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Success Stories
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| Economic Growth |
Roica Industrial (ROICA)
- Small Business
 The
story of ROICA Industrial, which produces kitchen cabinets, could
be technically described as one of "product innovation".
However, ROICA's success is also a story of teamwork, family values,
and sacrifices to develop a competitive enterprise. Manuel Roa,
eldest of thirteen brothers and sisters, is the leader of this family
enterprise. Two previous failures in traditional furniture production
and assembly are the history behind ROICA's current success. ROICA's
competitive advantage lies in the adaptation of a cosmopolitan concept
-- kitchen cabinet modules -- to local practices of kitchen construction.
ROICA is one of the many Dominican small businesses receiving technical
assistance and training through the Center for the Support of Micro
and Small Business (CAMPE) of the Santo Domingo Technological Institute
(INTEC) with the financial support of USAID. ROICA management held
to a clear vision and a firm decision to move ahead in spite of
a myriad of difficulties: daily blackouts that forced ROICA to buy
its own power generators, the need to create a market for a new
product, lack of significant resources and limited financing. ROICA
applied new consumer-focused marketing, offered timely quality service,
all the while emphasizing human values among its workers. Internal
communication through regular Friday meetings served to analyze
how to be more efficient, how to improve the working environment
and workers' conditions. The big lesson learned from ROICA and the
Roa Brothers is that ". . . cuando se quiere, se puede"
which is to say, "where there's a will, there's a way".
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| Democracy
and Governance |
National Judicial School - from Idea, to Inauguration,
to a Regionally Recognized Model in Only 4 Years
In 1997, there was no judicial school for judges or court employees.
But in 2001, a USAID supported Dominican Judicial School was regionally
recognized as one of the more effective and credible schools in
Latin America, and as such was elected as Secretary Pro Tempore
of the Iberoamerican Network of Judicial Schools. The school will
support the Center for Juridical Studies in preparation of selected
training modules to be made available to other schools in Latin
America. The success of the Dominican National Judicial School (NJS)
is a story of opportune USAID support at precisely the right time
with the right (serious) partners. In 1998, USAID provided support
to the Dominican Judiciary for creation of a provisional training
center and school, pending enactment of legislation formalizing
the National Judicial School. From 1998 through 2001, USAID accompanied
the judicial school with strategic planning and institutional strengthening
technical assistance, providing courses for officials, and modest
logistical support. The positive result has been a national judicial
school, which has captured the imagination of Latin American countries
through its highly participatory structure, which guarantees judges
the "ownership" of the school's objectives, purpose and
destiny. The National Judicial School was organized with USAID assistance
using volunteer judges to form committees to determine training
needs, design training, and identify and prepare trainers to provide
rigorous training for judges, clerks and employees. Training is
linked and integral to the judiciary's impressive reform and modernization
process. In 2001, the school began to train competitively selected
judge aspirants in a full-time 9-month course. This last year, the
Dominican NJS trained more than 70 percent of the judiciary's 575
judges in modern judicial procedures. In addition, more than 700
justice sector employees were trained in administrative management
processes and procedures. The school has also developed programs
to offer facilities and support for training of Dominican prosecutors
and public defense system students.
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| Health
and population |
PROFAMILIA
 PROFAMILIA,
the Dominican Republic's leading NGO provider of reproductive health
and family planning services, has increased its cost-recovery levels
from 73% in 2000 to 91% in 2001 with USAID-funded technical assistance.
PROFAMILIA attributes this success to a payment-by-productivity
policy for its physician staff and cost-containment strategies.
These strategy-converted salaries -- which significantly increased
the institution's fixed costs -- to a variable cost tied to work
productivity. The scheme consists of payment of an agreed percentage
per consultation actually given, instead of a fixed salary. Productivity
has increased, and most physicians are now earning more than under
a fixed salary scheme. PROFAMILIA expects that clinical services
will soon generate enough income to subsidize other programs, such
as reproductive health education and services to reach greater numbers
of poor Dominican women and adolescents.
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Last updated on
May 20, 2005
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