Volunteers in Belize will work primarily at primary schools, alongside teachers and principals, supporting health and family life education. RPCV Rose served in Belize from 2019 - 2020.
Health
In 2021, Peace Corps Belize and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Technology signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaboratively address the health and well-being needs of Belizean youth ages 6 to 14 under the Youth Health and Well-being Project which will be officially launched in 2022. Youth Health Volunteers will work in Belizean primary schools Monday-Friday, alongside teachers and principals to achieve the following:
Goal: Belizean youth lead healthy and empowered lives to realize their full potential into adulthood.
Objectives:
Increase the knowledge and skills of youth to improve their health and well-being through health and life skills education (HFLE).
Increase the knowledge and skills of adults to effectively support the health and well-being of youth.
Increase the capacity of school-based staff to provide youth health and life skills education.
Youth Health Volunteers are trained to have authentic engagement, collaborative problem solving and knowledge exchange with their school-based counterparts in order to achieve the activities that support host country priorities, complement a national youth health education strategy, and outline the Peace Corps’ specific approach to development work.
RPCV Ben (center-right with burgundy shirt) served as a Response Volunteer from 2019 - 2020 in Belize where he worked as a Literacy Support Specialist. In this picture he is seen helping students with their work. This picture was taken during a visit from officials from the Response Office in Washington, DC.
Education
Established approximately 20 years ago, Peace Corps Response (PCR) sends experienced professionals to undertake short-term (3 to 12 months), high-impact assignments in communities around the world. With a sustained and solid collaboration with Belize’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Technology (MoECST), the Peace Corps Response Program’s service in Belize focuses on the transfer of skills for a more solid implementation of the Literacy Intervention Strategy put forth by the Belizean government. Volunteers partner with MoECST officials, principals, and teachers on a shared national mission of ensuring that all Standard One (U.S. Grade 3) children will either a) be reading fluently and accurately at or above their grade level or b) be receiving targeted interventions.
With knowledge exchange, collaborative problem solving, and transfer of skills at the heart of the Response Program, Peace Corps Response Volunteers (PCRVs) serve as literacy support specialists collaborating with schools across the country providing ongoing instructional coaching in areas of:
literacy resource development;
literacy screening administration and results analysis;
formation of intervention groups;
detailed intervention implementation;
small-group instruction and management.
Peace Corps Belize Response Program is committed to participatory development with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Technology.
