Poverty Alleviation in the Dominican
Republic
16.2% of all Dominican citizens currently live on less than $2 per day. This paper
analyzes three methods of poverty alleviation utilized in the Dominican Republic:
development aid, microfinance, and social investment funds. To analyze these efforts,
the following criteria were used: (a) the ability to serve the poorest of the poor, (b) total
impact made, and (c) sustainability of the aid organization and the poverty alleviation
program. Samples of development aid programs, microfinance institutions (MFIs), and
social investment funds operating in the Dominican Republic were analyzed.
Development aid efforts have proven ineffective in the past, ultimately marginally
hurting the communities they seek to aid. The MFIs have impacted thousands of
families facing extreme poverty. Social investment funds feeding Dominican
cooperatives and MFIs with sources of capital have impacted thousands of families as
well. However, no poverty alleviation program analyzed has provided quantifiable
measurements of the sustainable improvement in quality of life for families the
programs seek to help. As such, cost-per-life-saved tools should be developed and
implemented to better analyze poverty alleviation program efficiency.
Prepared by Andrew Cabasso
Professor Dennis Shaughnessy
College of Business Administration
Northeastern University
6/22/2009
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Contents
1. Abstract ..................................................................................................................................................... 4
2. Poverty in the Dominican Republic ......................................................................................................... 4
2.1. Overview .......................................................................................................................................... 4
2.2. Haitian Immigrants ..................................................................................................