She pioneered the post as the first Executive Director of the National Women's Commission - but now Ann-Marie Williams is moving on. The expert in gender issues has gotten a major regional job. She resigned at the end of last month and as she finishes up at the Commission she told us what she's doing next:...
Anne Marie Williams
"I have been appointed the deputy program manager for gender and development at the CARICOM Secretariat- so taking a regional perspective on gender and development. I am humbled, it is an extreme honor, I never really thought it would happen truly but it is something that I always wanted. It is really difficult to say goodbye to Belize for a while because as you know I am very rooted in my community and the National Women's Committee is very dear to me. This is big for Belize. I can't see myself being there and Belize is not figured prominently."
Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Are you concerned about leaving it behind in the hands of another, one hopes a competent replacement will be found but still it is your baby."
Anne Marie Williams
"Yes, I won't sit here and pretend as if though I'm not concerned because of who I am, I am concerned but I also feel like whoever is appointed at the Women's Commission I will still be there to provide support. I really feel like we haven't had somebody working at the CARICOM Secretariat for a long time despite our huge contributions to CARICOM and it is an idea whose time has come and I'm glad that I've been chosen. But as I have told you before, it is part of my aspirations I have always wanted to work internationally. Everything is not good for everyone but you know what, you can't discover new oceans if you stay on the shore."
Williams is an expert in policy on anti-Trafficking in Persons - and received training in the US on a prestigious fellowship. But her expertise in that field was very little used in Belize. We asked her about that:
Jules Vasquez
"Do you leave with some sense of remorse knowing that your country is only along with Venezuela as a tier three country in the western hemisphere and that your expertise in forming a new policy or in tightening up what we have was never utilized?"
Anne Marie Williams
"Yes, certainly but you know what it was beyond my control. I was happy to know that I have been a part of the trafficking roundtable that we went to along with the attorney general and our minister and our CEO in August of this year and then that was specifically to see what Belize was going to put in place in order for it to of course be removed from tier three which has been for two years. But you never go alone and you never go quietly because you see, sometimes you can't be a prophet to your own country."
We'll have more of our interview with Ann-Marie tomorrow when she reflects on her often unlucky career in politics.
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