Rural Community Development and Local Government Officers participate in a two-day Training of Trainers Workshop

Photo Credit: Ministry of Community Development

By Rubén Morales Iglesias: Several Rural Community Development Officers (RCDO) and Local Government Officers (LGO) participated in the Training of Trainers Workshop on Thursday and Friday.

The two-day Workshop was held by the Ministry of Rural Transformation, Community Development, Labour, and Local Government at Kiki Witz, Belmopan from July 21 to 22.

“We are doing this training to ensure that we are able to undertake the work in rural areas far beyond to ensure poverty reduction, the resiliency of rural families, and sustainable development,” said Valentino Shal, Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Community Development at the Opening of the workshop.

The Ministry of Community Development said the workshop provided officers “with the tools needed to effectively conduct training of village councils and local governments to increase management effectiveness and development outcomes”.

“The training precedes a larger plan to create a manual with the various modules to build the organizational capacities of village councils, water boards, and municipalities,” noted the Ministry.

“The training program focuses on leadership, financial management, community development, and proposal writing, among others. This new program will enable village councils to develop community development action plans, improve governance and become fully accountable to rural residents.”

According to the Ministry of Community Development, the Rural Community Development Officers oversee 194 village councils and 108 water boards while Local Government Officers oversee the nine municipalities in the country.

The expectation is that after this workshop, the officers should be able to apply more appropriate and effective methodologies in training community leaders across the country.

“This initiative falls under the Government of Belize’s focused approach to rural development as stated in Plan Belize,” said the Ministry.

The training was conducted by Carolyn Hulse, an educator with more than 30 years of experience. Hulse, who holds a master’s degree in Educational Leadership from the University of North Florida and a bachelor’s degree from the University College of Belize, has extensive experience in leadership and change management and has taught at several schools in Belize. She was also principal of the Belize Christian Academy and the Shepherd’s Academy in Belmopan. 

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