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Anker Research Institute presents Living Wage Benchmark for Rural Cibao Norte, Dominican Republic to stakeholders

April 19, 2023

On March 9th, 2023, the Anker Research Institute presented the draft Living Wage Benchmark Report for Rural Cibao Norte, Dominican Republic to an open meeting for stakeholders in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic. The stakeholder feedback meeting is an important step in the Anker Methodology for Estimating Living Wages, ensuring that the research process captured all relevant inputs and other considerations.

Photo of Koen Voorend standing at podium in conference room
Koen Voorend during the presentation 

Koen Voorend, lead researcher and co-author of the study, and Marcelo Delajara, senior researcher at the Anker Research Institute, led this meeting, presenting on relevant aspects of the Anker Methodology and providing a detailed explanation of the fieldwork carried out, the analysis of secondary data, and the results obtained.

The stakeholders that attended included representatives of producers and workers in the study area, mainly in the banana sector, and also academics, central bank regional economists, government officials, representatives of Fairtrade International, and of The Latin American and Caribbean Network of Fair Trade Small Producers and Workers (CLAC), which organized the event. After an active discussion about various aspects of the study, all participants verified that the results are sound and comprehensive.

Photo of people around a u-shaped table in a conference room viewing a presentation
Stakeholders meet to listen and discuss the results of the study 

Fairtrade International, supporting the research, intends to use the benchmark as a basis for its Living Wage strategy application in the Dominican Republic, where it has certified most of the banana plantations. The strategy is about drawing additional value from the main business actors along banana supply chains that is then passed on to workers. Considering this principle of shared responsibility, the Institute plans to present the Living Wage report next to traders and retailers sourcing bananas from the Dominican Republic.

Photo of Koen Voorend standing and speaking to Marike de Peña, president of CLAC, in conference room
Koen Voorend with Marike de Peña, president of CLAC and organizer of the event

This is the first time a new Anker Living Wage Benchmark study has been carried out as a follow-up of a previous study (of 2013) in the same region (rural Cibao Norte). While the original 2013 study has been regularly updated for inflation to 2017, 2019 and 2022 by the Anker Research Institute, these updates do not capture the considerable economic development of the Dominican Republic since 2013. Therefore, inflation updates alone do not suffice to reflect the current, higher levels of decency expected by workers, which go up with economic development. The Anker Methodology foresees this need to periodically redo and re-estimate Benchmark living wages every 5-10 years, depending on how dynamic economic and social change has been.

 

Koen Voorend is an economist with a PhD in Development Economics from the Institute of Social Studies (ISS), The Hague, The Netherlands, and is currently the director of the Institute of Social Research (IIS) at the University of Costa Rica. As a member of the Anker Research Institute’s Global Network of Researchers, Koen has previously been involved in the estimation of Anker Living Wage Benchmarks for Belize, Costa Rica and Guatemala, and has studied the living wage of Nicaraguan migrants in Costa Rica. His co-authors on the Cibao Norte report are Daniel Alvarado, Richard Anker and Martha Anker.

Photos: Marcelo Delajara

Learn more about our work in

Dominican Republic, Bananas

Related Resources

  • Benchmark Study

    Living Wage for Northern Region of Dominican Republic

    Region: Rural Dominican Republic
    Industry: Bananas
  • Related Research

    Creating Shared Value in the Dominican Republic Banana Industry

    Country: Dominican Republic
    Industry: Bananas
  • External Resource

    Steps Towards a Living Wage in Global Supply Chains

    Country: Dominican Republic, Malawi, South Africa
  • External Resource

    The external costs of banana production: A global study

    Country: Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Colombia
    Industry: Bananas

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The Global Living Wage Coalition delivers knowledge and information to drive effective action toward a decent standard of living for working people and their families worldwide.



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