NOPCA holds seminar “just for men”

It’s not unfamiliar to hear of a women’s round table. A place where issues affecting women, children and families are discussed. Now, in a bold move by the National Organisation for the Prevention of Child Abuse, NOPCA, the first men’s round table discussion takes place on Friday. NOPCA’s executive director, Lorna McDougall, says the forum is a pilot project that she hopes will grow into a larger movement.

Lorna McDougall, Executive Director, NOPCA

“We are looking at twenty to twenty-five men from a wide cross-section of Belize. What we hope will happen, is that they will have the opportunity to voice these concerns, opinions and ideas as to their role and responsibilities as men and fathers. They will be able to determine what has happened to put them on the wrong side of the fence, because often times we hear the question “well de weh wrong with deh man.” And we feel that…many men feel that their manhood has been threatened. There are many reasons for that, when we look at the socio-economic conditions which have brought about a change in the roles and responsibilities of men. We hope that at the men of the day, they will come out with a resolution, making recommendations for a national conference to be held in August.”

McDougall is inviting the public to observe the forum, which gets underway Friday morning at 8:30, at the Chateau Caribbean in Belize City.