Rural Village Councils at the District Level

Ever since I returned from Denver, NAVCO plunged into the elections of the district board for the rural village councils. The president, my counterpart, Mr. Lopez, the new PC volunteer and I traveled to the district general assemblies.

Belize has six districts: Belize, Cayo, Corozal, Orange Walk, Stann Creek, and Toledo. Each district represents all the village councils - they come together to elect the DAVCO boards and the DAVCO president and second representative then become part of the National Board (NAVCO). The turnout for each of these district assemblies was impressive ranging from 75% to 95% and generally each session was orderly. The president remarked that the representatives needed to set aside any political ties and work for the sake of the villagers. Unfortunately, the rural villages had become more partisan, and political parties influenced the dynamics of governance at the local level. I observed another element that deterred the progress of village governance - many of the elected leaders were illiterate and had little computer skills for email.

Since the postal service is almost non-existent, people here must hand carry notifications for meetings to the villages. It's fortunate that most have cell phones now which helps in contacting them but, again, many rural areas have no phone service.

NAVCO conducted training programs in the last two years on computer skills, bookkeeping, and leadership; but the results were dismal - attendance was poor, the training was conducted by consultants and educators at a much higher education level, and no-follow through existed in sustaining any of the skills taught in the workshops (no computer access).

At these assemblies, NAVCO offered its resources to teach anyone on computers. Two village council officers: a vice chairperson and a treasurer - two young women with only primary school education - came to the office. I've taken the role of trainer teaching them the keyboard. Both are eager to learn and have come diligently bussing from their village. This could begin to change the landscape of the village councils.