250 Students Graduate from Belize’s PEACE Program 

Today, two hundred and fifty students graduated from the Positive Engagement and Civic Education Program, PEACE. This program was launched in October 2023 with the goal of reducing the number of adolescent arrests made in the country. It caters to children living under challenging circumstances or those that require supplementary support and guidance. PEACE was piloted in ten schools within the Belize District and will be implemented in other districts in the second phase of the program. Here’s News Five’s Britney Gordon with more on today’s ceremony.

 

Britney Gordon, Reporting

For several years, Belize has used GREAT, which is the Gang Resistance Education and Training, to take early action against gang activity among youths. In September 2023, the American-based curriculum was phased out in Belize and replaced by the Positive Engagement and Civic Education Program, PEACE. While this initiative is still supported by the US Embassy, it was designed to cater to the challenges specifically encountered by Belizean youths. It seeks to target majority of the sixty thousand students across the country. Today, an award ceremony was held for the ten schools that participated in the first phase. Assistant Commissioner of Police, Howell Gillett gave us some more details on the ceremony.

 

Howell Gillett, Asst. Commissioner of Police

“Today we are having a graduation certification program. It’s for two hundred fifty children from ten schools within the Middle East District. The total number of children who will be graduating over a longer period will be just over eight hundred. But for logistical purposes, we’re only doing a sample from each school. So it’s twenty-five from each school, which brings us to two hundred fifty young people. So these young people, they’re from middle and upper primary.  It’s during their formative ages.”

 

Gillett explained that while the GREAT program was a strong initiative, it was not the right fit for Belize. PEACE caters to the problems that Belizean children face. He said that there are sixty thousand children across Belize that the program seeks to influence.

 

Howell Gillett

“We will try our very best to reach to them because the program is strategic, it’s evidence based  and we may never need to make an arrest if we properly and in time work with young people to remain positive. So it deals with bullying, making right decisions, how to resist gangs and all the other areas that we, and it’s tailored for beliefs. The GREAT program was a more U.S. based program. This one is tailored solely for, um, police. It’s in its pilot phase in the ten schools. Come September, we will launch it across the country. And that’s why I told you earlier that thirty-three officers were trained over a period of time. And these officers will now go into the classrooms come September in other parts of the country.”

 

Heath Bailey, Chief of the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Unit of the U.S. Embassy, explained that although the GREAT program was phased out, the U.S. Embassy is an avid supporter of the PEACE initiative.

 

Heath Bailey, Chief, International Narcotics & Law Enforcement Unit, U.S. Embassy

“So this this initiative, the PEACE Program is a partnership between the U.S. Embassy through the Central America Regional Security Initiative, an initiative we call CARSI. Belize Police Department, as well as the Ministry of Education to develop a Belize specific program to help these kids understand alternative dispute mechanisms and to reduce conflict, reduce gang involvement and bullying. And we’re really proud and happy to be able to support them.”

 

Bailey expressed pride in the effectiveness of the program implementation, explaining that reworking the curriculum to suit Belize was a vital step.

 

Heath Bailey

“I think the reason why this program is effective and why the kids enjoy it so much is because it is built for Belize. There have been other programs that Belize has implemented before, anti gang programs that have been more general but the genius of this program really is that the Belize curriculum developers were able to tailor it to the needs of the country. So yeah, I do, I think it’s quite effective.”

He attributed the success to the police officers who were able to engage and form meaningful relationships with the participants as their instructors.

 

Heath Bailey

“We been able to meet some of the instructors, some of the police officers who have implemented the program. And part of the effectiveness is that they’re really great. They’re really engaging, and they’ve developed relationships with these kids and I think that’s really key.”

 

The program ran over a six-month period, targeting one school for an hour each week.  Participants included children in the middle and upper divisions from standards two to six. We spoke with Standard six student, Brooklyn Jerrylee Casanova, of Saint Luke’s Methodist, to hear her takeaway from the experience.

 

Brooklyn Jerrylee Casanova, STD 6 student, St. Luke’s Methodist Primary School

“I participated in many activities such as like scenarios, role playing, answering questions,  and just overall  communicating with everyone and having a fun time.”

 

Britney Gordon

“What do you feel like you’ve learned from this program?”

 

Brooklyn Jerrylee Cassanova

“I’ve learned on many dangers and ways to avoid them, ways to help someone, be it helping another to be in a better place and to understand everything that is going on with their situation.”

 

Britney Gordon for News Five.