Combatting Gender-Based Violence Social & Behaviour Change Communications Campaign

lenge gender inequitable social norms, attitudes and behaviours change at the community and individual levels to prevent violence against women and girls, including family violence and those affecting women’s sexual health and reproduction.

en’s Commission, and it also marks 20 years since UNFPA began its operations here.”

January 25, 2023 - A Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) Campaign to end Violence Against Women and Girls was launched today in Belize. The launch, which gathered the participation of government, civil society and private sector representatives as well as women’s groups and church leaders, took place at the Best Western Plus Belize Biltmore Plaza in Belize City.

The campaign will be implemented by the Government of Belize through the National Women’s Commission (NWC) and CSO partners in collaboration with UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, with funding from the European Union under the Spotlight Initiative. Critical communication assets that were expertly developed to address family violence in Belize were presented at the launch. The product development was buttressed in the draft Social and Behavior Change Communication strategy which builds on existing prevention intervention and identifies key entry points at all levels of the social ecology. It focused on some of the most marginalized groups which includes adolescent girls, indigenous women and girls, rural women and girls, migrant women and girls, sex workers, women and girls with disabilities, transwomen and lesbian women, women and girls living with HIV and elderly persons. This is in keeping with national goals to leave no one behind.

Keynote speaker, Hon. Dolores Balderamos Garcia, Minister of Human Development, Families & Indigenous People’s Affairs, in her remarks at the event stated that, “Social and behaviour change is critical for addressing gender-based violence and the House of Representatives has unanimously agreed to denounce and condemn domestic violence in all its forms as a crime and a violence of fundamental human rights, and commits to taking action for the prevention and elimination of gender- based violence in Belize… We’re launching the presentation today of the social and Behaviour Change Communication Strategy to continue to fight again domestic and gender-based violence. We have our UN partners, governmental partners National Women Commission, NGO and Civil Society partners. I think it is important as it’s a never-ending struggle in the fight against gender-based violence.”

As she noted in her remarks giv- en, “The National Gender Policy has 6 pillars which are: health, education, wealth, employment, and income generation for women, Fighting against Gender-based Violence, Women empowerment in decision-making, and institutional strengthening.””

The SBCC products included videos, banners and posters for digital and social media platforms and print circulation. Taking a collaborative approach with both state and non-state actors, UNFPA, the National Women’s Commission, the Belize Family Life Association (BFLA) and the National Commission for Families and Children (NCFC) engaged in a step-by-step process to develop the assets. This included the undertaking of pretesting activities led by BFLA that involved consultations with 200 persons across the country which included representatives from social partners, youth, women and men. The pretesting phase was crucial to ensure an inclusive process and feedback from the stakeholders and participants were consolidated and the recommendations helped to shape the concept and direction of the products.

H.E. Marianne Van Steen, EU Ambassador emphasized that “Gender equality and women and girls’ empowerment are top priorities of the European Union at home and globally. It is only through collaboration that we can see meaningful change happen and I believe that the Social and Behaviour Change Communication Campaign that we are launching today, within the framework of a draft strategy, is a right step in this direction. This campaign belongs to everyone and it is for everyone to take it forward because everyone has a role to play: public and private sectors, policy and decision makers, faith-based organizations, community leaders, school at all levels, entrepreneurs and small business owners, you and I.”

Brigit Gerstenberg, UN Resident Coordinator, in her remarks said that, “Social norms are dynamic as they both influence and are influenced by interactions among agents in a society and can therefore be changed over time. This is the contribution we expect of the campaign launched today: To promote change in knowledge, attitudes, norms and practices to bring an end to violence against women, girls and boys in Belize.”

The SBCC Campaign will address 5 key categories - policy and decision-makers, workplace, community leaders, families and schools and will be rolled out on a national scale as well as at the community level. The Campaign is positioned to chal-

The Spotlight Initiative, an initiative by the United Nations (UN) funded by the European Union (EU), is a global, multiyear initiative focused on eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG). The Initiative brings focused attention to this issue, moving it into the spotlight and placing it at the center of efforts to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDGs), specifically SDG 5 on Gender Equality. Spotlight encompasses six pillars and pillar three focuses on prevention to address the root causes underpinning existing social norms, attitudes, and behaviors. The communication products are hinged on the development of the national SBCC Strategy that will be the central pivot of the social and behavioural strategic efforts to be championed in Belize.

The National Women's Commission currently is in its fourth year of implementing its Spotlight Initiative to End Violence Against Women and Girls. The key focus of today’s initiative is to address the social norms and behaviours which promote inequality and violence against women and girls through comprehensive prevention interventions.

Mrs. Thea Garcia Ramirez, President of the National Women’s Commission, “We are indeed kick-starting 2023 with lots of energy and redoubling our efforts to achieving transformative changes in Belizean Society. 2023 marks 41 years since the establishment of the National Wom-

For context, in her speech Mrs. Ramirez stated, “Since 2018, the UNFPA began efforts toward ending gender-based violence and harmful practices.” Also noted, “It challenges individuals, communities, workplaces, policy and decision-makers, and families to critically examine some common gender norms that have become deeply entrenched in daily practices and to consider how these norms can contribute to VAWG.”

Hon. Dolores Balderamos Garcia went on to note, “that behaviour change is the absolute key to the attitudes that we have, not because a little girl is a little she mustn’t play with a truck, or a little boy mustn’t ehm be a cook or something like that. Let us begin that change in the stereotypes of the roles that we as men and women can play because I believe nobody, and I repeat nobody, must be beating up on anybody or abused by anybody; that’s the message today in a nutshell.”

Hon. Balderamos-Garcia hopes with the support of her cabinet colleagues to get the Human Rights Agenda passed this year 2023. The campaign will be rolled out country-wide in collaboration with stakeholders from the government and civil society. The campaign promotes norms and calls for individuals at all levels to collectively take a stand and break these stereotypes.

National Women’s Commission encourages anyone who is in a situation and needs assistance to please reach out to 0-800-A-WAY-OUT or text/ WhatsApp 672-9628 for urgent help.