"Yesterday you would recall when I spoke with you at the opening of our historic Caribbean Regional Colloquium on Women Leaders as Agents of Change, I said that as accomplished women, we are the thoughts and dreams of our mothers and grandmothers embodied and made alive.
"It is their voices that we hear in our heads and hearts, urging us on as we walk the challenging road to leadership, standing confidently and proudly beside our male colleagues, to enable the process of national development which benefits all our citizens equally and without regard to gender.
"Over the past two days, I know that much was said on the issues of the empowerment of women, transformational leadership and what that means for Caribbean women, Caribbean political culture and the way forward for our countries.
"I am aware that there were repeated calls for more women to enter the political arena – for as we know, effective political representation by women is the key to changing the dynamics of our current Caribbean political and socio-economic reality.
"But, if I may add, as women, those of us who have been or who are now in the corridors of power must build and encourage that political will within our women (and certainly this would been highlighted during the colloquium).
"And I say that political will, that call to leadership must be nurtured in women of all social strata, representing the full diversity of women reflecting ethnic groups, age, socio-economic status, abilities, and rural/urban location – if we want to achieve that critical mass of women to enable meaningful change.
"And in this regard I want to endorse the work of one of the partners of this colloquium – in particular, the Caribbean Institute for Women in Leadership for its work in building capacity among our Caribbean women.
"Indeed we have one of your success stories with us today. The Honourable Marcella Liburd, Minister of Health, Social Services, Gender Affairs and Culture from St Kitts, has acknowledged that her participation in CiwiL played a significant role, along with the support of our very own Senator Penelope Beckles, in her preparing for the position she now holds as a Minister of Government.
"I know that you are developing a curriculum for transformational leadership and I look forward to the roll out of this programme. I congratulate you on this commendable initiative.
"And I want to support that call for including in that curriculum, in that programme avenues for our young women to benefit from the experiences of those who have actually been involved in politics and other leadership roles.
"But what of those women who may not know how to access CiwiL?
"If we look at the role of Councilors I believe that it is imperative that we must tap into that very vast base of women residing in rural communities and those women who are already taking on leadership roles at grassroots level without formal support or training.
"We need also to identify and involve women yet without a voice in our communities in this process of empowerment, leadership and indeed governance.
"And today I want to suggest that one of the mechanisms to tap into this resource base is with the help of our local government councilors, many of whom are present this evening.
"You are a vital part of the governmental and empowerment process.
"In her presentation, Dr Rosina Wiltshire, in quoting form a UN Women definition, defined transformational leadership as a “visionary process that starts at the level of individual transformation and transcends the personal to express itself at the group and institutional levels”.
"This process leads to the redefinition of gender and power relations, and the strengthening of leadership that is bold and innovative and builds on the skills of women and men in society.
"Transformational leadership, therefore is grounded in the principles and values of equity, equality, democracy, justice, caring, nonviolence and cooperation.
"The first tenet of transformational leadership is that it begins with self leadership and personal transformation and these are sentiment we all as women… as women leader and mentors must always carry with us.
"To re-iterate the words of one of our participants, we must overcome this “crisis of confidence” and “poverty of spirit” which threatens to undermine our own aspirations to political leadership.
"We have made progress but there is much to be done.
"Let us continue to learn from each other, to support each other and work with our men to bring about the changes we all seek for ourselves, our families, our communities and our countries.
"I challenge each of you to take the messages we have developed over these two days to your respective countries. Engage the women, girls and men.
"Become that voice which will signal to all those around that women have come of age.
"We are taking our rightful place in our countries and in the world.
"I wish each of you a safe journey home. I trust you had an enjoyable stay in Trinidad and Tobago.
"May God continue to bless each and everyone of you and your respective nation."
"It is their voices that we hear in our heads and hearts, urging us on as we walk the challenging road to leadership, standing confidently and proudly beside our male colleagues, to enable the process of national development which benefits all our citizens equally and without regard to gender.
"Over the past two days, I know that much was said on the issues of the empowerment of women, transformational leadership and what that means for Caribbean women, Caribbean political culture and the way forward for our countries.
"I am aware that there were repeated calls for more women to enter the political arena – for as we know, effective political representation by women is the key to changing the dynamics of our current Caribbean political and socio-economic reality.
"But, if I may add, as women, those of us who have been or who are now in the corridors of power must build and encourage that political will within our women (and certainly this would been highlighted during the colloquium).
"And I say that political will, that call to leadership must be nurtured in women of all social strata, representing the full diversity of women reflecting ethnic groups, age, socio-economic status, abilities, and rural/urban location – if we want to achieve that critical mass of women to enable meaningful change.
"And in this regard I want to endorse the work of one of the partners of this colloquium – in particular, the Caribbean Institute for Women in Leadership for its work in building capacity among our Caribbean women.
"Indeed we have one of your success stories with us today. The Honourable Marcella Liburd, Minister of Health, Social Services, Gender Affairs and Culture from St Kitts, has acknowledged that her participation in CiwiL played a significant role, along with the support of our very own Senator Penelope Beckles, in her preparing for the position she now holds as a Minister of Government.
"I know that you are developing a curriculum for transformational leadership and I look forward to the roll out of this programme. I congratulate you on this commendable initiative.
"And I want to support that call for including in that curriculum, in that programme avenues for our young women to benefit from the experiences of those who have actually been involved in politics and other leadership roles.
"But what of those women who may not know how to access CiwiL?
"If we look at the role of Councilors I believe that it is imperative that we must tap into that very vast base of women residing in rural communities and those women who are already taking on leadership roles at grassroots level without formal support or training.
"We need also to identify and involve women yet without a voice in our communities in this process of empowerment, leadership and indeed governance.
"And today I want to suggest that one of the mechanisms to tap into this resource base is with the help of our local government councilors, many of whom are present this evening.
"You are a vital part of the governmental and empowerment process.
"In her presentation, Dr Rosina Wiltshire, in quoting form a UN Women definition, defined transformational leadership as a “visionary process that starts at the level of individual transformation and transcends the personal to express itself at the group and institutional levels”.
"This process leads to the redefinition of gender and power relations, and the strengthening of leadership that is bold and innovative and builds on the skills of women and men in society.
"Transformational leadership, therefore is grounded in the principles and values of equity, equality, democracy, justice, caring, nonviolence and cooperation.
"The first tenet of transformational leadership is that it begins with self leadership and personal transformation and these are sentiment we all as women… as women leader and mentors must always carry with us.
"To re-iterate the words of one of our participants, we must overcome this “crisis of confidence” and “poverty of spirit” which threatens to undermine our own aspirations to political leadership.
"We have made progress but there is much to be done.
"Let us continue to learn from each other, to support each other and work with our men to bring about the changes we all seek for ourselves, our families, our communities and our countries.
"I challenge each of you to take the messages we have developed over these two days to your respective countries. Engage the women, girls and men.
"Become that voice which will signal to all those around that women have come of age.
"We are taking our rightful place in our countries and in the world.
"I wish each of you a safe journey home. I trust you had an enjoyable stay in Trinidad and Tobago.
"May God continue to bless each and everyone of you and your respective nation."
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