Un Batey Mas Verde

Through Un Batey Más Verde, Yspaniola continues to promote environmental education, responsible solid-waste management, and community involvement in Batey Libertad. The project recognizes that lasting environmental change depends on helping children, families, teachers, and community leaders understand their shared responsibility for maintaining a healthy and safe community.

An important component of the project has been the implementation of environmental workshops at the Batey Libertad public school. These sessions have introduced students to topics such as waste reduction, proper management of waste, recycling, environmental responsibility, and the protection of shared community spaces. Through practical activities and interactive lessons, children have learned that their daily decisions can contribute to a cleaner community.

The workshops have also helped connect environmental education with action. Students are encouraged to apply what they learn in their classrooms, homes, and neighborhoods, strengthening their role as environmental ambassadors within their families. By working with the school and its teachers, Yspaniola is helping ensure that environmental awareness becomes part of the children’s broader educational experience rather than a one-time activity.

Beyond the school, Yspaniola has worked closely with residents, local leaders, public institutions, and volunteers to strengthen community ownership of the project. In May, a community environmental clean up day was organized with the support of the Maizal City Council, local environmental authorities, and a Yale service group. Thanks to our community committee, established last June, we have been able to coordinate activities, identify local priorities, and encourage residents to participate in the care of public spaces.

Additional activities have included workshops within the community on responsible waste management and recycling, expanding our education programming for adults in our community as well. We also carry out a Reading Hour at our Learning Center, in which every Friday we give a lesson about the environment and local stewardship. Finally, most recently we have piloted an expanded version of our public school workshop, we have begun giving similar workshops to other schools in the Maizal region working with elementary, middle, and highschool aged students. These experiences have allowed us to raise environmental awareness within our community and beyond it, creating a local movement that benefits all.

Over the past reporting period, Un Batey Más Verde continued advancing its mission to strengthen environmental education and improve waste management practices in Batey Libertad (Valverde, Dominican Republic). Our team focused on expanding community engagement, reinforcing day-to-day habits around responsible disposal, and building a shared understanding of why solid-waste management matters for health, safety, and dignity. These efforts are part of our broader commitment to sustainability as a long-term, community-owned priority.

A major milestone was the production of an educational awareness video in December, designed to make our work more visible and accessible to residents, partners, and supporters. The video showcases the context of Batey Libertad, highlights the challenges the community faces regarding waste, and clearly explains the practical actions we are promoting. It has served as a tool to strengthen local buy-in while also helping GlobalGiving donors and external audiences better understand the purpose and impact of the project.

Alongside communication and outreach, we continued implementing environmental learning activities that promote behavior change through simple, repeatable practices. Participants engaged in discussions and guided reflections on reducing littering, separating waste where feasible, and keeping shared spaces cleaner. By connecting environmental stewardship to everyday life, we are supporting a culture shift that emphasizes community pride, responsibility, and collective action.

We also used this period to refine implementation and ensure that project activities align with sustainability goals and realistic local conditions. Team check-ins and informal feedback from community members helped us adjust messaging, identify barriers to participation, and prioritize actions that can be maintained over time. This adaptive approach supports our objective of building practical systems that remain effective beyond the life of the grant.

Next, we will continue leveraging the December educational video to broaden awareness and attract additional allies, while deepening on-the-ground engagement and strengthening community-led participation. Our focus remains on practical education, visible improvements in cleanliness, and reinforcing shared responsibility, so that Batey Libertad can keep moving toward a healthier, greener environment.

Links:

• A Greener Batey, Together - Yspaniola