Rural Transformation Ministry to Reorganize to Roll Out New Development Strategy

Also speaking on the strategy was CEO Valentino Shal.  He explained that the four axis of the strategy plan came with much research on several aspects in the rural parts of the country.  He also noted that a reorganization of the ministry is being done to accommodate the implementation of the strategy.

Valentino Shal, CEO, Ministry of Rural Transformation: “We were able to look at the problem, to find solutions, first you have to understand the problem. And those are the steps that were taken to develop the strategy, diagnose the challenges that they are facing, the issues they are 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 axis of the strategy. If you want to transform a country, and in this case the rural sector of Belize, you cannot be faced 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. A lot of times we prepare strategies but we don’t prepare the 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. So yes, there will be a reorganization of the ministry in order to achieve this plan.”

The launch ceremony was held today in the Caracol Hall of the Lord Ashcroft Centre in Belize City. The strategy was unveiled by the Ministry of Rural Transformation, Community Development and Local Government in collaboration with the Belize Centre for Inclusive Excellence