COVID-19 Response and Assistance to Populations in Vulnerable Situations in Border Communities: Lessons from the Dominican Republic
IOM Dominican Republic has conducted Protection, Assistance, Coordination, Training and Advocacy activities (PACTA, for its Spanish acronyms) for nearly 5 years along the Dominican Republic-Haiti border for border communities. Since the COIVD-19 pandemic has negatively affected the migrant and border populations, the organization has adapted its activities and complemented them with the distribution of food kits, as well as risk communication activities to control and prevent COVID-19 spread.
Beneficiaries
Migrant populations in the Dominican Republic, population vulnerable situations, with a focus on children and adolescents
Main Actions
- Technical support and resources for the reactivation of four “cross-border roundtables Distribution of NFI (non-food items)
- Providing information to migrant population about COVID-19 contagion prevention and processes for regularizing their migratory status (in Haitian Creole and Spanish).
Recommendations
- The Cross-Border Roundtables between the Dominican Republic and Haiti made possible to map and identify the beneficiaries and to coordinate the delivery of kits during the pandemic – as well as to disseminate materials for COVID-19 contagion prevention.
- The mission effectively employed implementing partners to execute some activities and overcome potential logistical impediments produced by IOM’s procurement processes.
- When carrying out activities in conjunction with other agencies it is imperative to have a proper separation of functions.
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