And we caught the PM today at the launch of the National Rural Development Strategy. While it is a framework, the Minister explained that they have taken steps to ensure that there are tangible results that will impact communities most in need. He told us more today.
Oscar Requena, Minister of Rural Transformation
"What we launched today is a national framework for rural development and certainly the aim of this national rural development strategy is really one to reduce poverty in the rural areas and we are going to achieve this through economic growth in our rural spaces. Certainly we have identified that there are some key challenges in the rural area that is a hindrance to rural economic development. We certainly want to address those fundamental pillars. The whole issue of land security, that's a major issue. The issue of access to markets remains a challenge, we need to address that. We also need to look at access to capital and the cost of accessing capital and certainly we also want to look at the whole issue of local governance structures and their capacities and how we can strengthen those in our rural areas. So this framework really looks at an overall rural transformation in all areas by engaging key ministries, development partners and of course our local communities, leaders and its people, that's what we hope to achieve."
Reporter:
"How do you commit to ensuring that this is not just a good strategy on paper but that these objectives are actually realized?"
Oscar Requena, Minister of Rural Transformation
"It's clear that this national rural development strategy is evidence based, it was developed in consultation with our communities, key areas of priorities have been identified, we have the commitment from our prime minister, the government, and our key development partners and line ministries to ensure that we focus on those key priority areas that are going to ensure that rural development, rural transformation takes place and that we can improve the lives of those people in those rural spaces."
And while it is a daunting task, the CEO said the only way to develop the country is to develop the rural areas.
Valentino Shal, CEO, Ministry of Rural Transformation
"You know, Belize started off as a colony and everything used to focus on the Belize settlement and, and that sort of thing. And that's kind of how Belize evolved. And over the years, of course, the population spread into the rural areas. And, they have definitely experienced a lot of underdevelopment. It's a lot of work. But that is precisely why we needed a strategy to be clear about what it is that we need to get done, together with the people in the rural areas for them to enjoy a better standard of life. And that is what we came up with in this strategy. We were able to look at the problem, you know, to find solutions. First you have to understand the problem and those are the steps that was taken to develop the strategy diagnostically, the challenges that they're facing, the issues they're facing. And then of course, looking at then what can we do to resolve those issues. And that's how we came up with the four axes of the strategy. If you want to transform a country and in this case, the rural sector of Belize you cannot be fazed by the magnitude of the task if you want to do it with hard work, determination and persistence, and together with, the partners and the people themselves, it can be done. And we intend to make a big dent and transform the rural areas."
Reporter:
"How will this strategy expand the ministries, operations, staffing, salaries, finances?"
Valentino Shal, CEO, Ministry of Rural Transformation
"That's a very good question. You see, a lot of times we prepare strategies, but we don't prepare to this institution or the organization to implement it. And so we have gotten the approval of the cabinet first to endorse this plan, but also to approve for us to restructure the Ministry of Rural Transformation in order to have the right level of capacity in terms of resources, in terms of equipment, tools to get the job done."
This project is in partnership with CABEI and Clio Consulting.
