Assisted Coral Reproduction in the Dominican Republic: A Successful Story to Replicate in the Caribbean

Coral assisted fertilization, larval rearing and recruit propagation success in significant ecological scales, largely depend on scaling up and replicating these efforts in as many regions as possible. The Dominican Foundation for Marine Studies (FUNDEMAR) has become a pioneer of these efforts in the Dominican Republic, being the first institution to successfully implement coral sexual reproduction techniques in the country and establishing the first mobile larvae culturing facility. Here we share our perspective on three main components behind the success of FUNDEMAR’s program: (1) a self-sustainable program in alliance with local and international organizations, (2) the design and construction of the first Coral Assisted Reproduction Laboratory in the country, and a (3) clearly defined scalable structure for outcome performance. Two years after program implementation, FUNDEMAR has successfully produced an annual regional coral spawning prediction calendar, cultured seven coral species, and seeded over 4,500 substrates with more than 268,200 sexual coral recruits in approximately 1,880 m2 reef areas. Here, we provide a detailed description of a fully functional assisted coral reproduction program, including the lessons learned during its implementation as well as a series of specific solutions. We hope this work will help and inspire other countries and small institutions to replicate FUNDEMAR’s coral assisted reproduction program components and contribute to the expansion of sexual coral restoration efforts in the Caribbean.

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Putting Rigorous Evidence Within Reach: Lessons Learned from the New Heights Evaluation

Maternal and Child Health Journal ◽

10.1007/s10995-020-02901-x ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 24 (S2) ◽

pp. 119-124 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Susan Zief ◽

John Deke ◽

Ruth Neild

Keyword(s):

Public Schools ◽

Administrative Data ◽

Program Implementation ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Successful Implementation ◽

Design Data ◽

Program Staff ◽

Comparison Groups ◽

Child Health Programs ◽

Program Components

Abstract Purpose This article uses an evaluation of New Heights, a school-based program for pregnant and parenting teens in the District of Columbia Public Schools, to illustrate how maternal and child health programs can obtain rigorous evaluations at reasonable cost using extant administrative data. The key purpose of the article is to draw out lessons learned about planning and conducting this type of evaluation, including the important role of partnerships between program staff and evaluators. Description This article summarizes the evaluation’s research design, data sources, and lessons learned about ingredients contributing to the successful implementation of this study. The evaluation employed a difference-in-differences design to estimate program impacts using administrative data merged across agencies. Assessment Several features of New Heights and its context facilitated an evaluation. First, New Heights leaders could clearly describe program components and how the program was expected to improve specific student education outcomes. These outcomes were easy to measure for program and comparison groups using administrative data, which agencies were willing to provide. Second, buy-in from program staff facilitated study approval, data agreements, and unanticipated opportunities to learn about program implementation. Finally, time spent by evaluators and program staff in conversation about the program’s components, context, and data resulted in greater understanding and a more useful evaluation. Conclusion The New Heights evaluation is a concrete example of how a small program with a modest evaluation budget can obtain evidence of impact. Collaborative relationships between researchers and program staff can enable these informative studies to flourish.

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The Incredible and Sad Story of Boca de Cachón: How a Rural Community in the Hispaniola Is in a Prolonged, Heartless, and Predictable Climate Crisis

Climate ◽

10.3390/cli9120182 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (12) ◽

pp. 182

Author(s):

Victor Gomez-Valenzuela ◽

Katerin Ramirez ◽

Solhanlle Bonilla-Duarte

Keyword(s):

Dominican Republic ◽

Climate Variability ◽

Biosphere Reserve ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Caribbean Region ◽

Learning Space ◽

Rural Environments ◽

Climatic Scenarios ◽

The Caribbean ◽

The Republic

This article aims to briefly review the socio-economic impact caused by the flooding of Lake Enriquillo on the inhabitants of Boca Cachón due to the complex local phenomenon related to climate variability. Between 2003 and 2014, Boca de Cachón and the communities surrounding Lake Enriquillo were deeply affected by flooding of the Lake’s rising waters. Lake Enriquillo is the largest wetland in the Caribbean and the first designated RAMSAR site. In turn, Boca de Cachón could be considered the first human settlement formally displaced because of climate variability in the Dominican Republic and probably one of the first in the Americas in the twenty-first century. Boca de Cachón is a rural Municipal District located to the northwest of the municipality of Jimaní, with a population of around 3000 inhabitants on the southwest border with the Republic of Haiti and located in the Biosphere Reserve Jaragua-Bahoruco-Enriquillo. Given the future climatic scenarios for the Dominican Republic and the possible climate change that could exacerbate by excess or, by default, the socio-environmental problems in the Lake’s belt, it is necessary to support the communities in their capacity-building processes. The lessons learned from Boca de Cachón can serve as a learning space for adaptation processes in rural environments in the Caribbean region.

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Leishmania spp. and leishmaniasis on the Caribbean islands

Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene ◽

10.1093/trstmh/trz076 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Chaoqun Yao

Keyword(s):

Puerto Rico ◽

Dominican Republic ◽

Trinidad And Tobago ◽

Parasite Species ◽

Sand Fly ◽

Caribbean Islands ◽

Leishmania Spp ◽

The Caribbean ◽

Human Infections ◽

Sand Fly Vectors

Abstract The kinetoplastid protozoan Leishmania spp. cause leishmaniasis, which clinically exhibit mainly as a cutaneous, mucocutanous or visceral form depending upon the parasite species in humans. The disease is widespread geographically, leading to 20 000 annual deaths. Here, leishmaniases in both humans and animals, reservoirs and sand fly vectors on the Caribbean islands are reviewed. Autochthonous human infections by Leishmania spp. were found in the Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe and Martinique as well as Trinidad and Tobago; canine infections were found in St. Kitts and Grenada; and equine infections were found in Puerto Rico. Imported human cases have been reported in Cuba. The parasites included Leishmania amazonensis, Le. martiniquensis and Le. waltoni. Possible sand fly vectors included Lutzomyia christophei, Lu. atroclavatus, Lu. cayennensis and Lu. flaviscutellata as well as Phlebotomus guadeloupensis. Reservoirs included rats, rice rats and mouse opossum. An updated study is warranted for the control and elimination of leishmaniasis in the region because some of the data are four decades old.

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Integrating a Sport-Based Trauma-Sensitive Program in a National Youth-Serving Organization

Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal ◽

10.1007/s10560-021-00776-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

M. Shaikh ◽

C. Bean ◽

L. Bergholz ◽

M. Rojas ◽

M. Ali ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Program Development ◽

Program Implementation ◽

Effective Means ◽

Academic Community ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Community Context ◽

Research Approach ◽

Prevention Measures ◽

Action Research Approach ◽

Interdisciplinary Partnership

AbstractThere is a pressing need to equip youth-serving community organizations to respond to the unique needs of trauma-exposed children. Early prevention measures can be an effective means of redirecting children to self-regulatory healing, while facilitating their transition toward strength-based thriving. Sport can offer a powerful opportunity to reach these children; however there remains little information on how to effectively develop, deliver, evaluate, and sustain trauma-sensitive sport programs in a community context. The purpose of this paper is to outline a case study of integrating sport-based trauma-sensitive practices with BGC Canada’s national Bounce Back League program. An interdisciplinary partnership of academic, community, and practice experts used a community-based participatory action research approach, paired with a knowledge translational approach, to guide the process of program development. Mixed methods (e.g., surveys, logbooks, interviews, focus groups, online communications) were used to generate ongoing insights of staff’s training experiences, successes and challenges of program implementation, and potential impact of program on club members. Several stages of program development are described, including: (a) collaboratively planning the program; (b) piloting the program to three clubs; (c) adapting the program using pilot insights; (d) expanding the adapted program to ten clubs; and (e) creating opportunities to maintain, sustain, and scale-out practices throughout grant duration and beyond. Lessons learned regarding the leadership team’s experiences in terms of developing, adapting, and integrating trauma-sensitive practices in this community context are shared.

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Caribbean Commission

International Organization ◽

10.1017/s0020818300014314 ◽

1949 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 166-166

Keyword(s):

Dominican Republic ◽

United Nations ◽

West Indies ◽

West Indian ◽

The West ◽

French West Indies ◽

The Third ◽

The Caribbean ◽

The United Nations

The third session of the West Indian Conference opened at Guadeloupe, French West Indies on December 1, 1948 and closed on December 14, after considering policy to be followed by the Caribbean Commission for the next two years. The Conference was attended by two delegates from each of the fifteen territories within the jurisdiction of the commission and observers invited by the commission from Haiti, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and the United Nations and its specialized agencies.

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Lessons Learned from Implementation and Evaluation of an Evidence-Based Sex Education Pilot Program for Minority Adolescent Females

American Journal of Health Studies ◽

10.47779/ajhs.2018.72 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 33 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Amelia C. Huelskamp ◽

Hannah P. Catalano

Keyword(s):

Sex Education ◽

Program Implementation ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Educational Process ◽

Summer Program ◽

Pilot Program ◽

Group Of Seven ◽

Minority Girls ◽

Minority Adolescent ◽

Age Range

The purpose of the pilot program was to increase knowledge, beliefs, and intentions related toabstinence and safer sex practices in a small cohort of minority adolescent girls. Researchers implementedand evaluated the Be Proud! Be Responsible! curriculum with a small group of seven minority girls ages13 to 18 who were sexually inexperienced during a four-week summer program at a Boys and Girls Club.Lessons learned from our program include that educators should first take steps to establish rapport priorto program implementation, secondly, there should be an increased number of program sessions than pres-ently in the curriculum and thirdly, grouping participants into cohorts of smaller age range may be moreconducive to the educational process.

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Two new species of flattie spiders (Araneae: Selenopidae) and descriptions of undescribed males from the Caribbean

Zootaxa ◽

10.11646/zootaxa.4446.1.9 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 4446 (1) ◽

pp. 125

Author(s):

SARAH C. CREWS

Keyword(s):

New Species ◽

Dominican Republic ◽

Endemic Species ◽

New Records ◽

Caribbean Island ◽

Two New Species ◽

The Caribbean

Two new species of Selenops, S. anacaona sp. nov. (♀) and S. caonabo sp. nov. (♀), are described from the Dominican Republic on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. These two new species increase the number of endemic Selenops on Hispaniola to 13, surpassing Cuba, which currently has 11 endemic species. Additionally, the male of S. pensilis Muma, 1953 from Hispaniola is described, as well as the male of S. petrunkevitchi Alayón, 2003 from Jamaica. Full distribution records are given for the new species and the newly described males, and new records are provided for the following species: S. aequalis Franganillo, 1935, S. bocacandensis Crews, 2011, S. candidus Muma, 1953, S. micropalpus Muma, 1953, S. morro Crews, 2011, S. simius Muma, 1953, S. souliga Crews, 2011, and S. submaculosus Bryant, 1940.

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Understanding the Urgent Need for Subtitling for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in the Spanish-Speaking Greater Antilles

Journal of Audiovisual Translation ◽

10.47476/jat.v3i2.2020.122 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Adrián Fuentes-Luque ◽

Pabsi Livmar González-Irizarry

Keyword(s):

Puerto Rico ◽

Dominican Republic ◽

Hard Of Hearing ◽

Greater Antilles ◽

Social Barriers ◽

Spanish Speaking ◽

Current State ◽

The World ◽

Different Types ◽

The Caribbean

Even though Audiovisual Translation (AVT) is growing and flourishing throughout the world, it is practically unheard-of in the Caribbean, where accessibility faces an even bleaker existence. The circumstances of the deaf and hard of hearing (also referred to as D/deaf) are no less alarming: social barriers and exclusion are widespread. This paper emphasizes the need to make subtitles accessible in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, specifically on the islands of Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic, and underscores the challenges faced by the D/deaf communities on each island. Our research focuses on issues like AVT laws and regulations, the habits of viewers of audiovisual (AV) products, and literacy and limitations on each island. This paper also examines the different types of D/deaf audiovisual consumers in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean and the difficulties each community faces when accessing media and entertainment. Our research reveals the current state of AVT accessibility in this region and provides a foundation for influencing legislators to begin enforcing AVT regulations and drafting SDH guidelines.

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Parents’ and Early Childhood Educators’ Perceptions on Movement and Learning Program Implementation

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph182211913 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (22) ◽

pp. 11913

Author(s):

Myrto F. Mavilidi ◽

Sue Bennett ◽

Fred Paas ◽

Anthony D. Okely ◽

Spyridoula Vazou

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Early Childhood ◽

Program Implementation ◽

Online Survey ◽

Early Childhood Educators ◽

Activity Levels ◽

Learning Program ◽

Home Based ◽

Potential Benefits ◽

Program Components

There is currently limited evidence on parents’ and early childhood educators’ perspectives on implementing programs that combine cognitive and motor tasks in early childhood. An online survey was distributed across Australia through social network platforms and emails at preschool centres, asking 65 parents of preschool children and early childhood educators about their preferences on program delivery, duration, and mode. Responses from the survey were evaluated in order to develop and pilot a 4 week home-based (n = 5 parents) and a 6 week school-based program (n = 5 educators) including cognitively engaging physical activity, requesting parents’ and educators’ perspectives, respectively, about the program components. Results from the online survey showed a preference for programs with online (e.g., video-based) compared to traditional delivery (e.g., books), emphasising the potential benefits on children’s physical activity levels, sleep, and cognitive function. However, after piloting the program, educators preferred to use the book version instead of the video. This program has the potential to become part of daily regular practice. Barriers reported include logistics issues (i.e., book size), connectivity issues with internet, and the need for varying activities.

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