The Garden of Hope Foundation has been engaged in the protection service of women and children for many years, providing both services and advocacy, and working with the Taiwanese government to implement many policies to protect the rights and interests of women and children. On February 17, the delegation led by H.E. Rossana Briceno, the Spouse of the Prime Minister of Belize, Special Envoy for Families and Children, and the Chair of the Spouses of CARICOM Leaders Action Network (SCLAN), and accompanied by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, visited GOH Linkou Service Center to learn about the practice of women and children protection in Taiwan.
Wang Yueh-Hao, CEO of the Garden of Hope Foundation, thanked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for arranging this opportunity to showcase Taiwan’s achievements in women and children protection services to the Special Envoy. She hoped that through this exchange, the two countries will promote women’s service cooperation and work together for global gender equality issues.
The integrated service, which combines the resources of the Linkou community and social housing, is highly appreciated by the guests from Belize.
Li Yu-Hua, Director of GOH Linkou Service Center, served as the chief host to introduce the social housing in the Universiade Village of Linkou undertaken by GOH since 2020, which includes medium to long-term women’s self-supporting housing, meeting room, and activity space, trauma recovery base for children who witnessed domestic violence, community after-school counseling space for children, and Sensory Motor Arousal Regulation Treatment (SMART) center. The main purpose is to provide integrated services that include social housing, economic empowerment, and child care. The visiting group also went to the “Good Time Cafeteria” jointly established by the GOH Foundation and the National Center for Housing and Urban Regeneration Center to learn about the “community-based shelter” model GOH is providing for women who have suffered violence.
Rosanna appreciates Taiwan’s achievements in gender equality as well as GOH’s dedicated support for women who have been abused. She noted that many communities in Belize have nonprofit organizations that provide protection services for women and children, but there is a lack of cohesion and consensus among the organizations. Rosanna applauded GOH’s integrated services in the social housing in Linkou and said that she learned a lot from participating in the “Empower Women! Empower LAC!” Forum hosted by MOFA and by visiting GOH Linkou Service Center. She looked forward to making good use of the knowledge after returning to Belize, gathering the domestic organizations in the country, integrating the resources, and strengthening the protection service for women and children in Belize.
Deepening international friendship and working together for global women and children’s rights and interests
After the exchange, Liao Bi-Ying, Standing Director of the Garden of Hope Foundation, gave the visiting group special gifts, they are hand-made glass beads necklaces and zentangle coasters made by the survivors from GOH. Rosanna said that she was deeply moved by the gifts, which showed the strength of self-reliance of the women who had suffered violence. Kelly Liao, Deputy Director of the Assets Management Department of the National Housing and Urban Regeneration Center, and Chang Chin-Li, Commissioner of the Department of Social Welfare, New Taipei City government, also presented gifts to the Special Envoy. Rosanna in return also gave a gift box of chili sauce unique to Belize to every guest.
In its 35th anniversary, GOH has been providing integrated services for women and children affected by violence in the past few years through social housing. We hope to replicate this successful model in more places in the future so that Taiwan will be filled with loving and caring communities, and to achieve our goal of creating a gender-friendly society in Taiwan.