Climate Change Solutions: A Dialogue in Belize
(Apr. 16-25, 2021)
Delegates To This Program Will …
Engage Officials at the Caribbean Community’s Climate Change Center in Belmopan
Pool Knowledge to Enhance Curriculum with Climate Change Perspectives, Case Studies
Pair with Peer Belizean Educators: Visit Changing Local Ecosystems and Discuss Impact on Human Communities
Confer with a William J. Clinton School Alumnus on Service Options for Your Students
Shadow Belizean Colleagues at St. Mary’s School, Belize City, and an Innovative, Canadian-curriculum academy on Caye Caulker
Engage Belizean Officials At Caricom’s Climate Change Center
Throughout this week we’ll discuss the global effects of climate change – and we’ll explore partnerships with Belizean colleagues on projects relevant to student learning. We’ll begin with a wide-ranging policy dialogue in Belmopan on Monday, April 19 – at the Caribbean Community’s Climate Center. The Center serves as the clearinghouse for the effects that climate change is having on this region. Rising sea levels and altered rainforest habitat represent immediate threats – and CARICOM nations from Jamaica to Belize, Cuba to Costa Rica have mounted a thoughtful regionwide response.
Pool Your Climate Change Knowledge To Enhance Curriculum
Deepen your commitment to greening your campus and enhancing your curriculum! On Tuesday, as we continue our conversations in Belmopan, we’ll move to a breakout format. Throughout the day we’ll join peer Belizean educators, curriculum designers, and NGO officials keen to highlight the relevance of climate change to your school community. We’ll partner with Belizean teachers and administrators to pursue purposeful sister-school relationships – sustainable relationships that address climate change together. We’ll pool collective knowledge to green our campuses, our classrooms, and the mindsets of our diverse school communities.
Pair With Belizean Colleagues To Visit Local Ecosystems
For an entire day – Wednesday – you’ll pair with a colleague from St. Mary’s School, Belize City for a discovery of Belize together. Your colleague may suggest any number of venues to visit, to include the St. Mary’s School campus. We recommend that you visit Corozal Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, located 2 hours north of Belize City. We’ve arranged for rangers to highlight the threat that climate change poses to this coastal wetland and to the species that call it home. We anticipate that you’ll continue discussing what makes your schools special, and that you’ll take time to deepen new friendships.
Discuss Student Service Options With Clinton School Alumnus
Belize is an exquisite venue for student service. It’s a living lab for student learning! It is safe, secure, and ripe for easily acquired lessons on the direct, significant impact that climate change can have on an ecologically vulnerable region. With this in mind, we’ll engage on Thursday with a prominent William J. Clinton School of Public Service alumnus active in Belize. A handful of Clinton School students have had a profound impact in Belize. We’ll hear of their accomplishments, observe their impact, and draw conclusions for our own students’ service and growth.
Shadow Colleagues Offshore, On Caye Caulker
A festive day on Caye Caulker rounds out this eventful week. Caye Caulker is a small island near Belize City, accessible via water taxi. Here we’ll visit an innovative Canadian-curriculum secondary school – in fact, it’s the island’s only high school. Belizean educators and Canadian colleagues opened a beautiful facility here in 2008 to offer academic and vocational options to families unable to send their children to the mainland. We’ll discuss student & teacher exchange options, and projects that can deepen our schools’ core curricula with meaningful climate change content. Caye Caulker also offers pristine beaches, diving, and snorkeling – and you may wish to sneak off in the afternoon!
Should You Attend?
If you seek a way to develop professionally while broadening your perspectives and those of your colleagues, this program is for you. If you wish to understand why Belize is emerging as a world leader in climate change mitigation, you’ll want to join us. If you’d like to learn how to involve your students in efforts to combat climate change with direct, measurable impact, this program will interest you. It is a carefully planned, 8-day experience of purposeful professional development for active and retired educators. It features myriad new insights to apply at your school, association, library, or university campus.
Dates, Pricing & Daily Agendas
DATES: April 16-25, 2021
PRICING is set at $3500 per person. This includes:
Registration for 5 Days of Professional Development
7 Nights’ Shared Accommodation in Belize City
All Breakfasts, All Lunches, and a Welcome Dinner
Sessions on Climate Change Mitigation in Curriculum and on Greening Your School
Confer with William. J. Clinton School Alumnus about Student Service Options in Belize
Dialogues with Peer Educators, Journalists, Activists & Other Thought Leaders
Pair with St. Mary’s School Colleague for Local Explorations
Informal End-of-Week Workshop at an Innovative Canadian-curriculum academy on Caulker Caye
Luxury Ground Transport & Professional Local Guiding
Pricing excludes air. You may purchase air travel in tandem with your registration for this GFE, or you may elect to obtain it independently. If you choose to purchase air in tandem with your registration, kindly indicate this preference to us. We will offer you the most economical fare prevailing on the date of your registration.
DISTRIBUTION OF DAILY AGENDAS: Registered delegates will receive a detailed draft daily agenda on February 15, 2021. Delegates will receive a final daily agenda, including times of departure and arrival at each professional activity, specific purpose of each activity, delegate roles and responsibilities, confirmation of Belizean host individuals and institutions, links to official hotel accommodations and other logistics, on March 15, 2021. Final payment is due on March 15, 2021.
INQUIRE: Contact Fungai Kanogoiwa:
(703) 549 9115 / FungaiK@AlterraConsulting.org