Project Name：Belize City House of Culture and Downtown Rejuvenation Project (Belize)

Project status：Completed projects

Cooperating Country：Belize

Project Description：

Tourism was among the key sectors under the Belize national development strategy. Although the Belize City possesses abundant historical and cultural assets left from the colonial times, the heritage was not preserved and developed as tourism resources. The project, drawing on Taiwan’s expertise in adopting participatory approaches for community planning, was to build an eco-museum in the old Belize City center. It consisted of hard and soft components. The hard component included physical works on (1) rejuvenation of the Belize City House of Culture and its grounds; (2) rejuvenation of selected historic buildings; and (3) development of public space/landscaping. The soft component covered the development of an eco-museum, and community participation and capacity building. In addition, the Government of Belize had to enact a National Historic Preservation Bill.

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Implementation Start Date：2014-02-10

Implementation End Date：2020-10-09

Project Objectives：Promote awareness and appreciation of colonial heritage and cultural identity through the rejuvenation of a pilot selection of historical/colonial buildings. Ultimately, the benefits of the Project would include reducing loss of economic opportunities in the downtown area via the development of cultural tourism.

Executing Agency：Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (MTCA), Belize

Implementation Arrangement：

The Executing Agency (EA) was the Belize Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (MTCA) through its Planning and Project Development Unit (PPDU). Other key stakeholders included the Ministry of Finance, Public Service, Energy and Public Utilities (MOF), the National Institute of Culture and History (NICH), and the Belize City Council (BCC).

The Project Steering Committee (PSC), chaired by the CEO of MTCA, was established among related governmental stakeholders to give strategic orientation, oversight, and coordination to the Project. The PSC provided technical and financial guidance to the Project and integrated ongoing and future national tourism development projects as well as development plans in the downtown area of Belize City.

Signing Date：2014-02-10