, with a special section on protected areas and a digital version available to everyone; EcoHuertos, that creates sustainable and organic gardens in schools and communities; and the Globo Verde Junior Award, which seeks for environmental film proposals developed by high school students.”

Geography Week is an annual Listin Diario’s initiative since 1993 to educate Dominican society on the sustainable use and
preservation of natural resources, which also promotes the importance of geography for social, cultural and economic development of the country.

During the event, Rosario Vasquez called the audience to take home the brochures on the five thematic axes that will be addressed during the Geography Week 2017, and use them as a different, entertaining and interesting way of teaching Social and Natural Sciences. The Dominican Republic Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Environment, a
GFDD/Funglode publication, was raffled for the teachers.

The initiative of Listin Diario corresponds, in the words of Eusebio, to “our objective to promote the protection of our environment and support all those initiatives that seek to create awareness on our responsibility to take care of our planet”.