Carib Scope

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  • ‘Student TV’ planned as national student council elections begin

    ‘Student TV’ planned as national student council elections begin

    Barbados’ government announced on Friday two landmark initiatives to elevate student participation in national education policy and public discourse: a permanent headquarters for the National Student Council (NSC) and a new national student-led media platform, both set to launch this September. The announcement came during the official opening of the 2024 NSC election proceedings held at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, with Minister of Education Transformation Chad Blackman laying out the government’s vision to turn students from passive observers into active architects of national education development.

    Starting in September, the NSC will move into a purpose-built, fully resourced office space within the Ministry of Education Transformation’s headquarters in Bridgetown. The facility will be outfitted with all the administrative hardware and digital technology required for the student body to coordinate national operations, host general meetings, and carry out its governance work independently. Minister Blackman emphasized that the permanent base marks a critical shift away from the historical pattern of ad-hoc student inclusion in policy making, where young voices were only invited to the table when convenient for institutional leaders.

    “Student agency means being active contributors to the learning environment, participants in institutional processes, and partners in shaping the future of education in this country,” Blackman told the assembled audience of students, educators, and UNICEF representatives.

    Beyond physical infrastructure for the NSC, Blackman revealed plans for “Student TV”, a multi-format national digital platform that will integrate video broadcasting, radio programming, and podcast production. The initiative is designed to create a professional, student-run space to share original news coverage, host national debating competitions, showcase student arts and cultural projects, and report on school sports across the country.

    Blackman noted that for too long, young Barbadians have lacked a formal outlet to share their achievements and perspectives with national and global audiences. “From September, Student TV must now be the mouthpiece and articulation of what is happening with our students,” he said. “Imagine students with their branded microphones, engaging stakeholders and telling their stories on global matters like technology, climate, and health.”

    The rollout of these initiatives is a core component of the government’s six-year ambition to build one of the world’s top-performing education systems. Blackman stressed that ongoing reforms — including the revision of the national Education Act and the restructuring of the Caribbean Examinations Council framework — cannot be effective without direct input from the students who are the primary beneficiaries of the education system.

    “Retooling and reforming what education looks like means giving students a stronger platform and a stronger voice. You are there to shape and reshape the institutions that you must one day lead,” he added.

    Friday’s event also kicked off the final phase of competitive NSC executive elections. After a full cycle of online campaigning and preliminary selection rounds, nine candidates remain in the running for the three top leadership positions: president, vice president, and general secretary.

    Minister Blackman reminded candidates that their prospective roles serve as a foundational training ground for future public leadership, requiring a deliberate balance of commitment to national student advocacy and maintaining academic excellence. “To whom much is given, much is expected,” he said. “Being on the student council does not mean that you’re exempt from doing your schoolwork. This is the building block for the future. The world expects you to be able to deliver excellence all at the same time.”

    Drawing from his own career trajectory, which began in student leadership during secondary school and eventually led to roles as Barbados’ Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva and later a cabinet minister, Blackman encouraged the emerging young leaders to embrace meaningful advocacy over superficial gains. Before his current cabinet appointment, Blackman also led the development of the Commonwealth Students Association framework during his tenure at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London.

    “Long before I was Minister of Economic Affairs or working as an ambassador, I started where you are today,” he told the audience. “Your role is not just about saying ‘I am a member of my school’s student council.’ You do so with the clear objective of being able to articulate your own vision for how you reimagine the development of your world.”

    He urged the incoming executive to reject the mindset of treating council roles as mere resume enhancements, urging them to prioritize tangible cultural change and student advocacy. “This is really about changing the culture for the better. Lead with courage, integrity, and purpose,” Blackman said.

    The event closed with an official directive for the incoming NSC leadership to launch formal collaborative consultations with the National Parent Teachers Association (NPTA) and private sector non-governmental organizations, with the goal of embedding student perspectives across all levels of national public policy discussion.

  • Haynes appointed chairman of youth cricket selection panel

    Haynes appointed chairman of youth cricket selection panel

    The Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) has confirmed a reshuffle of leadership roles across its national youth cricket selection panels, bringing a familiar name from top-level cricket into the chairmanship of the men’s junior selection body while retaining key institutional knowledge to support continued development.

    Forty-five-year-old Jason Haynes, a former first-class cricket competitor, will step into the role of chairman of the national youth men’s cricket selection panel, taking over from previous chair Elvis Howard. Howard will not depart the committee entirely, however; he will retain his seat as one of the five members of the panel, joining fellow existing members Shirley Clarke, Roderick Estwick and Nhamo Winn.

    In an official press statement issued by the BCA, the governing body publicly recognized Howard’s years of dedicated leadership in the role, noting that his continued presence on the new-look panel delivers the critical stability that youth cricket programs depend on. The association highlighted that Howard’s deep, firsthand understanding of emerging junior players across Barbados remains an invaluable asset for the selection process.

    Haynes will not be leaving his existing post with the senior men’s selection panel, and will continue to serve in that capacity while taking on his new youth-focused responsibilities. The remit of the men’s junior selection panel remains unchanged: its core mandate is to oversee talent selection for Barbados’ Under-13, Under-15, Under-17 and Under-19 men’s national squads, and it will also continue to provide strategic input for the Sir Everton Weekes Centre of Excellence, the island’s elite development hub for young cricketers.

    In a parallel update, the BCA confirmed that Patricia Greenidge will retain her position as chair of both the national women’s junior and senior selection panels. She will be joined on the women’s selection committees by Ulric Batson and former West Indies international cricketer Sherwin Campbell. Campbell, a former captain of the Barbados men’s national side who earned 52 Test caps and 90 One Day International caps for the West Indies during his playing career, has been appointed to a new dual role: he will now serve as head coach for both the women’s junior and senior national squads.

    Campbell’s first task in his new coaching position will be leading the Barbados Under-19 women’s squad at this year’s Cricket West Indies (CWI) regional youth competition, where the island’s emerging female talent will compete against teams from across the Caribbean.

  • Bajan named to UN Africa ratings council

    Bajan named to UN Africa ratings council

    A leading Barbadian development economist and sovereign credit expert, Kelvin Dalrymple, has secured a prestigious appointment to a high-profile United Nations council focused on lifting credit ratings for sovereign nations across Africa. With more than two and a half decades of global experience spanning central banking, multilateral financial institutions, and credit analysis, Dalrymple brings unparalleled expertise to this new role.

    Dalrymple, who previously served as lead analyst for Sub-Saharan Africa and multilateral development banks at top global credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service, will join the 12-member elite Consilium of Advisors under the United Nations Development Programme. The council operates in service of the Africa Credit Ratings Initiative (ACRI), a targeted program designed to upskill African governments and strengthen their institutional capacity to navigate the complex, often opaque sovereign credit rating process. By helping countries improve their credit profiles, ACRI aims to unlock more favorable borrowing terms and expand access to low-cost international capital for critical development projects.

    The announcement of Dalrymple’s appointment came alongside his participation in the annual Barbados Risk & Insurance Management Conference (BRIM), hosted by the Association for Global Business (BIBA) in Bridgetown. Addressing nearly 300 hybrid-format international conference delegates, Dalrymple emphasized the growing urgency of investment-grade credit ratings for developing economies worldwide. As traditional donor and development financing continues to contract across much of the Global South, an increasing number of low- and middle-income nations are turning to open global capital markets to fund infrastructure, social programs, and economic growth.

    “Many countries are at a critical juncture where donor funds have dried up, and they now have to turn to capital markets to borrow for development,” Dalrymple explained to attendees, referencing his decades of work across the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa. As founder and chief executive officer of The Ratings Advisory Clinic (TRAC), a boutique strategic advisory firm, Dalrymple already supports emerging and frontier economies across multiple core areas: sovereign credit rating strategy, fiscal reform design, debt sustainability planning, and the development of inclusive, effective development policy frameworks.

    Dalrymple’s career trajectory spans key leadership roles across public and private global finance. He began his professional journey as an economist at the Central Bank of Barbados, before rising to Director of Research and Planning and later serving as Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister of Barbados. He went on to hold the position of Chief Economist at the Caribbean Development Bank, and has also served as alternate executive director at the World Bank and senior advisor to the executive director at the International Monetary Fund, where he represented the interests of Canada, Ireland, and a bloc of Caribbean nations. Prior to launching TRAC, he held the role of vice president and senior credit officer at Moody’s London office, cementing his expertise in global sovereign credit analysis.

  • Fun rivalry at Erdiston Teacher’s Training College Sports

    Fun rivalry at Erdiston Teacher’s Training College Sports

    The halls of academia quieted down on Friday at Erdiston Teacher’s Training College, as the annual inter-house sports event took center stage at the Pine Hill campus in Barbados. This year, defending champions Yellow House stepped onto the field to defend their hard-won title against fierce rivals Red House and Green House, turning the grounds into a hub of energy and friendly competition.

    Unlike typical academic days on campus, the 2024 sports meet blended classic track races with lighthearted novelty events, drawing enthusiastic participation from trainee teachers across all three residential houses. Both Red and Green House earned a reputation for their raucous, passionate support—with participants and cheering fans alike chanting loudly for their teammates from the opening sprint to the final novelty event.

    In an interview with local media outlet Barbados TODAY, Dr. Sonia St Hill, Meet Director and Social Studies tutor at the college, framed the annual gathering as far more than a simple athletic competition. She described the event as a deliberate effort to nurture the collaborative, community-focused skills that future Barbadian teachers need to support young people across the island.

    Addressing growing concerns about youth crime and social disconnection in Barbadian society, St Hill emphasized that character and community building begins in teacher training. “We want people to come together to show love, to show cooperation, because we know right now in our society we’re having a spillover when it comes to our young people and crime, and this is where it starts in terms of teachers’ education,” she explained.

    The college’s goal, St Hill noted, is to equip new trainee teachers with the soft skills needed to foster connected, supportive learning environments once they enter primary and secondary schools across the country. “So we want to equip our novice teachers with all of the skills necessary, so that when they get into the school they can continue what we’re doing here, building family, building relationships, and building a community,” she added.

    Even the meet’s family-focused novelty events, which include races that bring young children and their parents together to compete as teams, are designed to model this collaborative spirit. While competitors fight for placement on the podium, every participant leaves with a reward, reinforcing that community connection matters more than winning. So far, trainee teachers have shown deep investment in the event’s core mission, St Hill said.

    Friday’s meet also marked a key milestone for the college: it is the third full in-person active sports event held since COVID-19 restrictions lifted. St Hill shared that the overwhelming excitement and enthusiasm among participants this year far exceeds expectations, signaling a full return to the campus’s beloved pre-pandemic community traditions.

  • 2027 World Cup : Haiti qualifies for the final round (video)

    2027 World Cup : Haiti qualifies for the final round (video)

    In a tense final Group D first-round qualifier for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, hosted at Guadeloupe’s Zami Stadium on April 17, 2026, Haiti’s women’s national team, the Grenadières, held on for a 1-1 draw against the Dominican Republic to book their place in the final qualifying round of the CONCACAF Women’s Championship.

    Entering the match with a clear advantage at the top of the group standings, Haiti only needed a single point to advance, while the Dominican Republic, known locally as the Quisqueyanos, required an outright win to leapfrog Haiti into first place. Veteran head coach Pia Sundhage made three key tactical adjustments to the starting lineup that delivered a dominant 5-0 win over Anguilla just days earlier, reshaping her side to suit the high-stakes encounter.

    On the back line, Claire Constant earned a starting spot in place of Maudeline Moryl. Up front, Roselord Borgella was preferred over Roseline Éloissaint to apply early pressure to the Dominican defense, while star playmaker Melchie “Corventina” Dumornay started on the bench, with Sherly Jeudy taking her place in the starting eleven. These choices would ultimately prove pivotal to Haiti’s final result.

    The first half was defined by sturdy defensive play from both sides, with neither squad able to crack the opposition’s backline, going into halftime deadlocked at 0-0. The second half opened up into a tight, physical contest, with Haiti controlling 59% of total possession and outshooting their opponents 19 total attempts to 2.

    In the 67th minute, Jeudy, who had entered the starting lineup in place of Dumornay, broke the deadlock. After a precision pass from defender Jennyfer Limage, Jeudy connected with a header from the center of the penalty area, guiding it into the bottom right corner to put Haiti up 1-0.

    Six minutes later, the Dominican Republic equalized off a set piece. Stella Tapia fired a right-footed shot from the right edge of the 18-yard box into the same bottom right corner, leveling the score at 1-1 and reigniting hopes of a late comeback for the Quisqueyanos.

    Despite relentless late pressure from the Dominican side, Haiti’s organized defense, led by Constant and Limage, held firm through the final minutes to secure the critical point they needed. The result leaves Haiti top of Group D with 10 points from four matches, having scored 16 goals and conceded none throughout the first qualifying round, three points ahead of second-place Dominican Republic, which finished with 8 points. Belize took third place with 6 points, followed by Suriname on 4 points and winless Anguilla at the bottom of the group with 0 points.

    Haiti’s journey through 2027 World Cup qualifying has been one of total dominance so far, with the Grenadières racking up three wins and one draw, including a 9-0 blowout of Belize, a 2-0 win over Suriname, and the aforementioned 5-0 victory against Anguilla ahead of this decisive match. The side now advances to the final round of CONCACAF qualifying, on the path to the 2027 Women’s World Cup set to be hosted in Brazil.

  • Schools cleared for reopening, new guidelines ‘coming’

    Schools cleared for reopening, new guidelines ‘coming’

    As Barbados prepares to welcome the start of the Trinity school term this coming Monday, the country’s Ministry of Education Transformation has announced new steps to safeguard environmental health standards across all school campuses, responding to disruptive incidents earlier this year that forced multiple school closures. Minister of Education Chad Blackman confirmed that a dedicated interdepartmental team has been assembled to draft formal, nationwide protocols that will set binding standards for maintaining clean, safe learning environments, with a full public unveiling of the framework expected in the near future.

    The catalyst for this policy push came in March, when six primary and secondary schools across Barbados — St Bartholomew Primary, St Paul’s Primary, Charles F Broome Memorial Primary, Mount Tabor Primary, Christ Church Girls’ School, and Hilda Skeene Primary — experienced serious environmental hazards that upended normal teaching and learning operations. The widespread issues forced some campuses to send students home early, while others were forced to suspend classes entirely for multiple days, prompting outcry from educators and families.

    The Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) had previously publicly called for a standardized national set of guidelines to address environmental health risks in schools, arguing that consistent rules for routine cleaning, sanitation, regular infrastructure inspections, and preventive maintenance were critical to avoiding repeated disruptions. Minister Blackman, speaking to Barbados TODAY on the sidelines of the Barbados National Student Council’s Elections held at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, confirmed the ministry had answered that call, noting that the working group has already made substantial progress on the policy framework.

    Beyond updating internal protocols for campus maintenance, Blackman also issued a direct appeal to private businesses and private property owners located adjacent to school grounds, urging them to take greater responsibility for maintaining clean, pest-free surroundings. He emphasized that unkempt adjacent properties — ranging from food retail outlets to parking lots and vacant lots — often create conditions that attract pests such as rodents, which can easily cross onto school property and put student and staff health at risk.

    “Our schools have been kept clean. We’ve intensified our cleaning efforts and we’re ramping up even further, but we also want to use this and, as Minister of Education, really plead with our stakeholders outside of the school to keep their facilities clean because it impacts our schools, it impacts learning, it impacts teaching,” Blackman stated.

    The minister also offered a formal assurance that all six schools affected by the March environmental incidents have undergone full professional sanitization and remediation work, and are fully prepared to welcome students and staff back for the new term. He added that ministry inspectors have confirmed all remediated campuses meet full health and safety standards, but reiterated that unregulated conditions on adjacent private property remain an ongoing, uncontrollable risk that requires cooperation from local business owners to mitigate.

  • Walters demands accountability over $160m IDB water loan

    Walters demands accountability over $160m IDB water loan

    A senior opposition lawmaker in Barbados is sounding the alarm over a multi-million-dollar Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) loan earmarked for national water infrastructure upgrades, calling on the ruling administration to embrace full accountability to the public over how the debt will be managed and repaid.

    Ryan Walters, finance and economic affairs shadow senator for the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), is pushing for what he terms “radical transparency” surrounding the $160m regional facility, an initial $80 million tranche of which has already been drawn down for key projects focused on rehabilitating decades-old leaking water mains and modernizing the state-run Barbados Water Authority (BWA).

    While Walters openly acknowledges the urgent need for infrastructure overhauls amid a national water security crisis, with non-revenue water loss reaching as high as 50 percent across the island’s distribution network, he warns that framing the borrowing as a simple “investment” risks masking the long-term repayment burden that will fall on Barbadian taxpayers.

    “The scale of what is being proposed here cannot be ignored but neither can the responsibility that comes with it,” Walters stated in his remarks. He emphasized: “There is no question that the rehabilitation of our water infrastructure is both necessary and urgent…. However, while the importance of the project is clear, the financing behind it deserves equal attention and transparency.”

    Structured with a 25-year repayment term and a 5.5-year grace period on principal payments, the IDB loan has left Walters questioning how the government will meet its financial obligations once the grace period ends. He has raised two pressing scenarios that could impact ordinary households: steep increases to residential water rates, or new broad-based taxation measures to cover the annual repayment costs.

    “These are not small sums, and while they are framed as ‘investments’, they remain loans that must be repaid by the people of Barbados,” he cautioned. “The question then becomes: how will these repayments be financed given the amount of debt the country is and will be servicing at that time?”

    A core pillar of Walters’ critique centers on the government’s longstanding lack of public accountability for prior water sector funding. He is demanding a full public status update on all completed and ongoing past infrastructure projects, including a breakdown of how previous disbursements were spent, the exact number of water mains replaced across the island, and a clear list of communities that received tangible benefits. He also raised the pressing question of whether this new round of borrowing is necessary to fix gaps and failures that should have been resolved under earlier, already funded programs.

    Walters stressed that without a full, auditable accounting of how past public funds were deployed, public trust in this new borrowing will remain fragile. He called on the government to publish a clear, incremental public timeline of project milestones, so Barbadians can track improvements in real time rather than waiting years to see tangible results from the new debt.

    Beyond fiscal transparency, Walters is also pressing the administration to guarantee that local Barbadian construction and engineering firms get a meaningful share of the project contracts. He questioned whether the government plans to award most of the high-value work to international contractors, rather than prioritizing domestic professionals and businesses that could reinvest earnings back into the local economy.

    “This project presents an opportunity not only to fix infrastructure but to build local capacity and create economic participation for Barbadian professionals and businesses,” he said. “That opportunity must not be missed.”

    Drawing a parallel to the government’s own messaging around water accessibility, Walters argued that if the administration claims to support transparent water governance, the implementation and oversight of this loan must match that standard. He confirmed that the DLP supports the critical goal of upgrading Barbados’ water infrastructure, but insisted that good governance requires clear public communication to accompany large-scale public borrowing.

  • Exclusive: Landmark push to create first regulated conservation areas First regulated conservation areas at Long Pond, Turners Hall Wood

    Exclusive: Landmark push to create first regulated conservation areas First regulated conservation areas at Long Pond, Turners Hall Wood

    For a quarter of a century, Barbados has planned to create its first formally protected national forest and regulated conservation area – and this March, that long-held vision finally moved from planning to implementation. In an exclusive report to Barbados TODAY, conservation leaders have confirmed that on-the-ground work is now underway at two ecologically irreplaceable sites in the parish of St Andrew: Turners Hall Woods, the island’s last remaining intact patch of original rainforest, and Long Pond, a biologically diverse coastal lagoon on Barbados’ East Coast. The two-year initiative is backed by nearly $184,000 in grant funding from the Barbados Environmental Sustainability Fund (BESF), and is being led by the local chapter of global conservation nonprofit The Land Conservancy Barbados.

    Robin Mahon, chair of The Land Conservancy Barbados and emeritus professor at the University of the West Indies Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies, emphasized that the team is prioritizing responsible use of existing funding before pursuing additional support. “We need to get on and do what we have been funded to do. I am not going to be going for any more funding from them until I finish with the funding I already have,” Mahon explained, noting the project officially launched on March 1 and is still in its early setup phases. The immediate next steps include recruiting a full-time project coordinator, building collaborative relationships with local communities, and coordinating with relevant national government departments to align work with existing national planning frameworks.

    The project’s core objectives, laid out in Barbados’ national Physical Development Plan, have been 25 years in the making: to establish a formal protected conservation area at Long Pond and the country’s first official national forest at Turners Hall Woods. To date, no protected conservation areas or national forests have been formally established on the island, so this project marks a historic milestone for Barbados’ conservation movement. Leaders chose these two sites for the pilot phase to demonstrate what can be accomplished, with hopes of expanding protection to other pre-identified sites in coming years.

    Turners Hall Woods spans 50 acres of land and is the only stretch of original rainforest that survived more than 400 years of human settlement and colonial-era deforestation on the island. It hosts thriving populations of ecologically significant native tree species, including sandbox, silk cotton, fustic, cabbage palm, trumpet tree, locust, and the macaw palm – a species indigenous exclusively to Barbados.

    Long Pond, by contrast, is a dynamic coastal lagoon fed by the Bruce Vale and Walkers Rivers, which drain the island’s second and third largest watersheds respectively. The site hosts a rare mosaic of distinct native habitats, including a naturally formed sand dune system, mature mangrove forests, a marshy woodland ecosystem, and the coastal lagoon itself. Geographically, the site is bounded by Walker’s Reserve to the north, the community of Belleplaine to the west, and private landholdings to the south.

    Mahon explained that the majority of the project budget will be allocated to the coordinator role and extensive community engagement work, as the initiative is designed to be community-led from its inception. “We want to establish community groups to run the conservation area and the national forest site long-term,” Mahon said. The project team will also resolve outstanding land ownership questions and draft formal management plans for both sites. At the conclusion of the two-year project, the team will submit a detailed outline development plan for each site to Barbados’ Planning and Development Department for formal approval.

    Budget breakdowns show the Long Pond project carries an estimated price tag of $108,000, while the Turners Hall Woods initiative is budgeted at $76,000. While the team is focused on delivering results with the current funding, Mahon noted that community-centered conservation is resource-intensive, and the organization is actively seeking additional private donors to expand impact. “Community-based work takes a lot of time and trouble… you spend a lot of time chasing down people and holding meetings and that kind of thing,” he explained. “We always need more money, but we are going to do the best we can with what we have got.”

    The BESF, which provided the seed funding for this initiative, is currently accepting applications for its second cycle of grant awards, after disbursing more than $1.2 million to eight local environmental projects during its first funding round last year. Beyond project grants, the fund has also invested millions of dollars in national marine spatial planning and broad sustainability initiatives across the island. For this second cycle, only organizations registered and operating within Barbados are eligible to apply, with funding available up to $300,000 per project focused on environmental conservation, climate resilience, and sustainable development.

    Grants are structured in three tiers to support projects of all sizes: small grants up to $50,000, medium grants ranging from $50,001 to $100,000, and large grants from $100,001 to $300,000. To be considered for funding, projects must demonstrate clear scalability, long-term financial and ecological sustainability, and measurable environmental impact. Eligible applicants include registered nonprofits, community-based organizations, government agencies, academic institutions, and private sector entities based in Barbados, with applications due by March 26.

    Established in 2022, BESF is a dedicated conservation trust fund created through a strategic Conservation Funding Agreement between the Government of Barbados and global conservation organization The Nature Conservancy. Its core mission is to mobilize financial resources to support impactful local projects that advance environmental sustainability and protect Barbados’ unique native biodiversity, safeguarding the island’s natural heritage for future generations.

  • Notification Emergency Rain Relief Bonus: How to find out if you were selected to receive it

    Notification Emergency Rain Relief Bonus: How to find out if you were selected to receive it

    After widespread severe flooding impacted communities across the Dominican Republic, the national government rolled out a targeted Emergency Bonus to support hard-hit households, and public interest has surged around how residents can confirm if they are selected to receive the one-time aid.

    Officials from the Directorate of Social Development Supérate, the agency managing the relief program, clarified key details in an interview with local publication HOY, emphasizing that the benefit does not operate through an open voluntary application process. Unlike many public assistance programs that require applicants to submit their own requests, eligible households are pre-identified through existing data collected by the Single System of Beneficiaries (Siuben), the country’s centralized national registry for public aid recipients.

    The pre-selection process follows a structured technical workflow, agency representatives explained: after Siuben completes on-the-ground surveys of impacted areas, evaluates household needs, and validates eligibility data, pre-approved beneficiary households are contacted directly through official government communication channels.

    The notification process relies on multiple accessible channels to ensure no eligible household misses out on the support, according to authorities. The most common method is direct digital or phone outreach: selected residents receive alerts via text message (SMS) or phone calls from the program’s official contact center, using the phone number each household previously registered in the Siuben system. These communications not only confirm selection but also share specific details about payment timing and collection methods where available.

    For communities that suffered the worst flood damage, mobile outreach teams are deployed door-to-door to confirm eligibility in person, eliminating barriers for residents who may have inconsistent phone service or outdated contact information on file. The program also hosts in-person orientation and aid distribution days, where beneficiaries can verify their identity in person and collect their payments on-site.

    As a temporary emergency relief measure, the Emergency Bonus was specifically designed to support households impacted by severe atmospheric events including flash floods, hurricanes, and other climate-driven crises, falling under the broader umbrella of services provided by the Supérate social development program.

    It is not a permanent, universal subsidy available to all residents; instead, the framework was built to enable fast, targeted, data-backed response to sudden crises, ensuring aid reaches the households that need it most rather than opening the program to broad, unvetted applications. In this latest round of post-flood relief, the benefit will be distributed to approximately 10,000 impacted families, with each approved household receiving a one-time payment of 7,000 Dominican pesos.

  • Belizean Girls Step Up to Lead in Tech

    Belizean Girls Step Up to Lead in Tech

    A groundbreaking initiative aimed at closing the gender gap in technology is making its fourth annual return to Belize, bringing together a record cohort of young women eager to carve out careers in the digital space. ‘Lead Like a Girl’, which launched as a small grassroots project years ago, has evolved into a nationally recognized movement that continues to expand its reach and impact, empowering growing numbers of teenage girls to explore opportunities in a field historically dominated by men.

    This year alone, 140 female students from 35 high schools across the country are participating in hands-on activities ranging from introductory coding workshops and interactive game development to team-based digital problem-solving challenges. What starts as casual curiosity for many participants is quickly transforming into concrete long-term career ambition, as the program creates a supportive, judgment-free space for young women to test their skills and build confidence in tech-focused work.

    Namrita Balani, Belize’s Director of Science and Technology, noted that the program’s rapid growth in participation over the past four years signals two key shifts: a sharp rise in young women’s inherent interest in technology, and the emergence of a far more robust support ecosystem to nurture that interest. Today, the initiative is backed by a range of stakeholders, from local community groups that provide mentorship to education institutions that offer dedicated scholarships for girls pursuing post-secondary tech degrees.

    Despite this progress, gender disparities persist in Belize’s tech sector. National data confirms that male participation and proficiency in digital skills still outpaces that of women, especially among the 15 to 24-year-old age bracket. This gap makes initiatives like ‘Lead Like a Girl’ all the more critical to encouraging more young women to enter the field, advocates say.

    Speaking to program participants, UNICEF Belize Representative Sajid Ali urged the young attendees to embrace their potential as future leaders in tech, emphasizing that the next great Belizean innovator could already be sitting among them. ‘Someone sitting in this room, she is the next innovator. She’s definitely from Belize. And she could be you,’ Ali told the gathered students.

    For audiences wanting to learn more about the personal experiences of program participants who are already building their tech careers, Belize’s News 5 will air a full feature on the initiative during its 6 PM broadcast this evening.