1. Belize Association of Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technicians (ARACT) Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Servicing Sector Expo Frio Calor, Santiago de Chile By: Mr. Valentino Blanco Belize National Ozone Officer June 8, 2012

2. Overview of Presentation 1.Formation of the Belize ARACT 2.The role of the Belize ARACT 3.Sources of training both informal and formal 4.Identification of training for long-term alternatives in the RAC Sector. 5.Way-forward

3. Formation of the Belize ARACT At its 41 st and 42 nd Meetings the Executive Committee approved US$ 15, 000 and US $ 20, 000 respectively for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to prepare the Belize RMPU. It was approved in 2005, with a total financial allocation of US$ 128, 312. US$ 33, 682 was apportioned for the certification and licensing of Refrigeration Technicians.

4. Formation of the Belize ARACT cont’d A Bill entitled “Refrigeration Technicians (Licensing) Bill, 2006” was drafted by the end of 2007 and was passed into law in 2010 under the Terminal Phase-out Management Plan (TPMP). The official name of the Act is the “Refrigeration Technicians (Licensing) Act, 2010.”

5. The role of the Belize ARACT Note: With the passage of the Refrigeration Technicians (Licensing) Act, 2010, the Association is charged with the duty to license and certify RAC technicians, and protect the interest of those technicians. ROLE 1: HPMP related activities where ARACT is to assist the Belize NOU. ROLE 2: Certification and licensing of the RAC technicians. As the case with the Belize ARACT, they have gotten to good work, but the way forward is too long (much more is to be done). The following has been achieved: Assisted the Belize NOU to conduct training of technicians under the TPMP. List of requirements for license applications

6. The role of the Belize ARACT cont’d Admissions exams and syllabus per the classes applied Creation of Council (President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer). Creation of Admissions, Educations, Standards, and Legal Committees. In ARACT’s 1 st AIWP, together with its budget and expenditure, training programmes are geared towards technicians. Preference is given to technicians having paid application fees.

7. Sources of training 1.Informal training: Under past projects implemented by the Belize NOU, 350 technicians have been trained in the informal sector. While some training was done during the HPMP preparation stage, it continues under the HPMP implementation due to HCs not being introduced/ imported at a fast rate, and consequently, they are unavailable for the day-to-day practices by technicians. In order to further strengthen the capacities of technicians, the Association has organized and conducted its own training to members of the Association.

8. Sources of training cont’d 2.Formal training: The Association has established a link with academia at the vocational level and this is shown as members for the Association are instructors of RAC- the instructors form the Educations Committee. The vocational schools have both RAC levels 1 and 2 under their training curriculum. Belize NOU has assisted in this regard by giving scholarships twice to well-deserving students country-wide.

9. Identification of training for long- term alternatives in the RAC Sector While training done under the HPMP is good, it is too limited to cover the majority of the technician population. While, the Association has the capacity to generate revenues through the licensing system, membership fees, training programmes, such funds are not able to suffice the ‘full establishment” of the association due to the relatively small technician population. In this regard, in order to ensure sustainability of the Associations and consequently a successful implementation of the HPMPs, something must be done to address this issue!!!

10. What’s the Way Forward? NEED: To strengthen non-state stakeholders (Associations) through creation of a regional association in the Heating, Ventilation, Refrigeration and Air- Conditioning sector (HVACR), setting up sub-regional networks to promote: Regional information and experience exchange Capacity building at the country level Formalisation and operation of certification schemes

11. This has been a presentation of the Belize ARACT By: Mr. Valentino Blanco, National Ozone Officer, National Ozone Unit, Belize Department of the Environment. Feel free to visit our website at www.noubelize.gov.bz Email: noubelize@gmail.com Ph: +501 802 2542/ 2816 Thanks for your attention!www.noubelize.gov.bznoubelize@gmail.com