IOM produces Creole-language posters for the prevention of COVID-19 in the Dominican Republic's private sector

 
Dominican Republic
1 July, 2020

Santo Domingo - Given the characteristics of the construction sector in the Dominican Republic, which has approximately 95,000 Haitian migrant workers, the International Organization for Migration has formed a strategic alliance with ACOPROVI (the Association of Construction and Housing Developers) to work together to improve the conditions of migrant workers.

 

As part of the communication strategy for the emergency response by COVID-19, IOM designed, translated into Creole and made a first contribution of 500 posters for prevention on construction sites. These were delivered yesterday to ACOPROVI, represented at the event by engineer Maria Asunción (Susi) Gatón, president of the Association and architect Jorge Montalvo, first vice-president.  

 

"The construction sector was one of the first to develop a protocol for workplaces in relation to the issue of COVID-19," said Montalvo, "and these posters come to complement a very important part, which is to provide adequate information to workers so that they can be aware of what measures guarantee safety and hygiene in these times."

 

According to complementary studies to the ENI 2017 (National Survey of Immigrants), carried out by the National Statistics Office of the Dominican Republic, foreign workers of Haitian origin account for 29.21% of the total number of people employed in construction.  

 

"Contributing with information specially designed for construction work, in their language and just when the country is entering the reactivation phase, is a fundamental part of our response to the emergency by COVID-19 and of our mandate," added Josué Gastelbondo, IOM's Head of Mission in the Dominican Republic.

 

This contribution was made from the Regional Program on Migration Mesoamerica -The Caribbean, funded by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM).

 

For more information, please contact Zinnia Martínez of IOM Dominican Republic, at: zmartinez@iom.int