INTRODUCTION

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic on 11 March 2020. Across the globe, life as we knew it went on pause--for some of us it was transformed. However, the inequalities we lived with before the pandemic have carried over to the new normal. Left unchecked, they will increase. In the aftermath of the pandemic, many homes have witnessed an economic shock and the risk of poverty became higher due to the fact that both men and women have since gotten lower wages or even lost jobs with little to no protection against the economic shocks. Throughout the pandemic, children were confined to their homes where they sometimes became witnesses and even sufferers of gender-based violence (GBV) due to the stress triggered by the pandemic. There continues to be need for healing and intervention.

This is the backdrop against which the Belize Crime Observatory in the Ministry of Home Affairs and New Growth Industries developed this dedicated site to provide educational resources on gender-based violence. The hope is that we can continue to provide moral and technical support for women and children to recover from the adverse impacts of COVID-19, to build a fairer, healthier and more equal and just Belize. This resource package is developed with information about COVID-19 prevention and gender-based violence. These self-help materials were pulled together to support the delivery of Health and Family Life National Curriculum outcomes.

Our hope is that the information available here can be integrated into programs that mainstream GBV prevention into COVID-19 and other social interventions. GBV prevention is the overaching goal, and it also can intensify progress across multiple development goals. Impactful GBV programs have helped to improve health outcomes, economic productivity, and educational attainment.