Belize Network of NGO’s Set Striving towards Good Governance  

The Belize Network of N.G.O.’s alongside the Belize Audubon Society has launched a new project with the objective of bolstering society’s democratic foundation. The project, funded by the European Union, seeks to increase capacity building for local civil society organizations, elevate gender equality and amplify the voices of youths, and marginalized communities such as people with diverse abilities and the LGBTQ. We attended the launch of the event today to get better insight into this endeavor. News Five’s Britney Gordon reports.

 

Britney Gordon, Reporting

The Strengthening Civil Society participation in democracy through effective, inclusive, good governance, reform and oversight project was launched today at the Belize House of Culture. The project seeks to ensure good governance through a series of campaigns, policy reforms and activities to uplift marginalized communities. It is a collaboration with the Belize Audubon Society and the Belize Network Of NGOs. We spoke with BNN Executive Manager, Emerson Codd for more information.

 

Emerson Codd, Executive Manager, BNN

 “The main focus of the project is again, as you can see from our billboard here, it will focus on capacity building for local CSOs to engage in national level policy dialogue. We will also focus a lot on promoting gender equality, women and youth empowerment and inclusion. And we are focusing on promoting an enabling environment on behalf of vulnerable communities with attention to digitization.”

 

 

 

Although the event was officially launched today, Codd informed us that the project has begun its work already.

 

Emerson Codd, Executive Manager, BNN

 “We have hit the ground already. We have conducted a series of workshops geared towards a very important of beliefs that is ongoing, the constitutional reform process. So in terms of the constitutional reform process, we are partnering with the People’s Constitutional Commission, and we have mobilized broad based civil society participation in a series of workshops that has been concluded in November and December.”

 

 

The project is funded by the European Union with a value of around six hundred thousand USD. Ambassador of the European Union to Belize stated that the Union seeks to aid Belize’s objective of bolstering the society’s democratic foundation.

 

Marianne Van Steen, Ambassador of the European Union to Belize, Jamaica, and The Bahamas

 “The European Union thinks that democracy, respect for the rule of law, respect for human rights are essential and they’re very high on our agenda when we work with other countries. So when you go to another country and you would like to contribute and make sure that there is good development in that country, you need to make sure there is a well functioning democracy. So it is pretty new that we start working in different countries to strengthen the role of civil society, but that is because we have understood that in order to have a democracy that works well, you need to have a very vibrant voice of civil society. So it’s a bit of a milestone, this project. It’s a bit new. We’ve been working with civil society a lot, but on particular themes or objectives. But now this is really about strengthening the voice of civil society, because it has an important role.”

 

Codd stated that the project aims to be as inclusive as possible and works alongside every civil society organization in Belize.

 

Emerson Codd, Executive Manager, BNN

 “We are targeting all civil society organizations in Belize. We are trying to be as inclusive as possible and we are working with a cross sector of civil society organization in Belize. So, it’s not geared towards maybe one specific sector of civil society organization. We’re actually targeting the cross sector of civil society organizations that represent vulnerable communities, vulnerable populations here in Belize.”

 

Britney Gordon for News Five.