For the first time in Belize, a woman has been awarded the United States Secretary of State Women in Public Service Award. This award which was launched earlier this year by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is a training colloquium which is an academic conference looking to bring together policy makers, academics and women leaders from all over the world.
Nearly 200 nominations were received and only 50 were accepted. Amongst the 50 women selected to participate in the pre-colloquium on December 15 and a one-day leadership training is U.D.P. Caribbean Shores’ political aspirant and Women’s Commission Executive Director Ann-Marie Williams.
In an interview with Belize City media Ann- Marie spoke with reporters about the award on Wednesday, November 30.
“My nomination came from the US Ambassador Vinai Thumallapally himself and over 200 women were actually selected from all over the world and I was told that only 50 from that 200 and odd would be chosen and I am happy to know that I am one of that 50,” stated Ann-Marie Williams. “Among the group of women chosen they are from all over world, it’s an opportunity for women to come together to do training in political leadership, in public service, to actually do speaking engagements.”
Ann-Marie’s trip begins in San Francisco which is an international leadership program where the group of women will be travelling to various cities in the United States and it will culminate with the training colloquium in Washington DC on December 15. The Colloquium will take place in Washington where the event will be chaired by the US Secretary of State herself, Hillary Clinton.
“For me that is a great opportunity to meet Hillary Clinton because she is one of the women that I really admire,” stated Williams. “I am really looking forward to the opportunity, see what are some of the things that they are doing in their respective countries that we can learn from here that certainly I can bring back. Need I add that it is a very timely thing, it is at a time when I am trying to become the standard bearer for the Caribbean Shores constituency, what a great opportunity to meet these women and to network and to actually build bridges that we can actually use here.”
Ann-Marie will be participating in a 10 day training which starts off in San Francisco and end in Washington, DC.
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