Legal Work Case Study:
National Committee on Families and Children (NCFC) – Belize City, BELIZE

The National Committee for Families and Children (NCFC) is a quasi-government organisation launched in 1994 as an advisory body to the government on family and children’s issues. The organisation is mandated to work in the four main areas of legal policy and reform; advocacy and public education; monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of any commitments the Belize Government has made regarding children and families and coordination of the services provided to children and families.

CWW has matched 5 legal volunteers over three years to audit the Families and Children’s Act, and make recommendations to bring Belize in line with the basic requirements of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. At the end of the three years, the proposed amendments - developed by the volunteers were approved by the UN and the amendments are now law. Given the success of this work, the NCFC has requested additional CWW legal volunteers not only to work on other areas of the law that need updating but also to train social workers to represent children in court, thereby addressing the shortage of qualified legal professionals.