PROSPER demonstrates steady progress and strategic alignment

BELMOPAN, Belize (ILO News) - The Project Steering Committee (PSC) met on 18 June 2026 to assess implementation progress, financial performance, and opportunities to strengthen alignment with complementary European Union-supported initiatives. The review confirmed that the EU-funded ILO PROSPER Project remains on track, with sound financial execution and a strong pipeline of activities moving into the next implementation phase. The Committee further confirmed that all 15 target communities in Belize's Stann Creek and Toledo districts have now been finalized, marking a major implementation milestone.

Chaired by CEO Valentino Shal of the Ministry of Rural Development Community Development and Local Government, with technical leadership from Kylah Ciego of the ILO, the PSC reviewed six months of progress across the project's three pillars: local economic development planning, Local Action Group formation, and skills and enterprise development. Community readiness assessments for the final five communities were completed,- Three communities in Stann Creek, namely Seine Bight, Hopkins and Maya Centre, and three of five partner schools have formally signed on.

Two strategic discussions framed the meeting. The first focused on cacao and tourism training to be delivered through Toledo's technical schools. While the project had proposed allowing schools to determine the depth of cacao training, the Chair emphasized that training must be anchored to clearly defined competency outcomes, ensuring graduates are able to manage a nursery, farm, or chocolate business. Committee members also highlighted the need for training to respond more directly to gaps in the cacao value chain, including emerging compliance requirements such as the EU Deforestation Regulation, while leaving business models to market-driven innovation.

The second outcome was agreement to formally establish a technical subcommittee to support faster coordination between PSC meetings. Building on existing informal collaboration across tourism, agriculture, and rural development actors, the subcommittee will enable ongoing technical guidance and knowledge exchange and will be open to interested PSC members.

The Committee welcomed PROSPER's growing alignment with national frameworks. The project has mapped its interventions against three pillars of the National Rural Development Strategy, secured observer status on the National Cacao Committee, and identified synergies with EU-funded initiatives including the Five Great Forests regional programme and the EuroClima project, which will explore carbon credit opportunities linked to cacao, bamboo, and biochar in southern Belize.

"For us at the ministry, we see this as a pilot, a little microcosm of what's possible... We hope to learn from this and then scale this up nationally." CEO Valentino Shal

Looking ahead, the next quarter will focus on LED planning training, selection of implementing partners, curriculum strengthening and equipment support for partner schools, work-based learning and competency-based teacher training with the ILO's International Training Centre, and business development services delivered through BELTRAIDE, with a strong emphasis on women's entrepreneurship and green enterprise. Gender mainstreaming and women's economic development assessments are also under way.

In closing, the Ministry commended the PROSPER team for maintaining delivery momentum during the coordinator's absence and described the project as a pilot with national scale-up potential. The next PSC meeting is tentatively scheduled for 9 October 2026.