Organic Agriculture Education
CREAR and CIEE Study Center in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic
CREAR (Centro Regional de Estudios de Alternativas Rurales) is a school of organic agriculture and ecology for young adults living in extreme poverty in the Dominican Republic. Students come from the rural countryside of the Dominican-Haitian border region, an area in which 84% of the population lives below poverty level, and only 2% attend an institution of higher education. CREAR is the first organic school in the Dominican Republic and also the first agriculture school to enroll women. In addition to learning sustainable farming practices (such as alternatives to slash-and-burn and over-use of pesticides), students who graduate from the school receive both a high school diploma and a nationally-recognized technical degree.
The Ping Matching Grant will provide the seed money for CREAR to build a structure in which the school can offer free tuition, meals, and accommodation to all students. CREAR also offers training courses for local farmers and hosts outreach programs for area middle schools.
Past CIEE students have already integrated with CREAR students during a one-week rural home stay, as well as in learning about local sustainable organic practices through short-term training programs. As part of the Ping-funded initiative, future CIEE students will be encouraged to be involved with CREAR’s programming at local schools, and other institutional exchanges and programs.
Photo courtesy of CREAR
Photo courtesy of CREAR