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Introduction: The Belize Rural Women's association Ltd. is the only iGO in Belize which focuses primarily on the concerns of rural women. It is an independent boay which is presently in the process of reviewing the situation of rural women in Belize in the context of the concerns for rural people. as the outreach programs have intensified, so too, has the need to review and organize mechanisms for empowering rural women to develop self-help projects. The association develops at a time when Belize, the only tnzlish speaking country on the Ventral american mainland, is poisea for a more significant role in the region in the future 60% of the population is oelow the age of l5yrs and 50,7 of them live in the rural areas. It is estimated that 1/3 of the oresent population of 160,000 have migrated to the U.%.a. while this occurs, a heavy influx of refugees from Hl Salvador and Guatemala, continue to replace the vacuum which was created. The program and activities of tre association focus on economic self-help efforts, women's self-help health education and the organization and development of women's groups in the rural | areas. The association is therefore very involved in assisting young women in particular. ‘ The History of the Belize ural women's association The Belize ‘tural women's association was formed in March 1955; out of the efforts of Cultural Market vay. The idea wes developed by a group of women who felt that special attention needed to be paid to the problems of rural women, which ranged from lack of general infra-structural services to women specific proodlems such as those related to health. With the increase of the refugee population and mig;ration of Belizeans to the. U.S. for economic reasons the dynamics of rural com"unities are fast changing. ... Most of the secretariat of the association have been working, in the field for rural development and women's issues for quite some time. The association has been active with other PVO's in promoting exchan;z,e of ideas, resources and information amongst te PVO comvunity. With this in mind, there are on-going efforts of the association to ltase with government and non-goverriment organizations. Since it's inception the association has requests for assistance from several women's grouds and individuals throughout the country.