| Overview : The InfoSegura project (Evidence Based Information Management on Citizen Security in Central America and the Dominican Republic) seeks to strengthen evidence-based public policy. It works towards this objective by improving the quality of citizen safety information in the region, promoting its analysis and use in the formulation of public policy, and increasing regional coordination and collaboration in strategies for citizen safety. The regional project is being executed by the UNDP/RBLAC office and is financed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It is regional in scope, covering six (6) countries: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Belize, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic. InfoSegura theory of change proposes a reduction in violence and improvement in citizen safety and coexistence in Central America. InfoSegura works all along the chain of information management (information collection, analysis, use and dissemination) to strengthen evidence-based public policymaking. This is to be achieved through: - Improving regional and national capacity for collecting, monitoring and processing information regarding security, and its use in decision-making and policymaking at both levels;
- Strengthening civil society capacity for collecting, analyzing and processing information on citizen safety and monitoring policies and programs on citizen safety; and
- Supporting regional level knowledge management to enhance knowledge and understanding of fundamental causes of violence and insecurity, and to promote successful policies and practices in citizen safety.
The project also aims to strengthen policy formulation based on evidence by improving the quality and comparability of regional statistics on citizen security, and increased coordination and regional collaboration of effective citizen security strategies. The project focuses on two results: - Developed the tools and mechanisms for strengthening capacities for the design of public policies based on evidence and sensitive to gender;
- Installed mechanisms for regional collaboration and networking about citizen security.
The Ministry of Home Affairs & New Growth Industries has identified the development of an interagency data and information platform as a critical priority for the work of the Belize Crime Observatory. Currently, a range of government ministries, statutory bodies and other agencies collect and report on citizen security related data. They include the Ministry of Health & Wellness (suicides, road traffic fatalities, homicides); the Ministry of Human Development, Families & Indigenous Peoples' Affairs (gender-based violence); the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science & Technology (e.g.: school-related incidents of violence); the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade & Immigration (migration-related data and information); and the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development, and Investment (socio-economic data and information). At the commencement of this process in early 2019, there was no structured mechanism for entities to share critical crime-related data and information. Since then, the InfoSegura Project has supported the development of the Integrated Information Management Platform (IIMP), which has been made available to 5 agencies, although the intent is to roll out access to other authorized users. The pilot agencies are: - The Belize Central Prison
- The Belize Crime Observatory
- The Belize Police Department
- The National Forensic Science Service; and
- The Epidemiology Unit in the Ministry of Health
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