Down to Zero Dominican Republic SUMMARY 
The Down to Zero (DtZ) project in the Dominican Republic is part of a broader initiative by an alliance comprising of Plan International Netherlands, Defence for Children – ECPAT Netherlands, Terre des Hommes Netherlands, ICCO and Free a Girl. It is combatting the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) through preventative and protective measures that focus on actual child victims and children at risk of commercial sexual exploitation. The project will empower young girls and boys, create safer communities, assist in law enforcement and policy implementation and work together with the private sector, such as the tourist industry.

In the Dominican Republic, the project is being implemented by Plan International Dominican Republic and ECPAT MAIS. The project will run between January 2016 and December 2020 in the south-eastern region of Boca Chica, the eastern region of Punta Cana and the south-western region of Pedernales. CSEC is a fundamental violation of children’s rights. It includes child prostitution, child pornography and child trafficking for sexual purposes. Many children lack the knowledge and capacity and/or the ability to speak out against or resist these forms of exploitationThe communities in which these children live are not always safe for them. Their families are often unaware of the risks their children face, and in some cases they even encourage their children to enter child prostitution. Norms and values that tolerate violence against women are widespread and these are conspiring to make the victims feel ashamed. Furthermore, laws and policies are often not implemented or enforced, and this leads to large-scale impunity (the people who are guilty of this exploitation are going unpunished). In addition to all this, the private sector is not always aware of the effects it can have on CSEC and it could be underestimating its responsibility. The DtZ programme will address the consequences and root causes of CSEC, such as poverty, lack of education, gender imbalances and cultural norms and values that encourage such sexual exploitation. 

It will do so in four interconnected ways. Firstly, it will empower children. By means of child-led (online) campaigns and life-skills and vocational trainings, children will be encouraged to speak up and protect themselves if they feel in danger of being exploited. It will also offer them possible alternative sources of income. 
Secondly, by making them agents of change children will be strongly involved in mobilising their parents, community and religious leaders, nurses and teachers to become allies in the struggle against CSEC. The active engagement of men and boys, including fathers, brothers and peers, as well as potential offenders, will be crucial in changing norms and values in communities. Furthermore, a well-functioning referral system connected to formal child-protection bodies will make communities safer for children. 

Thirdly, laws and policies to combat impunity must be implemented and enforced. By showing governments the scale of the problem through research data and by supporting the development of practical local action plans, government officials will be more willing to address the problem, and will provide sufficient budget. 

Lastly, the private sector will be encouraged to commit to zero-tolerance towards the sexual exploitation of children. The successful Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism will be further promoted and it will serve as an example for other industries. DtZ builds on the results obtained and the lessons learned from previous interventions carried out by the alliance partners. For Plan Dominican Republic, the most important one is a CSEC project in the south-eastern region of the Dominican Republic (May 2015-June 2016). This was part of a larger programme implemented by DCI-ECPAT (lead), Terre des Hommes and Free a Girl in 25 countries.

Plan is also building on the success achieved with its community-based child-protection mechanism (CBCPM) approach, as well as cooperation with the private sector. 

Plan defines CBCPM as “a network or group of individuals at community level who work in a coordinated manner towards the protection of children from all forms of violence, in all settings. These mechanisms can be local or externally initiated and supported and either formal or informal in the way they are structured and work. CBCPMs are linked together and contribute to other child-protection systems.”

Establishing CBCPMs will protect children from all forms of violence, abuse, and exploitation, especially when it comes to CSEC issues. Mechanisms for community-based action on CSEC prevent, monitor, and refer all cases. They are also linked to existing child-protection systems at higher levels that are being managed by the responsible governmental actors. The end beneficiaries include the actual victims and children at risk of being sexually exploited for commercial purposes in the districts of Boca Chica, Punta Cana and Pedernales. The main focus will be on the most vulnerable children under the age of 18, while some elements will also include young people up to the age 24. A specifically targeted group will be the children, particularly girls, of ethnic minority groups. Regional and country-specific plans will be developed and the relevant activities, based on the overall intervention strategies, will be designed during the preparation phase (between January and June 2016). Sustainability will be further addressed in the country specific ToC of the Dominican Republic.

The changes that will be instigated by the DtZ project in the Dominican Republic will be sustainable. It will include various strategies, such as capacity development and policy influencing, both of which will increase sustainability. Institutional sustainability will be supported by the fact that the project focuses on strengthening the capacity of all local partner organisations. This will include carrying out assessments of individual organisational capacity and annual assessments of the progress being made in customised capacity-strengthening plans. The financial sustainability of the project’s outcomes and, more notably, the processes of change that it will start up, will depend on the financial and organisational sustainability of local partner organisations after the programme has finished. All these aspects will receive plenty of attention during the capacity-strengthening phases that will be developed and rolled out with all the local partner organisations. During the course of 2016, a learning agenda will be worked out and this will focus on the continuous assessment of the assumptions on which the project’s design and Theories of Change (ToC) have been based. The ToC will be critically reviewed every year at country, regional and alliance levels so that strategic adjustments can be made to ensure the maximum impact of the interventions. 

Learning will also be an outcome of the programme’s evaluation agenda. A baseline will be conducted in the first half of 2016 and a mid-term review and final evaluation are scheduled for 2018 and 2020 respectively. The lobbying and advocacy part of the project and its thematic orientation on CSEC will provide plenty of opportunities for visibility in the Dominican Republic. This will probably be through newspaper articles, radio and television interviews and programmes, presentations during conferences, and media and public campaigns. In the Netherlands the project will provide input for evidence-based lobbying of the Dutch government. It will also link with the Dutch tourism industry and a campaign called ‘Don’t Look Away’. There will also be opportunities for visibility through newspaper and magazine (Vice Versa) articles, radio interviews, presentations during forums and conferences.