In 2024, Commonwealth Alumnus Resa Noel McBarnett was appointed Head of Site for the University of the West Indies (UWI) Global Campus based in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Launched in 2023, the Global Campus offers online learning for students across the Caribbean region. To support its distance learning student communities, UWI operates several administrative sites, including on Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Prior to this role, Resa was Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, Civil Aviation, Sustainable Development and Culture. During her three-year tenure, she oversaw the implementation and monitoring of government policies and programmes for four departments and four statutory bodies.
Under her leadership, the ministry delivered 15 capital projects, including the Government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines-World Bank Unleashing the Blue Economy in the Caribbean project, and Resa led collaborations across government ministries during the COVID-19 pandemic to respond to the devasting impact of the pandemic on cruise tourism.
Developing policy research skills through academia
As Permanent Secretary, Resa’s role required a vast range of skills to manage and implement government policies and projects and work across ministries and with multiple stakeholders.
Resa credits her Commonwealth Shared Scholarship and MPhil in Children’s Literature at the University of Cambridge in honing the skills required for the role. This included embracing her natural desire to connect with people by joining student associations, trying new things, such as joining her college rowing team, and developing her research skills. The latter, she reflects, was an important asset.
During her Master’s studies, Resa worked with giants in the field of children’s literature who introduced her to the fundamentals of conducting research. At its core, research requires intensive reading and synthesising of information, a process which also underpins the development of policy papers and government legislation.
“Having to read legislation, do research, and synthesise all of that to build the research into policy papers and then break it down for the public, a minister, the parliament. Understanding that with the work we do, you have to have research to support what you’re doing.”
At the start of her role, Resa had to learn quickly the different procedures and policies under her remit. The ministry represents some of the most important sectors in the country, requiring both a broad and in-depth understanding of diverse policies, from tourism to civil aviation to culture.
She notes this was a challenging period, at times made difficult due to resistance from some colleagues and to new ideas, and that she was a young woman in a senior leadership position. The resilience required to manage these situations is another skill she developed whilst at the University of Cambridge, though in difficult circumstances.
“When I studied at the University of Cambridge, it was a culture shock… And there were so many things I learned from that experience in terms of resilience. Some days were better than others.”
During her studies, Resa was confronted with questions about her race and deserving of the opportunity to study at the university. These were situations she’d not previously had to manage and were designed to undermine her. She shares that this negative experience has enabled her to sense when and where she may face confrontations professionally and how to prepare for these.
Despite this, Resa is grateful for her Commonwealth Shared Scholarship and the transformative opportunity to study in the UK.
“Having had the opportunity to study at the University of Cambridge sent me along a very good trajectory. Being able to work with some of the top researchers in education, being around students, my colleagues, who are at the top of their field in different aspects of education, really drove me.”
The importance of stakeholder consultation for tangible change
During her tenure as Permanent Secretary, Resa managed 15 capital projects. One project was Unleashing the Blue Economy in the Caribbean (UBEC) funded by the World Bank. The project sought to strengthen governance and policies for the blue economy in Grenada, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines through the sustainable use of marine resources for economic growth and improved livelihood whilst preserving ocean systems.
This was a multi-ministry project, which required Resa to identify and connect with appropriate colleagues from different ministries and departments, representing agriculture, fisheries, finance, economic planning, and waste management to name a few. Resa notes the project presented an important introduction to stakeholder management and consultation.
Working with the World Bank was an important opportunity. It also introduced a performance pressure for those involved to ensure the project was delivered to the World Bank’s requirements as the funder whilst addressing the needs of the people of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Negotiation became a critical skill which Resa developed during the meetings and discussions. This required her to be confident and comfortable with pausing meetings, asking for time to discuss or review things in more detail and confirming the right people had been consulted and provided input.
She shares this was daunting at first, leaving a feeling of being disrespectful or unreasonable. However, with practice and a shift in mindset, she embraced the power of negotiation as a means of asserting herself and her responsibilities to the people of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to ask necessary questions.
“We had to ensure what we’re doing was something that would stand up to scrutiny, that the deliverables and outputs were tangible. So, I felt very honoured and privileged to have been a part of that project from the beginning.”
Resa is proud of the project impact. Tangible outcomes include farmers receiving equipment and crops to combat food insecurity and enhancements to the tourism industry, with a further recommendation on the provision of solid waste management in one of the Grenadine islands.
For Resa personally, a lasting outcome has been understanding the importance of stakeholder consultation.
“It taught me a lot in terms of stakeholder consultation, and that could be linked back to research, in terms of needing people’s perspectives and using these to reshape and to refine. So now, I’m very big on stakeholder consultation. We don’t do things without consulting the people. We don’t do top-down. We don’t say, this is what you need. We talk to you.”
Leading the Caribbean’s tourism recovery in a time of crisis
One of the greatest challenges encountered whilst Permanent Secretary was the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Saint Vincent and the Grenadine’s tourism sector. The global lockdown devastated the tourism industry with no cruise ships reaching the islands in 2020/21.
With the introduction of the COVID-19 vaccine and subsequent lifting of travel restrictions, Resa created and led an ad-hoc committee, the Cruise Task Force (CTF), to identify ways to re-introduce tourism opportunities whilst adhering to strict COVID-19 guidelines.
The CTF was comprised of colleagues working in the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Health, Wellness, and Ministry of Environment to collaborate and execute protocols to allow cruise lines to arrive and for passengers to disembark in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
The protocol developed enabled fully vaccinated passengers and crew to disembark as part of an organised ‘bubble’. The ‘bubble’ was established to ensure that cruise lines abided by the prevailing precautionary measures outlined in the Cruise Tourism Protocols.
The bubbles were granted permission to visit selected locations and interact with vaccinated service providers. Through this intervention, approximately 250 cruise ships visited Saint Vincent and the Grenadines during the 2021/2022 season, a stark contrast to the previous year.
Mentoring and empowering the next generation
Resa’s new appointment has an important family connection. Her mother was a career civil servant with the Government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and studied at the very site where Resa now works.
“I recall coming to the site as a young girl and sitting at the back of the classroom while my mother was at the front with the other students and lecturers. Just being part of that environment.”
Her early introduction to this educational environment has fuelled her lifelong passion for promoting the value of education in any role or situation in which she finds herself.
Alongside her professional experiences, Resa has been an active member of the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Girl Guide Association, holding several leadership roles including Guide Leader. In this capacity, she has mentored girls and young women and executed programmes aimed at their holistic development.
In her new role, she hopes to have more opportunities to share her skills and experiences to support youth and young professionals, in particular first-generation university students and first-generation young professionals in senior management positions.
“I see women like myself in senior management roles. I go to meetings, and I recognise that sometimes people may look intimidated, they may feel intimidated because they don’t know certain things, or they don’t know who to tap on in terms of networking.”
Asked for her advice for future women leaders, Resa highlights the importance of protecting your mental health and wellbeing, surrounding yourself with people who support you and share your values and goals, and patience. And most of all, setting the tone.
“You have to teach people how to treat you. We want to do well. And as women, in comparison to men, I feel like we have to do more. But at the same time, we have to teach people how to treat and maintain those boundaries.”
Resa Noel McBarnett is a 2008 Commonwealth Shared Scholar from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. She completed an MPhil in Children’s Literature at the University of Cambridge.
