Honourable Alvina Reynolds is the current President of the Senate (Upper House of Parliament) in Saint Lucia. She is the 5^th woman to hold this position.

Hon Reynolds is the former Minister of Health, Wellness, Human Services and Gender Relations (2011 – 2016) and Member of Parliament for Babonneau for this same period. She is currently the Chair of the Women’s Parliamentary Caucus of Saint Lucia.

Hon Reynolds holds a Bachelor of Philosophy in Education and Professional Studies from the University of Birmingham and a Master of Arts in International Social Work and Community Development from the University of East London.                     

She is a qualified teacher and School Guidance Counsellor and has taught in St. Lucia and London. She has worked with various agencies including UNDP and the World Bank HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Project (Saint Lucia). As community worker in Saint Lucia, she has facilitated sessions with youth, teachers, principals, parents, Education Officers, Peace Corps Volunteers, faith-based organizations and Kids’ Club Workers within the hotel industry.

Hon Reynolds has worked as Health and Family Life Consultant in Montserrat and Turks & Caicos Islands.

Hon. Gervais Henrie, MNA is the Deputy Speaker of the Seychelles National Assembly.

He is an award-winning journalist with over 27 years’ experience in radio, television, print and online journalism. He started his career with the national broadcaster, Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) where he worked as a Journalist, Radio Producer & TV Presenter for 15 years. He was also a Correspondent of the Rhodes University based news agency, Highway Africa News Agency from South Africa specialising in ICT reporting.

In September 2011, he founded his own weekly newspaper – Le Seychellois Hebdo – a weekly political newspaper. As well as being adept in the Media profession, he also has an interest in reading, travelling, hiking and the arts.

He first served as a Proportionately Elected Member for the Opposition party, Seychelles National Party (SNP) in the 4th National Assembly of Seychelles which was in session from 2007 to 2011.

In September 2016, he was elected as a member of the 6th National Assembly for the district of Mont Buxton for the Opposition party, Linyon Demokratik Seselwa (LDS). In October 2020, he became the first MNA to successfully defend his mandate in the constituency and return to the National Assembly as a ruling party MNA. He was also elevated to the position of Deputy Speaker by his peers.

As well as representing the district of Mont Buxton in the National Assembly, he is also the Chairperson of the Standing Orders Committee and a member of the Scrutiny of Bills Committee.

Hon Dulcie Tei is the only elected female member of the Tonga Parliament. She was elected to Parliament in 2022 as the People’s Representative for the Tongatapu 6 Constituency. She is the Chairperson of the Tonga Parliament’s Standing Committee on Population and Development and a Member of the Standing Committee on Environment and Climate Change and the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Fisheries. As a Member of these Standing Committees, Hon Dulcie Tei is working closely with women to advocate for the strengthening of legislation for gender inclusiveness and she continuously advocates for funding and budget allocations to facilitate and enable NGOs and CSOs to support and foster women’s participation in climate governance.  Before she was elected as a Member of Parliament, she was a teacher and educator for more than 30 years at Tonga High School, Queen Salote College and Tonga’s Ministry of Education. She has played a pivotal role in educating and empowering young girls and women of Tonga through her teaching and now as a Member of Parliament.

Marianne Gilchrist is an Aotearoa/New Zealand Qualified Lawyer who consults to a range of national and international clients on legal, policy and people and culture matters. Marianne has worked with prominent organisations such as Deloitte, The World Bank, the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the East-West Center.

Marianne is particularly passionate about integrating her knowledge of law with opportunities to empower women and has demonstrated thought leadership on gender issues. Marianne served as an organiser and researcher for the Women20 for the G20 Inaugural Asia-Pacific Dialogue on women’s economic empowerment and conducted research on women’s rights in ASEAN.

Marianne is currently focusing her time on creating global partnerships and convening multi-stakeholder coalitions to advance climate, sustainability and gender equality issues at the Arizona State University (ASU) Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory. She leads the WE Empower UN SDG Challenge (global competition for women entrepreneurs who are advancing the SDGs through sustainable business practices) and SDG Training for Parliamentarians (videos and materials to educate key decision makers on advancing the SDGs 5/13).

As a university student, Marianne was an integral member of the Student Volunteer Army, an internationally recognized movement that mobilized students following the Christchurch earthquakes of 2010–2011.