International Day of the Families
Pearl Stuart
International Day of the Families is observed on May fifteenth around the world, but in Belize it’s being commemorated, two days earlier, May twelfth and thirteenth. This year, celebrated under the theme ‘Confronting Family Poverty and Social Exclusion’, the National Committee for Families and Children aims to promote the right of children and adolescents to grow up in a nurturing family environment. Today Executive Director of N.C.F.C., Pearl Stuart, told us about two programs in place aimed at improving the lives of Belizeans:
Pearl Stuart, Executive Director, N.C.F.C.
“N.C.F.C., the mandate that we have is to advocate and to coordinate so we have partners that we coordinate with. In fact the partners that am gonna mention sits on our committee and the one that has the most important role right now is that the Department of Human Services. And as you may be aware there’s two s right now that are for families, one is in fact the boost which is uh basically conditional cash transfer where a family is given cash with particular conditions. One is that the children within that family remain in school, have an at least eighty percent attendance, that the children are vaccinated, that umm they have Social Security Card and if the parent doesn’t adhere umm then that could be taken away but the idea is to give that family a chance. And umm I think basically families want to do well, parents want to do well for their families so I think they would go ahead and indeed adhere to the conditions that have been set forth. There is also the food pantry, where a nutritious package could be gotten at a reduce rate. Nutrition plays a very important role in children’s lives it’s been proven that at times they may not be going to school or if they’re in school they may have difficulty learning. So these are two basic needs that are being met.”
Stuart says that there is also a system being set up called ‘Single Information Systems for Beneficiary’ within the Department of Human Services and the Ministry which will store current data on the needs of families. The system will also help to strengthen the Boost and Food Pantry initiatives.
‘Confronting Family Poverty and Social Exclusion’ Huh??? I hope this is not the same woman who ran the Belize Consulate in L.A. in the 90s We are asking parents to teach our children values they clearly do not embrace & instill behavior that was not instilled in them. Many of us gave up our Belizean citizenship because of the disparate treatment we received by the people paid to provide service outside our country. If we cannot treat our own who are actually paying for service as equals unless they are from the right family, we are wasting our time trying to get these same people who have tried to maintain the caste system that has kept us down to now get this message across to the people they look down on. Yes Pearl, we all like fufu.