DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Renewable energy project launches
Project includes solar panels and increasing youth employment opportunities
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
(MissionNewswire) Salesian missionaries from the St. John Bosco Province of the Antilles, through the Salesian Don Bosco Foundation’s youth ministry school sector and environment unit, have launched a renewable energy project in the Dominican Republic to equip seven polytechnic institutes with solar panels.
The project “Vocational qualification of vulnerable young people in the field of renewable energy and environmental awareness” will run through the end of 2025 and will be carried out in the provinces of Barahona, Santiago, La Vega and Santo Domingo.
The 580 solar panel modules will produce 295.8 kilowatts a year, which is equivalent to avoiding the emission of 274,906 kg of CO2 (a service equal to 46,218 trees that would be needed to convert CO2 into oxygen). In addition, the project will be completed with a series of other environmental awareness-raising activities.
The overall goal of the project is to help with the production of clean energy for the development of technical and vocational education, to protect the environment, and to give access to the labor market for youth trained in this sector.
A Salesian explained, “The technical baccalaureate in renewable energies started this year at the Don Bosco Polytechnic Institute in Santiago and the Cristo Rey Polytechnic Institute in Barahona. Before that only one technical school in the entire country offered this type of training and there is a high demand for qualified technicians in this technology from businesses. Similarly, in the seven schools where the project was launched, training in the installation and maintenance of solar panels will be offered, in coordination with the Dominican Republic’s National Institute for Technical and Professional Training.”
The project is being co-financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Don Bosco Mundo in Germany, and St. John Bosco Province of the Antilles in coordination with the Directorate of Vocational Technical Education of the Ministry of Education.
Nearly half of youth under the age of 18 live in poverty in the Dominican Republic, according to UNICEF. Although the country’s economy has been steadily improving, the country’s poor people still struggle to get enough food to eat and to access safe drinking water and adequate housing. Only 30% of youth finish primary school and only 18% finish secondary school on time. Schools are in poor shape with nearly half having no access to safe drinking water and more than 60% lacking adequate bathroom facilities.
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Sources:
ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)
UNICEF – Dominican Republic
