Last night, we told you how a group of selected Belizean youths are in training to participate in the next National Children's Parliament, which is scheduled for November 20th - the same day as World Children's Day.
The idea behind the Children's Parliament is to allow young Belizeans to participate in the country's democracy. They will do so by taking over the National Assembly and debating public policy like the elected representatives do - minus the name calling, mud-slinging and generally childish behaviour.
The National Committee for Families and Children and their partners have engaged a facilitator to train them in a curriculum on governance and parliamentary procedures. That training has been going on for 2 weeks now, and this morning, the facilitators invited to press to get a preview of the youth delegates who will be filling the roles of parliamentarians in 15 days.
7News stopped by:
Dr. Minerva Pinelo - Training Facilitator
"We are presently preparing for the National Children's Parliament in 2021, and this will happen on November 20th. So, we have been working with our youths for a little under 2 weeks to prepare them with very practical skills, and that training is built on 8 modules. We're using that approach to develop skills like researching, writing summarizing, and today, we're here working on 2 other important skills: public speaking and debating. So, what we've seen so far is that we have very brilliant minds. We have great vision for Belize among this team, and it's time for us to coach them, and to guide them, maybe, in the formal structure of a debate, speaking about standing orders and getting them ready to elevate their voices on the day of the special session."
"We have them completing activities online, but today, we're doing a lot of practical, hands-on sessions where we see them moving from perhaps using greater non-verbal communication. We also want them to examples of great speakers who they've observed, and extract the dos. They are very mindful of the don'ts and we want to build a different level of leadership among them when they make that presentation."
"So, I am very excited, and I hope that the country will be able to tune in on that day to see these young leaders rise to propose a bill and to present arguments."
Dr. Pinelo tells us that the youngest participant who has signed up to be a part of this year's Children's Parliament is 10-years-old.
