Coram International has been contracted by the Inter-American Development Bank to review the existing transitioning-from-care support services for youth in the protection systems in Belize and develop a plan for the strengthening of these services. The project will include primary and secondary research to review the existing continuum of care for youth in the protection systems, producing an assessment that identifies gaps in frameworks, facilities, programs and barriers to accessing services and programs. Upon the completion of the assessment the team will develop recommendations considering possible frameworks, models, programs, and best practices to improve outcomes for youth transitioning to post-care. The team will also provide recommendations for data collection to enhance post-care experiences that can be integrated into existing data and monitoring and evaluation systems.
Coram International has been engaged as consultants to UNICEF to provide technical assistance to The Ministry of Human Development, Families and Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs (MHDFIPA) to strengthen the capacity of the social service workforce. The project aims to improve service delivery and strengthen the quality of interventions and responses to vulnerable populations. Under the project the team will develop a training package, focusing on practical social work skills to build the capacity of frontline social workers and middle managers. In particular the training will focus on understanding and handling cases of domestic violence. The team will also develop a social work supervision framework including an M&E mechanism to assist in case management and staff development and work with middle managers to provide coaching on the implementation of the framework. The team will also provide recommendations for the establishment of a training unit at the MHDFIPA.
Since 2019 Coram International has been providing technical assistance to UNICEF Belize in the integration of child rights and gender knowledge and understanding into the curriculum of the Security Forces of Belize. For this Project, Coram International, along with a national consultant, is developing a package of modules for delivery at basic, intermediate and advanced levels as part of pre- and in-service training for the Belize Police Department, Belize Defence Force and Belize Coast Guard. The modules include Introduction to child rights and development; Introduction to children in conflict with the law; Handling cases of children in conflict with the law; Introduction to children who are victims and witnesses; Handling cases of child victims and witnesses; Introduction to gender and SGBV; SGBV, Child Protection and Integrity; Responding to SGBV. The training modules will be delivered to expert trainers from the Security Forces, before being rolled out in accordance with an implementation plan developed by Coram International, the national consultant, and UNICEF
From 2018-2019 Coram International was engaged by the Inter-American Development Bank to provide options for a financially sustainable, national legal aid service in Belize, and to design a pilot implementation of a legal aid programme focusing on children in conflict with the law, child victims and witnesses of crime, and children in child protection services. The consultancy covered five key activities: (i) a demand study for legal aid services; (ii) a study of options to respond to the demand for legal aid services through a spectrum of legal and non-legal support services; (iii) a study of the procedural, operational, regulatory and legislative changes necessary to establish a legal aid services programme; (iv) the preparation of a business plan for the provision of legal aid services for civil and criminal matters nationwide for adults and children; and (v) an implementation plan for a national two-year pilot of the legal aid programme targeting children who are in conflict with the law, in contact with the law or in child protection services. The project was funded under the second phase of the Community Action for Public Safety Programme (CAPS II) between the Inter-American Development Bank and the Ministry of Human Development, Social Transformation and Poverty Alleviation (MHD) of Belize.
