Belmopan, Fri. Jan. 22, 2021– On Friday, January 22, a new Special Envoy for the Development of Families and Children was officially appointed. Rossana Briceño, wife of the Prime Minister, Hon. John Briceño, and an educator and advocate for special needs children in Belize, has assumed her new role and has many plans for initiatives which she intends to spearhead in this new capacity.

Mrs. Briceño is currently the principal of St. Peter’s Anglican School in Orange Walk, where she helped to develop and launch a special needs program for students with diverse abilities. During the virtual ceremony during which Mrs. Briceño was appointed as Special Envoy, several government officials welcomed Mrs. Briceño to the new post, including the Minister of Human Development, Hon. Dolores Balderamos Garcia, and the Prime Minister, Hon. John Briceño.

When she took the mic, Mrs. Briceño mentioned four projects that she plans to work on for the remainder of the year. These projects will be aimed at raising awareness of the conditions of families and children in Belize with the goal of improving lives of the underprivileged; working with the Government, civil society and the private sector to address challenges faced by families and children; advocating for the improvement of women and children locally and abroad, and ensuring that the plans and objectives for the protection and advancement of families and children outlined in the PUP’s manifesto are brought to fruition.

Mrs. Briceño also mentioned that she will be assembling a team of volunteers to carry out her plans, which additionally include providing COVID-19-related relief for women and children:

“The Office of the Special Envoy for the Development of Families and Children will push government to identify and provide COVID relief for women who have been adversely affected by this dreadful virus. Presently, scores of women have lost husbands and partners and are grieving without access to appropriate counseling and, worse, unaware of how they will take care of their families. More than half of those unemployed, over sixty thousand, are women, and many of those are the only providers for their children. We must not let these women suffer alone. We will seek ways to provide assistance and support [for] them and their families. We have to teach our children how to properly wear a mask and learn the necessary hygiene before they return to the classrooms. And before we open the schools, the Office of the Special Envoy will work closely with the Ministry of Education and other stakeholders to start the study and assessment to develop a sustainable feeding program,” Mrs. Briceño said.

Given that the Special Envoy post is voluntary, Mrs. Briceño will retain her job as the principal of St. Peter’s Anglican School and will not be receiving a salary for her post as Special Envoy.