Down to Zero / SUFASEC – Dominican Republic SUMMARY: SEC in the Dominican Republic is a menace that impacts the lives of thousands of children. The incidence of violence against children is high and sexual exploitation is often normalized by society where mostly girls are disproportionally affected. Empowering and mobilizing youth is challenging in a context where CSE is absent in school curricula, and conversative (religious) forces are at play. Plan International, together with alliance member Mais Ecpat, will intervene through a community-focused strategy, by strengthening community leaders on positive parenting,  social norms change and mobilize other actors at community level (parents and youth) as agents of change. Also actions with local authorities and protection system representatives will be implemented to prevent and respond to exploitation of children, building on the experience of working with the child protection system at both national and local level. SEC has high prevalence in the Dominican Republic. Based on the problem tree desgined for this program by the CO, the following root causes and drivers have been identified: 

- Normalization of violence and abuse towards CAY
- Existence and perpetuation of gender stereotypes
- Vulnerable households in a situation of dysfunction &/or multidimensional
poverty
- Lack of information and mechanisms for training and empowering children and adolescents on SRHR
-Lack of trust in institutions, lack of response to cases and restitution of rights, impunity

For structural causes, which underly the intermediate direct causes, please consult the problem tree in more detail. The programme will work towards the following long-term impact: “Children in all of their diversity are better protected from sexual exploitation.” 

This will be reached through three interlinking objectives: 
1.	Children, youth and their communities successfully challenge social norms and harmful practices related to SEC 
2.	Children and youth have access to and are supported by strengthened assets and protective environments 
3.	Children and civil society meaningfully participate in holding duty bearers, including government and local authorities, accountable to their obligations towards improved (implementation of) laws, policies, and systems.

Social norms and harmful practices are key drivers of SEC. Social norm change begins at home, and for children, youth and their communities to challenge these norms, they must exercise high levels of agency and autonomy over their own bodies and lives. To the extent that children and adolescents recognize themselves as subjects of rights, they can also better understand SRHR as fundamental, and both children and youth in general, as well as victims of SEC, can aspire to exercise a healthy sexuality that includes respect for their personal integrity and decisions about their bodies. To the extent that they are recognized as subjects of rights, all children and youth are also able to demand access to inclusive protection services that both duty bearers and co-responsible parties can provide. This agency can be supported through positive parenting, strong family ties and supportive community members. Acting together, children, their caregivers and communities, can achieve meaningful change in how all children engage with and are valued by society. 

SEC can be reduced, and its impact appropriately mitigated through access to appropriate assets and through provision of protective environments for children. Economic resilience is a key means of mitigating against monetary drivers of SEC. Children need access to child-centered, inclusive and locally available protection and SRHR information and services, delivered and received without stigma. With so many varied actors involved in protection and referral mechanisms it is important that such services are delivered in a holistic and coordinated manner. By supporting the specialized care and reintegration services that CSOs provide to SEC victims, it is possible to strengthen the restitution of their rights and integrity, especially in contexts where the role of the government in child-friendly and inclusive service provision is still weak. The SUFASEC programme in the Dominican Republic builds on the Alliance’s collective achievements to date, scaling up the 2016- 2020 Down to Zero (DtZ) programme, the 2020-2021 Voice for Change and 2021 – 2022 Building Back Better (BBB) programme. This allows the Alliance to effectively address SEC in the continuously evolving context. Plan International Dominican Republic joined the Down to Zero alliance in the 2016-2020 DtZ programme, and brought to the country team a rich experience of working with schools, children and youth, local communities, government at local and national level, CSO networks, and CPS actors. Plan International Domincan Republic continues to do so along with a focus on gender transformative programming, a strong understanding of intersectionality and changing social and gender norms. The key target group (and final beneficiaries) of the programme are girls and boys up to 18 years old, who are victims and survivors and those at risk of SEC. We will mostly work with them through children and youth groups. 

Indirect beneficiaries of the program will be community leaders, parents, and CPS actors engaged in program activities. Outcome 1: Social norms and harmful practices related to SEC challenged

Intermediate Outcome 2: More children exercise higher levels of agency and autonomy over their bodies and lives
-Adolescents and young people in the provinces of BARAHONA, Pedernales, San Juan, Elias Piña and Azua will be trained in prevention of SEC, abuse and reporting mechanisms of cases of abuse and SEC towards children and adolescents, and strategies for advocacy and social oversight.
 -Workshops among adolescents and youth to elaborate and plan advocacy actions in favor of prevention and response to CSEC and abuse of children and adolescents
-Adolescents implement communication actions for impact on CSEC prevention.

Outcome 3: Communities contribute to changed social norms and practices
-The consolidation of the content of the Community Leadership training program. 
Consultancy for the implementation of 120 leadership training workshops for 240 leaders in 12 communities
-5 workshops with prominent leaders in CSEC prevention in the 5 modules to be taught
24 community mobilization actions 

Strategic Objective 2: Strengthened assets and protective environments
Outcome 4: Improved coordination of child-friendly service delivery (between sectors and across levels)
- meetings between actors of the protection system to plan actions to improve the mechanisms for prevention and response to cases of abuse and SEC of children and adolescents. 
- 4 meetings between actors of the protection system to monitor actions to improve the mechanisms for prevention and response to cases of abuse and SEC of children. 
- 1 meeting between actors of the protection system to evaluate actions to improve the mechanisms for prevention and response to cases of abuse and CSE of children and adolescents.
- design and implement actions to improve the mechanisms for prevention and response to cases of abuse and sexual exploitation of children and adolescents, associated with the prioritized component.
- Design and delivery of training for actors in the protection system to strengthen their capacity to prevent and respond to cases of abuse and sexual exploitation of children and adolescents. In order to achieve greater sustainability of the program, MAIS and PLAN will strategically link their actions to build those spaces where children and adolescents can grow and develop; thus, fundamental environments such as home, schools, community and protection system and the private sector are strengthened and mobilized to protect minors against the crime of SEC while building resilience.
As the home can a place that can become a source of vulnerability of rights and facilitate and/or push children and adolescents into being sexually exploitated, both organizations choose incorporating positive parenting components to decrease those risks to maximum possible. 
We aim to influence the capacities and coordination mechanisms and regulations of the protection system so that it can respond more efficiently to cases and guarantee children's rights, also after the lifespan of the project. 
To prevent crime in the activities and services of the tourism industry, both member alliances promote attitudes and behavioural change in the provision of touristic services based on the claim of respect for children and adolescents’ rights.