The World Bank today approved a US00 million loan to support the Dominican Republic to improve efficiency in the provision of comprehensive social protection services and promote economic inclusion.
The loan has a focus on youth and female-headed households and to increase the resilience of the vulnerable population by responding promptly and effectively after a crisis or emergency.
“The Dominican Republic has been one of the fastest growing economies in the region for the last decade. However, there are still significant challenges facing especially vulnerable youth and women, who continue to experience unequal investments in human capital, such as such as those in education and training, and less integration into the labor market, since 80% of the population between 25 and 45 years of age is employed informally,” the World Bank explained in a press release.
In addition, they indicate that more than 40% of Dominicans live in vulnerable conditions and are at risk of falling into poverty due to the impacts related to climate and economic crises.
The Integrated Social Protection, Inclusion and Resilience Project (INSPIRE) will be implemented by the Supérate program and will focus on three areas: costs associated with conditional cash transfers (CTC) under the Aliméntate program to promote human capital, and emergency cash transfers (Emergency Bond) to increase resilience and improve food security and nutrition, which are impacted by extreme climate change events.
Economic inclusion through training, apprenticeships and entrepreneurship for disadvantaged youth, promoting the participation of low-income youth and women who are unemployed or working informally so that they can find and retain employment and income-generating activities.
And finally, technical assistance to improve efficiency in the provision of comprehensive social protection services, by strengthening the social registry, targeting, and payment.