Public-Private Partnerships for Sustainable Development

In January 2010 David Stillman, PPAF Executive Director, met with Maximo Nicolas, President of the Dominican Aquaculture Association (ADOA) and others to discuss achievements and plans for fish farming in the Dominican Republic.   Dr. James Tidwell, Chair of the Aquaculture Program at Kentucky State University, and past president of the World Aquaculture Society, participated in these meetings.  Rounding out the team were Bill Miller and Dan Mizroch, former Peace Corps Volunteers in the D.R., who have long maintained connections there.  Miller is President of the Kentucky State Division of the United Nations Association of the USA and host and producer of Global Connections TV.  Mizroch is an information technology consultant in New York.   

ADOA and its partners are planning a workshop in March called  “Estrategias para el Desarrollo de la Acuicultura Dominicana 2010-2015“, which will focus on achievements of the earlier strategic planning process and needs going forward.  The previous strategic plan is available under the publications section at http://www.idiaf.org.do .

Nicolas, Stillman and Tidwell participated in a meeting of the organizational committee for the March workshop.  There they met with representatives of the Dominican Institute for Agriculture and Forestry Research (IDIAF), where the workshop will be held, and with the Technical Mission of Taiwan and others.  The group met Ginny Heinsen de Freitas and other senior staff of the Center for Agriculture and Forestry Development, Inc. – Centro Para el Desarrollo Agropecuario y Forestal, Inc. (CEDAF). 

Maximo Nicolas, Romeo Massey

Alberto Rodriguez, Tim McFarren, Stillman, Tidwell, Nicolas

Miller and Mizroch joined the group for a meeting with Romeo Massey, Director of the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic, and his staff, to discuss the potential for Peace Corps volunteers in aquaculture.  The whole group, joined by ADOA member Richard LeClerc and Alicia Mizroch, visited three fish farms in Monte Plata province.

Nicolas, LeClerc, Tidwell, Miller, Stillman, Mizroch

LeClerc, Nicolas, A. Mizroch at a fish hatchery

Frank Astacio, host of Sabado Agropecuario TV, interviewed Dr. David Stillman, Executive Director of the Public-Private Alliance Foundation, which was a co-convener of the First International Conference for Investment, Education and Transfer of Technology for Development of Aquaculture in the Dominican Republic.