In this issue we bid adieu to our Former Director and Representative of the UNFPA Sub-regional Office for the Caribbean (SROC), Alison Drayton, who served us since 2016. During her time with us at UNFPA, Alison skillfully led the team in:
- Restoring and/or strengthening partnerships at the national and regional levels with government and civil society, as well as regional institutions such as CARICOM, CEDEMA and the OECS,
- Enhancing Resource mobilization for UNFPA Caribbean, increasing our resources and by extension the impact on the lives of women & girls in the region
- Realizing her vision to develop regional initiatives such as the gender equality & diversity seal for workplaces
- Strengthening the technical resources as well as the management of the UNFPA Sub-Regional Office for the Caribbean, as the unit that serves 22 countries in the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean, among other efforts which have generally strengthened UNFPAs work in the region.
Alison has given decades of service to various entities, primarily the UN. Before joining the UNFPA SROC, she worked at UNDP for fifteen years in a series of functions both globally and in the Caribbean region, most recently at UNDP's Regional Bureau on Latin America and the Caribbean (RBLAC) as Senior Advisor. In that capacity she led the formulation of Regional Human Development Report focused on multi-dimensional progress in the Caribbean for which she provided strategic advice to RBLAC Senior management on engagement with Caribbean partner institutions, governments and thought leaders in the preparation of the report.
Alison is politically savvy, a living library of invaluable information and perspectives on politics, the UN and the Caribbean among other subjects. She has been to us more than just the Director and Representative of UNFPA Caribbean, but also a mentor, a colleague, a confidant, and a champion.
For all that you are and for all that you have done for us and those that we serve, we say thank you and wish you all the best in your next chapter!
