Washington.– The U.S. Department of Labor launched a new $4 million project to support public-private partnerships in the Dominican Republic aimed at preventing hazardous child labor.

"This project will make the dream of schooling a reality for thousands of children in need and help break the cycle of poverty," said U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao. "As a direct result of U.S. Department of Labor initiatives, more than one million children worldwide have been rescued from exploitive child labor."

The project has received important support from the combined efforts of the ministry of labor and the ministry of education of the Dominican Republic. It is being implemented by DevTech Systems Inc. in collaboration with EDUCA, an organization of business leaders promoting educational reform, and INTEC, a leading university in the Dominican Republic. T

he project will combat exploitive child labor and develop public-private partnerships to help children develop the marketable skills they will need to find good jobs as adults. The project supports strategic plans of the Dominican secretariats of labor and education to combat child labor and improve educational access for children.

U.S. Deputy Undersecretary of International Affairs Charlotte Ponticelli joined P. Robert Fannin, the U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic, and Dominican officials at the launch of the project today in Santo Domingo.

Since 1995, the U.S. Congress has appropriated approximately $595 million to the U.S. Department of Labor to support efforts to combat exploitive child labor around the world. In programming these funds, the Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) collaborates with the U.S. Department of State, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. embassies, and ministries of labor and education around the world.

For more information about ILAB, visit http://www.dol.gov/ilab.