Understanding the significance of building a school in Belize through action research

In Central America, the country of Belize shares its border with Guatemala and Mexico. These countries, with El Salvador and Honduras, are known as the most dangerous areas in our world outside active war zones (Dudlry, 2012; Edwards & Gill, 2002; UNODC, 2019). Crime is the largest contributor to instability in the region and creates a dangerous environment that must be reduced. Reduction of crime can correlate to an increase in available educational opportunities (Edwards, 2002; OSAC, 2019). The U. S. government conducts foreign humanitarian assistance programs that increase educational opportunities in hope of reducing crime and stabilizing the region (Foreign Humanitarian Assistance, 2019). The purpose of one of the humanitarian assistance programs is to build schools to increase educational opportunities in remote areas. Minimal research exists from the stakeholders’ point of view on the significance of humanitarian school building. Utilizing the stakeholders' point of view, this qualitative action research study was designed to help community and international stakeholders improve the school building process in Corozal, Belize. This research study followed an international non-profit organization, Global Aid Consultants, and stakeholders through a new school building process. The research participants included parents, school faculty, community leaders, and international stakeholders of the school building process. The three data sources of interviews, photographs, and documents were analyzed using thematic analysis based on the grounded theory method. To better understand the research questions, the data analysis procedures were framed in four steps: (1) identifying codes in the data, (2) creating categories of codes, (3) reviewing the categories and synthesizing them to generate themes, and (4) applying the emerging themes to the study (Charmaz, 2014; Saldaña, 2016). The analysis identified over 600 codes that were grouped into 30-35 categories which emerged from the data. The categories were synthesized to develop seven themes. Next, the seven themes were logically applied to one of the three research questions:How do the stakeholders perceive (feel, view, act) the new school?, From the stakeholders' perception, how did building a new school impact the community? From the stakeholders' perception, how can the school building process be improved?These emerged themes are supported by the research study, literature, and my philosophical worldview. This research study highlighted insights into understanding the process of building a new school in Belize and its immediate impact on the local community. The research exposed that it takes partners with resources who communicate together in an environment they support to create developmental change. Developmental change occurs when stakeholders assist communities to develop the capability and capacity to address a problem. For example, in this research a new school was built that increased the outlook for the community. The stakeholders will use this insight to improve the school building process. Another conclusion, and one of the most important parts from this study, was finding a way to articulate the immediate impact of the new school. How does the new school impact the community is one of the most frequent questions asked by others including stakeholders. According to the research, the local, national, and international stakeholders believe that the new school provides a safe learning environment where the people are motivated for school that creates opportunities and grows the community.