Project: Refugees and Asylum Seekers

in Belize

Overview

The project focuses on enhancing the access to essential services, information, opportunities, and basic needs of refugees and asylum seekers in Bella Vista, San Isidro and Trio villages in the Toledo District.

Most activities are implemented in the project's Resource Center located in Bella Village in the Toledo District and Manos Unidas, the project's community-based protection network .

Main Objective

To contribute to building durable solutions that ensure the protection, empowerment and resilience of refugees and asylum seekers in Belize.

Key Activities and Deliverables

To raise knowledge and awareness about rights, services, and opportunities for refugees and asylum seekers, the project:

Organizes community events that include information booths, cultural activities, displays of products created at the project's workshops, competitions, and sporting events.

Carries-out sensitization sessions that inform the public about the project while fostering mutual understanding and support between community members.

Distributes information, communication, and education materials on refugee and asylum-seeking related topics.

To increase the academic and professional capacity of refugees and asylum seekers, the project:

Offers basic courses on English as a Second Language (ESL) and training sessions on human rights and health.

Provides an after-school and a mentorship programme for teens. Activities include homework assistance, life skills training, games, self-esteem development, conflict management, peer pressure, among others.

Trains teens and adults on vocational and skill-building workshops centered on sewing, pastry making, and carpentry.

Implements preschool-preparation programmes during the summers and raises awareness on the importance of preschool attendance to their parents.

To share information about the project, the current legal system, and the living conditions and needs of PoCs as well as to create synergies and avoid the replication of efforts, the project:

Facilitates knowledge-management sessions with different stakeholders, such as the village council, the village advisory committee, school staff, women groups, health workers and immigration officers.

Synergies

HPPBZ is collaborating with the following groups and organizations to implement the project:

Community volunteers
Bella Vista Village Advisory Committee
Bella Vista Village Council
Department of Immigration and Nationality Services
Help for Progress
Ministry of Health
Ministry of Human Development
Police Department
Refugees Department

Time Frame

Start: August 2019

End: n/a (on-going)

The project is funded by

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