Every child learns in Belize
UNICEF Country Office
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Belize in Numbers
In Belize, we are committed to reaching the most vulnerable populations to ensure that the most vulnerable children and adolescents have access to education and benefit from equitable and inclusive learning environments.
We support policy reform and the strengthening of national institutions, especially for the implementation of the National Early Childhood Development Strategic Plan and the development of the Strategic Plan for Adolescents.
What do we do?
For early childhood development:
We promote close coordination between the health, education and human development sectors to move Belize forward in early childhood development. We have set three core commitments:
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That all children are healthy at birth and throughout their early years.
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That the environments in which young children live are nurturing, responsive, safe, inclusive and culturally appropriate.
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That young children have early learning opportunities to develop the full range of skills they need to succeed.
Together with our partners in the Ministries of Education, Health and Human Development, and Social Transformation and Poverty Alleviation, we are working on:
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Developing guidance and materials, such as Belize's comprehensive parenting guide "The Art of Parenting".
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Supporting early childhood development programmes, with an emphasis on health, nutrition and early education.
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Support parents and pre-school educators, as well as mobile caregivers and health centre staff throughout the country.
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Provide training on brain development in infants and children, creating quality parent-parent and child-daughter and caregiver-child interactions by engaging in stimulating activities for infants and toddlers.
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Promote enrolment and attendance at early childhood development centers that promote early stimulation and child development, especially for at-risk children, to improve their language, reading, writing and math skills.
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Increase investment in early education that not only supports development from the beginning of life, but also leads to better school outcomes and higher productivity in adult life.
At primary and secondary levels, we advise education authorities to:
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Expand access to innovative, climate-smart quality education that leads to better learning outcomes and skills development.
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Provide safe learning spaces and tools that help students engage with the issues they care about, including in emergency situations.
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Assess learning gaps caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and plan for remedial education to address learning losses related to school closures.
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Prioritize education financing and mobilize domestic resources, in particular for digital learning platforms and teacher training.
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Develop training processes for teachers and students to enable them to advance learning recovery with extracurricular sessions.
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Promote training for teachers and school leaders in psychosocial support methodologies, such as Trauma Informed Practice and Return to Joy in schools.
Learn about our resources
Belize | Care for Child Development. Available with subtitles in Spanish, French and Portuguese.