On November 2, 2026, Belizean government representatives and international development partners gathered to formally mark the successful completion of a four-year, multi-million-dollar Canadian-supported capacity building program, designed to address longstanding critical skills gaps across local public agencies, community groups and civil society organizations across the Central American nation. Known as the Canada-CARICOM Expert Deployment Mechanism, the initiative deployed seasoned global specialists across a wide spectrum of priority sectors, delivering targeted, no-cost advisory support that extended from remote rural villages to core national government departments.
Dr. Osmond Martinez, Belize’s Minister of Economic Transformation, emphasized the transformative, far-reaching impact of the technical support during the closing ceremony. He noted that international experts worked on the ground in communities ranging from Gales Point to Cristo Rey, while also delivering specialized assistance to key national bodies including BELTRAIDE, the Statistical Institute of Belize, the Development Finance Corporation, the Green Climate Fund unit under his own ministry, and the national Social Investment Fund. A landmark tangible outcome of the program was the successful accreditation of multiple key national institutions, alongside widespread upskilling for local stakeholders. Martinez highlighted that even remote community groups such as the Gales Point Primary School now hold the expertise to draft viable, bankable project proposals aligned with their own local needs, a capability that was virtually out of reach for most small community entities prior to the intervention, given the country’s longstanding shortage of specialized technical personnel in project design and economic planning.
Karyll Aitcheson, Senior International Officer at the Canadian High Commission, explained that the entire program was strategically structured to align seamlessly with Belize’s official medium-term national development strategies, rather than imposing external priorities. Teams of international specialists supported local agencies to revise outdated policies, refresh operational guidelines, and upgrade institutional frameworks to meet global best practice standards, ensuring every intervention directly advanced the Belizean government’s domestic growth and development agenda.
Although the international cohort of deployed experts has now formally wrapped up their on-ground assignments, the locally embedded knowledge, upgraded operational systems, and newly built technical competencies transferred during the four-year program are projected to deliver sustained, multi-decade benefits for Belize’s pursuit of inclusive, long-term sustainable economic expansion. This coverage is adapted from the station’s evening television newscast, with all segments originally delivered in Belize Kriol transcribed using a standardized official spelling system for accuracy.