The National Women's Commission and other partner organizations and individuals are undergoing a 3 day capacity building and institutional strengthening program. Through funding from the Canadian international Development Agency, Dr. Glenda Simms is in the country conducting sessions with 30 participants. She told us what the workshop is about.
Dr. Glenda Simms, Consultant
"We're going to talk about particular areas that commissioners need to deal with such as gender based violence, women in decision making, we are going to talk about the feminization of the AIDS pandemic, and then we are going to talk about women and leadership over the next three days and help them to develop a model of inclusivity and participation so that every Belizean woman feels that her concerns are brought to the table.
We have to first of all educate people about the issues. I think we talk about the issues but many people have never done a critical analysis of the issues nor have we developed the strategies at conflict resolution in the home, conflict resolution in the workplace. We have to get partners to respect each other and those are simple things that human beings should be able to achieve. If we can go to the moon, surely we can understand how to respect men and women because there are men and women and respect the differences and respect the things that each one brings to the table.
I think they will walk away with a good critical attitude, they will walk away with ideas of how to develop programs at their own institutions, they will walk away with the idea of how to participate and how to lobby and how to advise government and civil society. We'll leave here with a true sense of being on the same path without being so fragmented."
The workshops conclude on Thursday.
