Ulysses: Jennifer in Belize

Ulysses drives the personal development of our leaders. It enables them to provide our people, our clients and the community with an experience that is based on shared values, understanding and collaboration, and which is focused on delivering responsible and sustainable solutions.

Jennifer Chang
Project Ulysses 2003
Belize

"True leadership recognises the importance of teamwork and cultural diversity. Ultimately, a good leader connects with the people in his or her team and values their contribution." - Jennifer Chang

Why did you choose Belize?

There were actually four projects namely, Belize, Namibia, Zambia and Moldova. I chose Belize as the project was on ecotourism and finding business opportunities in the southern district of Toledo. The project would allow me to have a part in the conservation of this resource rich area in Belize as well as help consider sustainable business opportunities for the communities in this region.

Tell us about your work in Belize

There was a list of things FFI and YCT wanted us to help them with including helping them with accounting systems, coming up with a small business manual, research on successful conservation areas and businesses for communities in such areas, forestry conservation and sustainable businesses as well as business acquisitions and ecotourism opportunities within the Toledo District. The work involved us engaging with various people from Government Departments to Community Leaders to other NGOs to Ecotourism players as well as the local communities.

What was interesting is that some weeks into our project, we discovered a micro-grant scheme which the Government was considering and which had not been made public. The team got together with the leaders of YCT and drafted a business plan for them to manage this micro-grant scheme to benefit the Mayan communities in Toledo. In addition, we shared what we have learnt from the successful management of small business by other communities to the local communities within Toledo District.

This would sometimes involve the team taking initiative and demonstrating leadership by cold calling Governmental organisations such as Belize Tourism Ministry and Belize Tourism Board to make appointments to see them and discuss the issues affecting ecotourism in the Toledo District. We also decided to do some research of the area and sometimes had to go into the jungle walking in muddy water, kayaking down rivers, etc. to assess the ecotourism potential of the area. By the end of our 8 weeks, we met many people from all walks of society and seem to know quite a lot of people especially in the small town of Punta Gorda.

Other anecdotes you wish to share?

One of our team member commented to the NGO that "In the real world, something like that would not be happening." The NGO replied, "This is the real world. In fact, the majority of the world's population live in this type of conditions." It puts a perspective into how sheltered we are and the fact that the majority of the world's population do not have the sort of lifestyles that we are so accustomed to.