Carol Watson-Williams

Carol is a social policy analyst and researcher, with special interest in applying rights-based approach to social policy issues. She has worked for over two decades on a range of social policy issues, and has a special interest in how effective policies and programmes, grounded in data, can drive improvements in the lives of citizens, particularly women.

For the last fourteen years she has been a social policy consultant, focusing on policy development, programme monitoring and evaluation, strategic planning, policy advice and research, and gender analysis. During this time, she has achieved significant development objective through projects funded by the European Union and for various international organizations including the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), World Bank, UNICEF, UNFPA, UN Women, UN HABITAT, UNDP, and ILO.

 For years, she’s worked in multiple countries across the Caribbean, supporting the Ministries, departments and agencies of the Government of Jamaica (GOJ), and the University of the West Indies. As an effective leader with project management expertise, Carol has extensive experience in policy development, having led teams to successfully develop or revise the National Youth Policy, the National Deportation Policy, the National Policy Against Trafficking in Persons, the School Feeding Policy, and the National School Nutrition Policy.

 She has also worked with the GOJ to develop strategic plans as part of the policy making and implementation process, laying the groundwork for the actual implementation of the policies being pursued by the GOJ.  A critical aspect of these activities has been the planning and facilitation of high-level stakeholder consultations, and public consultations on the range of issues covered in her work. This has sharpened her qualitative data collections skills, allowing her to synthesis large volumes of qualitative data into actionable information for policy and programme development. She has also coordinated and implemented several national surveys, written policy focused reports of findings from data collection, and advised on policy implications of the data collected.

 Through her work, Carol has built an extensive professional network in Jamaica, comprised of senior policy and decision makers to whom she has provided policy advice, programme monitoring and evaluation, and programme development expertise over an extended period of time.

 Carol holds a Master of Science (MSc.) degree in Social Science, a Master of Arts (MA) in Communication for Social and Behaviour Change, a Bachelor of Science (BSc.)in Political Science and Law , and is a Doctoral Candidate at the Institute of Gender and Development Studies at the University of the West Indies, Mona. She has been an adjunct faculty at the Institute, lecturing an undergraduate course in Gender Analysis in Development Policies and Programmes in the Caribbean.