We are back for episode two of our series in commemoration of the United Nations International Day for People of African Descent! Listen in as Ikram, Brenda, and I talk with Dr. Barbara G. Reynolds, Chairperson of the United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent on the importance of the International Day for People of African Descent, the International Decade for People of African Descent, the role of Member States in promoting the Decade, and addressing racial inequality through an intersectional lens.

Ms. Reynolds is the Vice-President for Administration, Advancement and Planning at the University of the Southern Caribbean in Trinidad and Tobago. She served as Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Guyana from August 2014 to September 2019. Prior to this, Ms Reynolds was Head of Education for Save the Children UK, after having spent the previous two decades with UNICEF in programme, management and representational roles at Headquarters and country offices. Ms. Reynolds began her professional career as a teacher and continues to be involved in education. She Co-Chairs the CARICOM Digital Skills Task Force and is a Member of the Independent Technical Advisor Panel for the Global Partnership for Education. She is an active human rights professional, and an experienced human rights and gender mainstreaming facilitator. She holds a BA Education (Caribbean Union College), MA in Curriculum and Teaching (Howard University), the Post-Graduate Diploma in Distance Education (University of London) EdD in International Education Development/Curriculum and Instruction (Columbia University) and the MSt in International Human Rights Law (University of Oxford). Ms Reynolds’ second working language is Portuguese. Mandate of the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent