(Spouses of CARICOM Leaders Action Network Press Release) The Spouses of CARICOM Leaders Action Network (SCLAN) held its quarterly meeting on 26 October 2021, where H.E. Mrs. Rossana Briceno, Spouse of the Prime Minister of Belize and Special Envoy for the Development of Families and Children was officially elected as the new Chairperson of the Network.
H.E. Mrs. Rossana Briceno will replace Mrs. Patricia Minnis, Spouse of the Former Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas and outgoing Chair. SCLAN would like to express their appreciation to Mrs. Minnis for her time as Chairperson of the Network as well as her commitment and work to ensure the health and wellbeing of women and children in the region.
The meeting was also held to review the work of SCLAN in the region with emphasis placed on discussing the way forward for the next five years. The discussion was guided by the 2021 Strategic Plan that was recently completed to ensure continued advancement to safeguard the health and wellbeing of women and children in the Caribbean.
SCLAN was formally established on 5 September 2017 at a meeting held in Belize City, Belize with the overarching goal of providing a framework where First Ladies could coordinate their efforts and use their platforms to advocate for and implement activities geared toward addressing areas of critical importance across the sub-region, namely, HIV/AIDS, gender-based violence, adolescent pregnancy, cervical cancer and mental health.
SCLAN would like to congratulate the new members on the Executive Board, which includes:
Chair: Her Excellency Mrs. Rossana Briceno, Spouse of the Prime Minister of Belize and Special Envoy for the Development of Families and Children.
Vice Chair: Her Excellency Mrs. Mellisa Santokhi Seenacherry, First Lady of the Republic of Suriname.
Additional Board Members include: Her Excellency, Mrs. Kristin Burt, Spouse of the Premier of Bermuda, Her Excellency Mrs. Eloise Gonsalves, Spouse of the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Her Excellency Mrs. Sharon Rowley, Spouse of the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Mrs. Kim Simplis Barrow, Spouse of the Former Prime Minister of Belize, and Mrs. Sandra Granger, Former First Lady of Guyana.