RESTORE Belize presents National Citizen Security Plan and Policy

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RESTORE Belize, established in 2010 as a national coordinating mechanism for citizen security, is furthering its mandate in developing a plan and policy focused on national citizen security. The plan, which is currently in its penultimate phase, has seen the synchronization of efforts between various government agencies, civil society organizations, opposition, and other stakeholders. It is a compilation of plans and programs designed to increase citizen security defined by the United National Development Programme (UNDP) as “establishing, strengthening, and protecting democratic civic order, eliminating threats of violence in a population, and allowing for safe and peaceful coexistence.” In other words, it is effectively safeguarding our inherent human rights, specifically those of life, personal integrity, inviolability of home, and freedom of movement.
One key difference in this plan and policy when compared to others with the same goal is that is seeks to address programs from rearing the child from childbirth onwards. It is a two “pathway” strategy that first looks at programming. Under pathway one, there are four strategies: increased social resilience, increased economic prosperity, improved central political authority, and effective monitoring and evaluation for citizen security. Social resilience starts with prenatal and postnatal care, early childhood development and education, and support for vulnerable families. By ensuring the proper development of children, bonds are built between children and parents and psychosocial support is enhanced which then help to groom upstanding citizenry. Increasing income generation among people in the lowest poverty bracket; increased finance and business support for low literacy populations in high crime areas, and decreased participation in gang related economic activities are the three outcomes which RESTORE Belize hopes to achieve in their second strategy of pathway one. There is then the need for a strengthened crime control systems, increased access to justice, and increased accountability in public sector management. Finally for pathway one, there is the establishment of a robust monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system.
These strategies, however, cannot be carried out in isolation. There then needs to be strong mechanisms for the coordination of citizen security, which is then pathway two. This fifth strategy encompasses the strengthening of the citizen security coordination mechanism; fostering both individual and institutional behavior change; creating effective public-private partnerships; and improving M&E of coordination mechanisms.
Both pathways require national commitment from all key players in society as well as budgetary allocations. Mary Vasquez, Director, of RESTORE Belize, said in a breakfast meeting held on Tuesday, February 18, 2020 that the plan and policy to coordinate budgeting between stakeholders is still something that they are working toward. There also needs to be a focus on investments made toward the earlier parts of the lives of children as preventative measures versus curative efforts. A big part of the plan is to encourage communication between stakeholders about what citizen security is and what reasonable and realistic expectations of the policy can be. This communication between stakeholders also ensures that efforts are not duplicated and that unnecessary actions are not being implemented.
One very important focus of the plan and policy is the incorporation of trauma informed care (TIC). This seeks to recognize trauma, commit to not repeating traumatic experiences, and restoring a sense of safety. A pilot program of the TIC is being carried out in three schools: Maud Williams High School, St. John’s Anglican Primary School, and Queen Street Baptist Primary School. This project will seek to develop the capacities of teachers in addressing children who already live in traumatic neighborhoods in an effort to not heighten that trauma. It also addresses possible post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) experienced by these same teachers. The TIC will require a cultural paradigm shift and dedicated effort and time but it is possible and necessary to achieve complete peace, prosperity, and citizen security.