A Formula for Sucess: The Dominican Republic's plan for 2015

"To achieve one MDG we have to achieve all MDGs."

This assessment by a Dominican Government official could not be more accurate. President Leonel Fernandez's Presidential Commission on the Millenium Development Goals (COPDES) has crafted a national, integrated plan to achieve the MDGs by their set date in 2015.

The Dominican Republic is an extremely poor nation suffering from a number of problems, such as disease (mostly malaria and dengue carried by mosquitoes), lack of education, energy crises, migration from Haiti and one of the highest maternal fatality rates in the world, to name only a few.

The President created working groups to partner with various municipalities and achieve local results, providing an example of how countries, with the assistance of the UNDP, can really make the MDGs their own. So far, progress has been noticeable, particularly in the impoverished village of Miches.

The excellent videos below detail the successes of COPDES, as well as the remaining challenges.