Belize Family Life Association (BFLA), through the Spotlight Initiative, certifies trainers in Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) to support young persons who are out of school

BELIZE CITY, Belize, - The Belize Family Life Association (BFLA) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) - as one of the Recipient United Nations Organizations (RUNO) for the Spotlight Initiative in Belize - partnered to scale up comprehensive sexuality education programming for out-of-school youth. This investment is in partnership with the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) as a global, multi-year initiative focused on eliminating all forms of family violence and violence against women and girls (VAWG) - The  Spotlight Initiative. The Initiative brings focused attention to this issue, moving it into the spotlight 
and placing it at the centre of efforts to achieve gender equity and equality and women's empowerment, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

One aspect of the scale-up initiative, was the certification of 27 community-level CSE master trainers using the training-of-trainers model, utilizing the BFLA’s CSE Peer Education Curriculum and Training Resource Manual which was revised in line with international standards. Master trainers were trained in the use of teaching and learning strategies for the engagement of young people in virtual spaces to support the effective delivery of comprehensive sexuality education to adolescents and youth who are out of school.

The expansion of the CSE community level trainers has increased national capacity to reach young people within their own local spaces through interpersonal channels, as well as through popular and youth-friendly social media and video conference platforms. The implementation of the scale-up of the CSE Programme for young persons out of school provides an immediate, relevant, innovative and promising practice. It does this by engaging young people out of school in sexuality education and awareness through virtual platforms, particularly in the context of COVID-19. The evolution of this innovative approach to the CSE education programme will help to provide the option for a low-cost and high-impact model to advance gender equality, promote women’s and girls’ empowerment, as well as reproductive rights, including for the most vulnerable and marginalized adolescents and youth.

Delivering key remarks at this momentous occasion is Mrs Joan Burke Skeen, Executive Director of the Belize Family Life Association (BFLA); Ms Alison Drayton, Regional Director, UNFPA Sub-Regional 
Office for the Caribbean; and Mr Ricard Bardia Divins, Head of Cooperation of the European Union Delegation. Participants also had an opportunity to share their motivation for having joined the CSE Master Level Training.

As an immediate next step, master trainers will deliver training to approximately 240 young people who are out of school, commencing April 2021.

-ENDS-

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