| Overview : The Comprehensive Security and Violence Prevention that affects Children, Adolescents and Youth in SICA Countries (PreJuve) Regional Project, funded by UNDP/Spain, seeks to contribute to the improvement of citizen security within the Central American region, through the comprehensive reduction of associated factors to insecurity and violence, with a particular emphasis on violence that affects children, adolescents and youth. The project aims at working in three key results dimensions, prioritized within SICA’s Central American Security Strategy (CASS). The project will: 1) support in the formulation and/or revision of a comprehensive citizen security policy for Belize, ensuring linkages between this national policy with regional ESCA priorities; 2) support the development and implementation of plans and institutional capacities to improve social prevention of violence that affects youth at secondary and tertiary level, with emphasis on at risk population and territories with highest crime incidence; 3) Contribute to Belize’s participation in a regional Innovation Laboratory which seeks to promote the generation, exchange, systematization, south-south and triangular cooperation, adaptation of best practices and creative and innovative approaches to citizen security, which emphasis on vulnerable groups, as an alternative to current approaches and interventions. A diverse mix of government and non-government actors work to promote citizen security. UNDP defines citizen security as “the process of establishing, strengthening and protecting democratic civic order, eliminating threats of violence in a population and allowing for safe and peaceful coexistence… Citizen security is not simply the reduction of crime, but a comprehensive and multi-faceted strategy for improving the quality of life of a population, community action for crime prevention, access to an effective justice system, an education that is based on values, respect for law and tolerance. “ Several programmes funded both locally and internationally and implemented through the public sector as well as through CBOs/NGOs, target children, adolescents and youth at risk in an effort to prevent them from joining gangs, being involved in violent behaviour or being a victim of violence. Additionally, there are a growing number of early childhood and development and primary school level programmes which focus on providing a healthy physical, emotional and social start to life to increase children’s successful development into law abiding, productive adults. This diversity of programmes has resulted in multiplicity of methodological approaches and intervention models, with differing and not always clear levels of results. Currently this ‘ad-hoc’ delivery of services does not seem to be the most efficient and effective means of addressing the growing issue of crime and violence in Belize. On July 2016, in light of recent increase in gang-related violent crime, the Deputy Prime Minister was asked by the Cabinet to lead a Citizen Security Task Force to review and analyze existing recommendations and initiatives developed by previous crime committees and found in reports on crime mitigation to come up with a synopsis of meaningful recommendations and new initiatives to deal with crime situation in Belize for the medium and long term. This would empower the government and its partners to rationalize investments in citizen security, and increase the impact of its efforts in violence reduction. Given that new violence prevention policies have been drafted recently, and that national plans for child protection, sustainable development, and national security have either been recently drafted or are underway, it has been determined that this review and analysis requested by the Cabinet should also encompass the logical frameworks, underlying theories of change, strategic objectives and actions from these to create a complete picture at the policy, investment and implementation levels of all initiatives related to citizen security. Based on this supposition, the Project proposes to review and map actions and actors involved in advancing citizen security prevention, as a starting point to rationalize intervention strategies and streamline public investment. Under the leadership of the Deputy Prime Minister, the Citizen Security Task Force, in partnership with RESTORE Belize and UNDP/SICA, is seeking a consultant or consultancy firm to review and map out all existing and planned citizen security recommendations, initiatives, programmes, plans, policies, stakeholders and beneficiary groups. The mapping will include catalogs of existing initiatives as well as visual information products to describe and analyze comprehensively the interrelationships between and underlying logic of these. All the tasks comprising this consultancy should be done in close consultation with the Task Force. Clear communication protocols will be established at the start of the consultancy to ensure the full participation of the Task Force. The results of this consultancy will inform government action and investment in the short term but will also constitute an information base for the development of a new medium to long-term Citizen Security Plan and Policy. This new Citizen Security Plan and Policy is a major component of the Prejuve Project. |
