PM Briceno was also the official witness to the signing of an agreement between the Belizean NGO, Pathlight Belize, and the Organization of American States. That signing ceremony happened today at the OAS headquarters in Washington, DC.
This new cooperation agreement provides a framework for Pathlight to collaborate with the OAS and the Government of Belize on achieving sustainable development goals through education. Specific areas of cooperation will include access to new technologies in education, the digital education agenda, professional development, and teacher training. This agreement also allows PathLight to scale up its current teacher training and student after-school programs.
With video provided by Pathlight, here's what their CEO and the OAS Secretary General had to say at the signing ceremony:
Adele Catzim-Sanchez - CEO, PathLight Belize
"It's an honor for Pathlight Belize to be signing this cooperation agreement with the OAS, witnessed by the Prime Minister of Belize. We are here because we believe that we are - through our joint projects, through collaboration - able to contribute to sustainable human development through education. We believe that education is a thread that runs through all aspects of sustainable development. And currently, we are working alongside the Government of Belize to provide turn-key solutions through teacher training and after-school programs. We started out as a very small operation in 2007 by providing scholarships to only four students to attend secondary school. Since then, we've grown. We have a resources center in 3v parts of the country. And to date, we're providing full scholarship opportunities for students to attend secondary school as well as tertiary school. We also have a robust teacher training program. I'm happy to say that we are working alongside our government to train every single teacher in secondary and primary school in new methodologies of competency-based learning and problem-based learning."
Luis Almagro - Secretary-General, OAS
"The agreement we are signing today, the OAS and Pathlight Belize, establishes the terms of cooperation in capacity building through teacher training. Pathlight, a non-profit NGO, shares with OAS the vision that forms countries by educating and developing future generations of leaders."
