Santiago de los Caballeros.- The president of the Dominican Municipal League (LMD), Víctor D´Aza, affirmed that the institution is promoting a process of transformation of the Dominican municipality “with the objective that people live better in the territory where he lives, works and develops his daily life, and that this process is achieved with the active participation of his closest public administration: local governments”.
D’Aza made the statement when participating as a speaker at the conference “Municipal Development and Quality of Life” within the framework of an activity organized by the Strategic Development Council of the City and the Municipality of Santiago (CDES), the Free Zone Corporation of Santiago, the Association for Development, Inc. (APEDI) and the Solidarity Foundation, in which an inter-institutional agreement was signed between the LMD and the CDES to work together to strengthen planning and territorial ordering in the municipalities and municipal districts of the Santiago province.
He specified that for economic growth to become a reality throughout the national territory, “a qualitative leap in the territorialization of public policies is required, which in addition to being a transversal axis of the constitutional framework, is a priority of the Government Program of President Luis Abinader with the people at the center of his performance”.
The Dominican Municipal League is working in this direction, as highlighted in its Institutional Strategic Plan to 2026, which seeks: “to ensure that all local governments in the country can assume a key role in promoting the development of the territories, so that constitute a true Local Power”.
To this end, Víctor D’Aza presented the main lines of work of this institution, which are aimed at: strengthening municipal transparency, supporting the provision of quality municipal services; empower the municipal leadership with a vision of its role as Local Power; the evolution of the legal framework; the transformation of the LMD as a modern, innovative, transparent institution with high-level technical capacity; and the promotion of an inter-institutional articulation between levels of government as well as the social and economic actors in each territory; just as the CDES has promoted in the Santiago municipality over the last 20 years.
Signing of agreement LMD – CDES
The agreement was signed by the president of the Dominican Municipal League, Víctor D´Aza, and the president of the CDES, Ricardo Fondeur, to henceforth collaborate to provide support and technical assistance to the municipalities and municipal districts of the Santiago province in the elaboration of its strategic development plans, beginning in a first phase with the municipality of Santiago and the Santiago Oeste municipal district.
The main objective of the advice and support is to give coherence, systematicity and methodological directionality to the process so that the municipalities and local authorities guarantee results in accordance with the expectations of political and social actors; diagnose the accurate current situation and the vision of the future that its citizens dream of, local development strategies and projects, which will be reflected in a development plan that must be approved by the district boards and the council of aldermen, as appropriate, in accordance with what the law establishes.
To this end, the LMD undertakes to pay the CDES a financial contribution equivalent to RD$1,500,000.00 in the first stage of twelve (12) months of management and methodological and technical support, resources that will be used from the perspective of the technical commissions, facilitators, involved commissioners, workshops, seminars and events.
A representative of the LMD, the executive director of the CDES, a facilitator from the Fundación Solidaridad, and a general coordinator, constitute a technical team for permanent management, support and follow-up of this process, carrying out the necessary steps and meetings to ensure the expected results and the success of this process.
This agreement was signed as honorary witnesses by Nicasio Pérez, representing Miguel Lama; President of the Santiago Free Trade Zone Corporation, and Juan Mera on behalf of Fernando Capellán; President of the Association for Development, Inc. (APEDI).
The activity was attended by businessmen from the city of Santiago, officials from the central government, representatives of local governments and civil society, as well as officials from the Dominican Municipal League.
