Belize Rural Area Development Strategy workshop held in the city
Godwin Hulse
The Belize Rural Area Development Strategy, implemented by the Department of Rural Development, was the focus of a workshop held today for local stakeholders in the Belize District. A long term plan for economic sustainability and the preservation of rural areas, which spans a period of seventeen years, was also rolled out during the daylong seminar. Present to address the gathering was Minister of Rural Development Godwin Hulse. According to Hulse, there is an overwhelming need for organization when it comes to the application of funds for the respective projects.
Godwin Hulse, Minister of Rural Development
“What it intends to do is to find a mechanism to help people in the rural area to develop their capacities in whatever they intend to do. As I said, there is funding coming from all about but the funding cannot just be sporadic and disorganized. So what the government’s strategy was, which was approved earlier this year, was to form area groups, we call them Area Development Groups, not of bureaucrats but people from the area who know the area, who know what can be done in the area, who know what they would want to do in the area and so then we can organize that and channel that into serious productivity. As you heard me mention there are already three, five projects that are underway. There is the continuation and improvement of the Baboon Sanctuary, there is a tilapia project, there is now a local foul and local egg project. There is a small ruminants project and there is another community-based through the National Kriol Council. Now these are groups of people who have gotten together to do a common thing but they need some assistance. They need assistance in marketing, they need assistance in how to procure finance, how to do their records, how to get their products probably packaged etc… So the whole idea of today, through the BRADS program is to find ways to help them to do that. But you can’t help the people unless you know what their needs are. You cannot determine their needs, they are the ones who will tell you what they need and so this is the strategy that we are employing.”
