MSI/CIV-JAM – Civil Society Partnerships for More Effective Participation in Governance

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MSI/CIV-JAM Staff

Programme Staff	Administrative and Support Staff
Bertrand Laurent, Chief-of-Party Lloyd A. Stanley, Deputy Chief-of-Party Sharene McKenzie, Civil Society Specialist Taitu A. Heron, Researcher/Editor Tania A. Chambers, Legal Consultant Grace Christie, AWOJA Coordinator	Donnett A. Clarke, Office Manager Faith Morrison, Administrative Assistant Lilleth Facey, Administrative Assistant Marilyn Fross , Office Assistant Erroll Smith , Office Assistant

Bertrand Laurent, Chief-of-Party
Mr. Laurent has over 23 years of experience designing, managing and evaluating civil society strengthening, employment-creation and community-based environmental management programs in Africa and the Caribbean. For 9 of the past 13 years, Mr. Laurent has held three Chief of Party positions, including a USAID Civil Society/Democracy Enhancement Project in Haiti that won a superior performance citation. Under Mr. Laurent?s management, the Haiti project, ASOSYE, became a nationally renowned, dynamic project that utilized the notion of ?stakeholder governance? to link civil society capacity-building to social, economic and environmental development. As Chief of Party for the Community and Enterprise Development Project in Senegal, Mr. Laurent managed a highly successful $11 million NGO and local governance support and small business project that worked to assist community organizations and NGOs to become stronger, democratically controlled institutions able to assess their own situations, identify their own needs, design solutions, develop effective linkages with local government, seek and obtain financing and technical assistance, and successfully implement independent village-based projects. A strong motivational manager skilled in identifying and convening cross sector interests for consensus-building, Mr. Laurent?s hands-on expertise is in building partnerships among competing stakeholders, advocacy capacity-building, and institutional strengthening of community-based organizations. With over 10 years experience in the Caribbean region, Mr. Laurent has strong skills in identifying and defining community interests and working with beneficiaries and customer groups to formulate strategies, strengthening local governance, and monitoring results. He holds an M.A. in Agricultural Anthropology from Columbia University, and speaks French, Creole, and Bambara. | Back to top |

Lloyd A. Stanley, Deputy Chief-of-Party
Lloyd Stanley has over thirty years? experience in the fields of teaching, social work and organizational development. This includes seven years international experience?in developing countries worldwide?providing services in organizational development, training of trainers, and consultations in human resource development, strategic planning, and planning for improved performance at department and corporate levels. For the last ten years, Mr. Stanley has been deeply involved in working with civil societies that are concerned with issues affecting children, the environment, and problems relating to the education of pre-primary and primary school children. He gained qualification from the Mico Teachers College, University of West Indies, Research Institute for Management (The Netherlands), and Manchester University (U.K.). | Back to top |

Sharene McKenzie, Civil Society Specialist
Sharene McKenzie has twenty-two years experience in development having participated in the designs and management of the Jamaica Urban Poverty Programme-Jones Town Redevelopment Project, the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) and CIDA-Social Conflict and Legal Reform Project. Ms. McKenzie brings very relevant experience in the design, appraisal, monitoring and implementation of social action, justice and public education projects. She has experience working with donor organizations, non governmental organizations, community-based organizations and State institutions, specific projects have aimed at poverty alleviation, social skills development, STD awareness, conflict management and organizational strengthening. Ms. McKenzie has coordinated and conducted several surveys including, the UN Small Arms Survey in Jamaica, KRC-Artisan Survey, Viva Rio-Children in Armed Conflict, International Labour Organization (ILO) and Child Development Council (CDC) Child Labour Survey and DFID-Police Modernization Assessment. She has been consulted in the areas of community development and has made presentations on crime and violence in the Caribbean, Canada and the USA. She is currently an advisor to several civil society organizations. Ms. McKenzie is a Social Worker and studied at the University of the West Indies. | Back to top |

Taitu A Heron, Researcher/Editor
Taitu A Heron is a teacher, researcher and editor. A Jamaican/Caribbean national, she was educated in Jamaica (University of the West Indies, Mona Campus) and in England (University of Cambridge), with degrees in International Relations and Development Studies, respectively. As a researcher/editor, she has worked with NGOs and INGOs in the Caribbean and Central America in the areas of Caribbean regionalism and development, international relations, epistemology and development policy in the Caribbean, and drug trafficking and abuse in the Caribbean, all with a focus on data collection, policy analysis, project administration, and the editing and production of related reports and manuals. As a teacher she has taught undergraduate courses in western political philosophy, Caribbean political thought and international political economy.

Ms Heron joined the MSI/CIV-JAM team in Oct 2004 as researcher/editor. Prior to joining MSI-CIV-JAM, she worked as a consultant editor and assistant lecturer in political science at UWI Cave Hill campus in Barbados. Ms. Heron continues to teach part-time at the UWI Mona Campus and is an active member of Women’s Media Watch Jamaica and the Education Committee, Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica.

Tania Chambers, Legal Consultant
Tania Chambers is an attorney-at-law with a professional focus on social policy issues. She also provides legal consultation, research and advice to businesses and private clients in areas touching contract, company and business law, intellectual property protection, corporate administration and policy development.

Her work with MSI/CIV-JAM has included research projects on such areas as gender guidelines for law and policy reform and the impact of corporate and tax laws regulating non-governmental organizations.As an independent member of the Jamaica Coalition on the Rights of the Child, she currently provides support to the organisation’s executive in the areas of research, planning and publications. She also conducts training on the Child Care and Protection Act and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Grace Christie, AWOJA Coordinator
Mrs. Grace Christie joined MSI/CIV-JAM in February 2005 as the Coordinator of the Women’s Sector and the Association of Women’s Organisations in Jamaica (AWOJA). Mrs. Christie comes to us with over twenty (20) years of experience in administration, management and gender. She received her academic training at the University of the West Indies where she obtained a MSc in Gender and Development Studies (2001) and BSc. in Management Studies (1998).

Mrs. Christie has worked primarily at the middle and senior management levels in both the public and the private sectors and has worked specifically in the Women’s Sector for over four (4) years. In gender, she has taught women’s studies and has assisted in research projects at the Centre for Gender and Development Studies (CGDS) at the University of the West Indies. She has had experience in international development agencies such as CUSO, where she was Program Support Officer under the CIDA/Caribbean Gender Equality Programme.

Mrs. Christie continues to actively serve the Women’s Sector as a voluntary Hotline Telephone Counsellor with the Women’s Crisis Centre.

Donnett A. Clarke, Office Manager
Donnett Clarke holds a certificate in Personnel Management (University of Technology, Jamaica), a Diploma in Business Administration (Institute of Management and Production, Kingston, Jamaica) and is a Certified Professional Secretary. She has experience working for international organizations, and has participated in regional and international meetings. Her duties involved providing secretarial and logistical support for projects dealing with the effectiveness of the Jamaican legal system and the ability of communities to resolve conflicts. | Back to top |

Faith Morrison, Administrative Assistant
Faith Morrison holds an Associate Degree in Environmental Science/Waste Management from Berkshire Community College, Pittsfield, Massachusetts. She has wide-ranging experience in fields covering secretarial and administrative services, natural resources conservation, and the performance of related training functions. Ms. Morrison has been involved with planning and implementation of projects and a variety of activities (including environmental protection programs, organization of international conferences, and leadership training) while working for local institutions and international development agencies. | Back to top |

Lilieth Facey, Administrative Assistant
Ms. Lilieth Facey joined MSI/CIV-JAM as Administrative Assistant in January 2005. Prior to that she worked at HEART/Trust National Training Agency, as a Senior Secretary to the Director of the Learning Management Services Department which consisted of three units: Curriculum Design Development Unit, Information Technology Unit and the Media Services Unit. Ms. Facey is a Certified Professional Secretary with a Diploma in Supervisory Management (1998) from the Institute of Management and Production (IMP) and a BSc in Business Administration from the Northern Caribbean University (2004). Her main role as administrative assistant at MSI/CIV-JAM is that she is the “first voice” of contact to the organisation along, with the other administrative duties that have to be carried out on a daily basis. Ms. Facey’s professional philosophy is that whatever task is assigned one should carry it out to the best of one’s ability or do not attempt the task at all. | Back to top |

Marilyn Fross , Office Assistant
Mrs. Marilyn Fross joined the MSI/CIV-JAM team in May 2004 as the Office Assistant. She offers general office and auxiliary support to staff members and assists in preparing documents and refreshment for meetings and workshops. She also maintains the newspaper clippings files on activities in the CSO sector.

Mrs. Fross, is also a seamstress who was formerly trained at Todd’s Sewing School in Port Maria, St Mary. | Back to top |

Erroll Smith, Office Assistant
Mr. Smith joined the MSI/CIV-JAM team in April 2004 as the project driver. Mr. Smith additionally provides general assistance to the office staff such as photocopying, binding and preparation for meetings.

Mr. Smith is also a general painting contractor. | Back to top |

MSI/CIV-JAM is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
through Management Systems International.