Volunteers build floors to play on at the 2nd Women Build Dominican Republic

• This time, volunteers from a range of professions came together to build for three families.
• They replaced dirt floors with polished concrete floors, adding to the impact of the regional 100,000 Floors to Play On initiative.

Santo Domingo, June 2023. After a resounding success in its first edition, the Women Build initiative held its second edition in May 2023 with a build day in which only women took part.

The initiative seeks to make a difference in the lives of women who need decent housing for themselves and their families. Women Build gives volunteers the opportunity to take a proactive step to serve their communities and build strength, stability and self-reliance together.

The second edition featured volunteers from partner company IMCA and volunteers Sarah Villanueva, Sonia Read, Clara Reid de Frankenberg and Tamara Frankenberg, among others. Communicators Paloma Almonte and Lis Arias also joined the build brigade, which worked on three homes; together they replaced dirt and damaged floors with polished concrete floors in the homes of Carmen, Joselin and Nicolás.

“We are grateful to all the volunteers who have answered the call and joined this life-changing cause. It has been a great build day, a special day, and we are happy to keep adding impact to Habitat for Humanity and FICEM’s regional 100,000 Floors to Play On initiative. We thank everyone who has supported our organisation for so many years; we continue to move forward and involve women, volunteers, companies and individuals so that more families become part of our vision of everyone having a decent place to live. Women have the ability and determination needed to build homes, so that women and their families can have a decent place to live,” said Cesarina Fabián, national director of Habitat Dominicana.

All the volunteers built to support Carmen, Joselin and Nicolás and to celebrate with them the better housing conditions they and their children will now enjoy.

The homeowners thanked the organisation and expressed their excitement at having a cement floor, because their daily lives, household chores and family life will now be different.

Building the polished concrete floors has had a positive impact on these families’ lives, giving them a better quality of life, health and hygiene at home.

Women Build, or the women’s build brigade, took place on Wednesday 31 May in the community of Rancho Arriba, in Nigua, San Cristóbal province. In this second edition in the country, Habitat Dominicana aims to hold a build brigade with only women volunteers every year.

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About Women Build

Since 1991, Habitat for Humanity Women Build volunteers have come together to build stronger, safer communities around the world. The brigade gives women the opportunity to take a proactive step to serve their communities and build strength, stability and self-reliance together.

Women from the United States, India, Mexico, Paraguay and Canada have taken part around the world, and the Dominican Republic is now in its second edition.

Any woman who wants to learn how to build a house or a home improvement is invited to join us in this activity. No previous experience is needed. Volunteers work under the guidance of construction professionals and alongside other volunteers and future Habitat for Humanity homeowners. It is a rewarding experience for everyone involved and a hands-on contribution to the community they share.

Women helping women send a positive and powerful message.

About Habitat for Humanity Dominican Republic.

Habitat for Humanity is a global non-profit, non-governmental organisation working so that everyone has a decent place to live, through programmes focused on housing microfinance, risk reduction and disaster response www.habitatdominicana.org

Habitat for Humanity Dominican Republic empowers families to build strength, stability and self-reliance through shelter. Since it began its work in 1986, the organisation has delivered more than 40,328 housing solutions and made a difference in the lives of around 201,640 people.

Empowering through shelter.

Find out more about AF Comunicación Estratégica and its clients