 “The state is respectful of people’s rights; citizens and visitors respect the rule of law and feel safe and secure.”  “Democracy is vibrant with citizens fully participating in the development process and women performing at the highest levels of political leadership.” In support of these expressed vision statements, Belize’s Medium-Term Development Strategy (MTDS) outlines the following sectoral focus areas again of direct relevance to the National E-Government Policy (pp. 8): 1. “Environment and Disaster Risk Management. Confronting economic and physical shocks requires the ability to plan adequately and to make adjustments at the individual, institutional and community level. Furthermore, ensuring that individuals have decent living conditions, sources of income and an assurance of resources for future consumption will require the sustainable use of natural resources.” 2. “Human Development. The ability of each citizen to reach his or her full development potential and to make meaningful contributions to his community requires a sound foundation. The human and social development objectives of the MTDS will be achieved through investment in education and health delivery and in social safety net provisions. The latter will include measures aimed at specific groups, such as women, youth and the aging.” 3. “National and Citizen Security. Increasing levels of crime as well as continuing interest in securing citizens’ well-being require focus on national as well as citizen security issues. This area will therefore encompass those measures that will lend to improved border security and reduced levels of crime.” To this end, the MTDS also presents a set of “cross cutting focus areas” critical to enabling development. These “are intended to fill existing gaps and/or to ensure effective implementation of the strategy.” The following four cross cutting focus areas contained in the MTDS are relevant to the National E-Government Policy (pp. 9-10): 1. “Public Sector Institutional Strengthening. Many ministries point to the need for additional human and financial resources to execute their mandates. This, along with the need for improved efficiency in service delivery identified by stakeholders in the last two budget consultations, emphasizes that public sector institutional strengthening will be critical to Medium Term Development Strategy implementation. Aside from additional human resources, assessments have shown that the existing body can benefit considerably from capacity building activities. In addition to training in the various areas of specific service delivery, such initiatives should include training in [strategic planning, customer service, ICT … and management].” 2. “Improved Governance Systems. There continues to be a pressing need for improvement in the capacity of the key oversight agencies. These agencies, particularly the Ombudsman, Auditor General and Contractor General, are central to the effective operations of the ministries, and to their relationship of accountability with the citizenry. Their institutional strengthening is therefore of primary importance over the medium term period.” 3. “Citizen Participation, Gender Focus and Equitable Development. Achieving development objectives depends on the extent to which citizens participate in the various strategic initiatives and to which they target different socio-economic conditions that impede such participation. This latter refers particularly to uneven access to resources across groups and communities 34