UNDP and KOICA sign a USD$3.4 million Grant Arrangement to Expand and Upgrade Belize’s Statistical System in Supporting the Sustainable Development Goals

Press Release – March 12, 2024 – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) signed an arrangement with the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) to strengthen Belize’s national infrastructure and institutional capacity for data and statistical management. With a total project budget of US$3.4 million, the “Enabling of Belize’s Statistical System” project, which is part of a larger Record of Discussion Arrangement with the Government of Belize, will be implemented from 2024 to 2027 and is a joint initiative involving six (6) Government ministries and five (5) United Nations (UN) agencies with coordination support from the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator.
The UN agencies engaging in joint implementation include the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and the World Food Programme (WFP), the project will work closely with the Government of Belize, specifically the Statistical Institute of Belize (SIB) of the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security, and Enterprise, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Technology, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, the Judiciary of Belize and the Attorney General’s Ministry of Belize, to:
● Improve and upgrade Belize’s Statistical infrastructure;
● Strengthen the data governance architecture;
● Strengthen both SIB and its data nodes;
● Expand SIB’s and National Statistical System (NSS) capabilities to respond to increasing demand for data/statistics.
Through this multi-agency collaboration, Belize can be transformed into a nation that is inclusive, competitive, and sustainable for all Belizeans with a Government guided by data.