Unica

The DREAM Project is a non-governmental organization based in Cabarete, Puerto Plata, which has the objective of providing high-quality education in vulnerable communities on the north coast of the country. DREAM has educational, creative, and work programs, both for children and young people as well as for adults. DREAM's programs include Sports For Life, a program for boys and girls (co-ed) that uses sports games and dynamic activities to teach about sexual health and youth leadership. Due to the high pregnancy rate in the Dominican Republic (22% of adolescents become pregnant before their 19th birthday, this represents 1 in 5 girls), in 2015 DREAM developed the Única program, under the DPV program, a program only for girls looking to face the high rate of early pregnancy in the country. Única uses the same methodology as DPV (sports games and dynamic activities) to teach about the topics; self-esteem, healthy relationships, reproductive organs, prevention of early pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, prevention of violence, and equity, among others. Since the pilot program was launched in January 2015, Única has reached over 1,200 participants and trained some 90 young leaders (trainers) in their communities to deliver the programs. Única is aimed at girls from 12 to 18 years old who are empowering themselves to teach the topics of the curriculum and cause a positive impact in their communities. In March 2020, all programs were canceled, due to the great impact of the pandemic. As a result of this, DREAM, thanks to the sponsorship of the Canadian Embassy in the Dominican Republic, began the development process for the Unique App in July. A mobile application that contains the themes of the Unica curriculum, the content of these themes were developed by a team of coaches and program participants, who with the help of the DREAM staff built the content of the 5 units of the App. A group of girls ages 14 to 19 told stories, recorded videos, and audios, and drew illustrations and images to teach about self-esteem, healthy relationships, reproductive organs, prevention of early pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, prevention of violence, fairness, among others.