Courtney Weatherburne reporting
This folder features just a few of the studies and surveys from the UN system that have focused on Belize. And there are others.

And today the various sub agencies operating under the UN brought those issues to the media.

Some of the topics include health and violence against children.

Kathleen Israel, PAHO/WHO Representative
"Our primary objective then is to help the country to address its public health needs. And within that framework we look at disease prevention and control, communicable disease prevention and control and non-communicable disease prevention and control."

Ivan Yerovi, UNICEF Representative
"Sometimes violence is perceived as normal and we have to make sure that these issues are being discussed. These issues are being considered and everybody talks about it, because that's the only way to recognize that we have a problem in the country."

Another major problem in the country is adolescent and teen pregnancy and the United Nations Population Fund is employing an educational approach to counter this.

Erika Goldson, Assistance Resident, United Nation Population Fund
"It's not only a health issue. It has many determinacies and contributing factor. So, I think one of the challenge that we have in country is to ensure that we coordinate and collaborate with the key sectors to address that issue. So, while we may be addressing the issues from a health perspective, there are the other dimensions that are less not really addressed the way how we would want. And so, we are still trying to figure how best to coordinate those processes. The public is saying that yes, they believe that age appropriate comprehensive sexuality education should be in primary schools and in secondary school. These are some of the data that the government needs to listen to, to take into consideration and try to ensure that those programs are established. So, one of the things that we started to do was to collaborate with the University of Belize to establish a 3 credit course in CSE and so we've already drafted the syllabus and we are now looking at trying to develop the supporting materials and we would be piloting that particular program this year."

Gender Equality is also a recurring topic and Goldson says the investment in the prevention of violence against women program will expand the reach of services.

Erika Goldson, Assistance Resident, United Nation Population Fund
"The project has identify basically 6 clusters, where you have several municipalities or several communities within those clusters. In the northern part of the country, the southern part and in Belize district. So, it will be working within these communities to establish like a response mechanism to ensure that a woman in Jalacte, for argument sake, would be able to access these services and be able to receive the type of response that is required."

Shifting over to poverty: it is a reality for 43% of Belize's population and while on a global scale, poverty has been reduced by 50%, countries like Belize still have a lot of work to do.

Stefano Pettinato, UNDP Deputy Resident Rep.
"Poverty is an extremely complex phenomenon. It's a multi-faceted, multi-dimensional phenomenon and development is multi-dimensional. We know that. That's why we have many agencies. That's why in a country like Belize are many ministries and government entities working with all the dimensions of progress or of development. When you try to target poor communities, we have to do a much better job in order to understand where these communities are and why could we define them as poor or vulnerable or in need of support. One of the problems of Belize that we often talk about with other colleagues in the UN system, is the issue of statistics and we try to promote - UNICEF is a strong advocate and other agencies are strong advocate of strengthening the statistical system of Belize and this has to do with institutional strengthening of the statistical institutions, has to do with capacity development of those institutions for them to have a line of budget that is foreseeable and that can maintain the institutional framework. Imagine a scenario where we have a lot of money, we identify the poor (I am just talking generically) and we give them money for them to get out of poverty. That will not be the solution. We know that. Why? Because what we need to do is to create an environment so that at the community level, there is an engagement to find solutions because the solution can come only at the community level, the household level. We have some studies in other countries where we go to the households and we ask them 'so what do you think we should do to help you out? Or what do you need for you to help yourself out and help your neighbors?'"

It might seem that these issues are being presented in isolation, but really they are all closely linked to the goal of national and sustainable development.

Roberto Valent, UN Resident Coordinator
"The whole issue of poverty actually is really all these dimensions, from health, education, is really what we are here to support the state and society to work on. It's to establish policies that enable us the private sector to be competitive in a market place that is not Belizean, but its regional and its global."

Other topics addressed include human rights, LGBT Rights and gang violence.