This literature review of popular education in health and nutrition is intended to provide the necessary theoretical framework for proposals and programs for human resource development in food and nutrition. The work contains a summary of the objectives, purposes, and methodology of popular education in general, a discussion of applications of popular education techniques to health and nutrition education, and a description of some projects based on popular education. Popular education was developed in Latin America by Paulo Freire and others as a response to political domination. Its basic objective was to make the oppressed masses aware of their condition and able to struggle for the transformation of society. Popular education views community participation, development of consciousness, and integration with social and economic activity as fundamental attributes. Participation should be developed through community organizations and should continue for the duration of the educational intervention. The right of all persons to participate in a plane of equality should be recognized. Community or popular education should be conceived as a process of permanent education that will continue throughout the lifetime of individuals and groups. Popular education is directed toward population sectors excluded from participation in employment, family, community, mass communications, education, and leisure activities. Such population sectors are concentrated in the urban periphery and in rural areas. Abandonment of traditional educational techniques and assumption of an active role by community members are elements in development of the methodology of popular education. Steps in the methodology include investigation of possible themes, selection of themes to serve as points of departure, definition of the problem, and action programs. Popular education in nutrition and health begins by asking what problems need to be remedied. The entire process of training and education in health should be centered in the community and be accessible, timely, and gradual, based on the experience of the population. Health personnel should be informed about the strategies and techniques of popular education. A wide variety of teaching materials has been prepared for popular education in health and nutrition. Although some earlier initiatives involving health and nutrition education have had short-term and limited success in Latin America, more successful programs based on the principals of popular education have also been developed.
The effects of 2 basic socioeconomic processes of the 1980s on urban dynamics in the Dominican Republic are described. The 2 processes were the restructuring of the national productive apparatus following anew model of accumulation that stressed external markets, and the urban political economy of the years 1986-90, in which priority was given to public investment in construction as an activity favoring economic growth and employment. The interest in urban remodeling and transit renovation implied neglect of other basic sectors including education, agriculture, energy,and health. A series of fiscal measures was necessary to finance the investment program, and the inflation resulting from the investment program had significant effects on real income of the population. The new economic model encountered its competitive edge in wage depression and constant devaluations. The process of inflation-devaluation reinforced the regressive effects of the model on income, resulting in price increases for urban land and exclusion of the majority of the population from the urban housing market. The new economic model has led to dismantling of the national productive apparatus and consolidation of so-called "productive extroversion," with free economic zones and tourism the focus of accumulation related to the international market. The informal sector has grown because of inflation and because of the crisis in industrial activities destined for the internal market. Agricultural production for internal consumption declined over the decade, encouraging rural-urban migration and further swelling of the informal sector. Growth of Santo Domingo's suburbs and surrounding rural areas is 1 of the main effects of the model. By the year 2000, it is estimated that metropolitan Santo Domingo will contain 45% of the total population of the Dominican Republic. Although no exact functional correspondence can be established between urban policy and the model of accumulation, there are 3 aspects in which the dynamics of the 2 processes complement each other synergistically and perniciously: income concentration, social exclusion, and spatial segregation. Income concentration is increased by inflation and the repeated devaluations, the dismantling of small and medium-sized enterprises, and declining social expenditures. Social exclusion and spatial segregation are furthered by rising urban land prices and exclusion of most of the population from the urban land and housing market and demographic consolidation of periurban centers and rural sectors of the National District.
The interaction between the economic crisis of the 1980s and the problems of economic development and environmental degradation are considered from the local perspective of the Rio Ozama and Rio Isabela and their environs to the north of Santo Domingo. As recently as the 1950s there was little industrial production or population concentration on the banks of the 2 rivers, and the entire north zone of the city contained only an estimated 5000 families. The last 30 years however have seen various ecological changes including rapid urbanization and industrialization, the results of development policies stressing rapid development through concentration of capital. In the 1960s and 1970s the Dominican Republic became open to foreign investment, permitting installation of large enterprises none of which employed antipollution equipment. 71% of industrial establishments and 57% of value added manufacturing were concentrated in Santo Domingo. Industrial plants using obsolete technology and characterized by excessive fuel consumption discharged their untreated wastes into the Ozama and Isabela Rivers, which also received untreated wastes from agroindustrial enterprises located in the Rio Ozama basin. The marginal populations living in the areas of the 2 rivers are almost without potable water, sewage disposal services, environmental sanitation efforts, or trash collection. The time has come to revise the principles by which human beings relate themselves to nature, and to identify the reasons why residents of marginal neighborhoods like those surrounding the Ozama and Isabela Rivers must be twice victimized: once by being poor, and again by having to live in unhealthy and inhospitable areas. An alternative economic development strategy is needed in which the environmental patrimony and natural resources are left intact for future generations. Natural resources must be better managed and available for the benefit of all, not just for the most privileged population sectors.
This work examines the history of Haitian migration to the Dominican Republic, the central role of Haitian migration in Dominican society, working conditions of Haitian migrants in the Dominican Republic, and the relationship of the migration to economic development on the island of Hispaniola. Lack of data, the difficulty of measuring illegal movement, and the problem of defining Haitians in Santo Domingo have impeded understanding of migration to the Dominican Republic. It is believed by many authorities that Haitian migration to Santo Domingo is considerable and perhaps exceeds that to the US. Haitian migration to the Dominican Republic began after 1915 with the fall of the Haitian president, a worsening of economic conditions partly caused by stagnation in the agricultural sector, and the newly dominant role of the US in Haitian economic affairs. The Great Depression of the 1930s was a direct antecedent of the massacre of Haitians by Dominican police in which some 30 thousand persons were killed; the economic recession of the early 1980s has also caused an outburst of antiHaitian feeling in the Dominican Republic although 80% of laborers in the sugar industry are Haitians. Sugar is extremely important to the Dominican economy: in 1974, sugar covered 12% of cultivated land, produced 40% of foreign exchange earnings, and was responsable for 21% of taxable income. Dominicans however refuse to work in sugar plantations under the current technological. conditions and wage system. Although the government periodically demands the Dominicanization of the sugar work force, no such changes have been made. Sugar will probably continue to play a decisive role in the generation of foreign exchange despite introduction of more technologically advanced sectors which benefit from better prices in the international market. Possibilities of mechanizing sugar production in the Dominican Republic appear remote, and failure to modernize an important sector of the economy has explained migration of unskilled labor from poorer countries in more than 1 case. Under such circumstances, the extremely poor working conditions of Haitians in the Dominican Republic are not surprising. A 1983 investigation by the International Labour Organization indicated that salaries were low, that a large proportion was routinely diverted from the migrants, that hours of work were long with no regular rest and few days off, that few workers had any contractual protection, that forced labor recruitment occurred, that a rigid system of vigilance with armed patrols was used to keep the immigrants in the work camps, and that living conditions were substandard--in short, that Haitian workers were "neo-slaves". In addition, the Dominicans consider themselves racially and culturally superior to Haitians. The Haitian government, in return for payments from the Dominican Republic, does nothing to stop the abuses.
The author examines the relationship between population growth and economic development in the Dominican Republic. The effects on this relationship of income redistribution policies and of unemployment resulting from capital-intensive technology are discussed.
