(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Barbadian Rosina Wiltshire has been appointed the First Caribbean Community Advocate for Gender Justice for the year 2010.

As part of her terms of reference, Dr. Rosina Wiltshire will be required to coordinate the research on Gender Based Violence (GBV) within the Caribbean Region and raise awareness of the need for further action to develop and strengthen integrated responses that will “address all social and legal sectors for the purposes of protection, provision of services; justice; and prevention.”

The establishment of an Office of the Special Advocate against GBV underpins the strategy to reduce the high incidence of violence against women in the Caribbean.

Funded under the CARICOM/Spain Cooperation Agreement, the two-year project seeks to develop a more coordinated and integrated approach to reducing Gender Based Violence (GBV) in the CARICOM region.

With more than 25 years of postgraduate teaching, research and evaluation, Dr Wiltshire has garnered a wealth of experience in Gender and Development - complemented by a range of requisite skills in leadership and development, advocacy and team building, strategic planning, resource mobilisation, donor coordination and media management - which make her an ideal person to assume the responsibility of Special Advocate.

In addition, Dr Wiltshire has further honed her skills and applied her experience at the national, regional and international levels: She served for 14 years in various capacities at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), most recently as the UN Resident Coordinator/ UNDP Resident Representative for Barbados and the OECS Prior to this, Dr Wiltshire worked as the Coordinator for gender and sustainable development at the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada.

A prolific writer, Dr Wiltshire has published in the areas of Foreign Policy, Caribbean Regional Integration, Migration and Development, Social Dimensions of Structural Adjustment, Gender and Development and Women, Environment and Development.

Her skills and professional experience are underpinned by a brilliant scholastic profile, including her Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Political Science from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

As Special Advocate, Dr Wiltshire will also propose specific recommendations aimed at enhancing Member States’ compliance with their international and regional priority obligations of equality and non-discrimination. As such, the Advocate will be expected to influence policy development on GBV in the Caribbean through advocacy and knowledge provision.

On Monday, March 8, which is observed globally as International Women’s Day, Dr Wiltshire will be introduced to the regional media at a press conference at the CARICOM Secretariat where she will make her first presentation as the CARICOM Advocate for Gender Justice.

CONTACT: piu@caricom.org