Carolyn Allison Rodrigues-Birkett (born September 16, 1973"Meet the New Cabinet Members"
GINA. ) is a Guyanese politician who was appointed Permanent Representative of Guyana to the United Nations in 2020.New Permanent Representative of Guyana presents credentials
United Nations biographical note BIO/5323 (2 October 2020). Retrieved 23 December 2020. She previously served as Director of the

Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security. Its Latin motto, , translates ...

Liaison Office in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

from 2017 to 2020 and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guyana from 2008 to 2015.

Life and career

Rodrigues, an

Amerindian In the Americas, Indigenous peoples comprise the two continents' pre-Columbian inhabitants, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with them in the 15th century, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with the pre-Columbian population of ...

,David Mangurian
"The "Iron Woman" of Guyana"
, IBDAmerica, August 2001. was born in Moruca,

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, Barima-Waini Region. After attending a private school in Georgetown, she received a scholarship for Amerindians and went to study

business administration Business administration is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. Overview The administration of a business includes the performance o ...

at the

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and returned to Guyana in 1993. She was required by her scholarship to work for Amerindian communities, and as a result she left the lumber company where she worked and instead went to work for the

Inter-American Development Bank The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB or IADB) is an international development finance institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America. It serves as one of the leading sources of development financing for the countri ...

's Social Impact Amelioration Programme (SIMAP) in Guyana, although this meant 65% less pay. She became Coordinator of SIMAP's Amerindian Projects Programme, holding that post until 2001, when she went to study in social work at the

University of Guyana The University of Guyana, in Georgetown, Guyana, is Guyana's national and most prestigious higher education institution. It was established in April 1963 with the following Mission: "To discover, generate, disseminate, and apply knowledge of th ...

. Rodrigues was appointed to the Cabinet as Minister of Amerindian Affairs in April 2001. Following the 2006 general election, she was reappointed Minister of Amerindian Affairs and sworn in on 4 September 2006. After nearly seven years as Minister of Amerindian Affairs, she was succeeded by Pauline Campbell-Sukhai on 4 January 2008. She was then appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs on 9 April 2008, replacing Rudy Insanally."Rodrigues appointed Foreign Affairs Minister"
GINA, April 9, 2008. She was sworn in on April 10. Rodrigues continued to serve as Minister of Foreign Affairs until the People's Progressive Party (PPP) lost the May 2015 general election. She was subsequently offered a spot on the PPP's list of MPs, but she chose not to take a seat in the National Assembly, preferring to work abroad. She was appointed Director of the

Liaison Office with the

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in August 2017, and Permanent Representative of Guyana to the United Nations in 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodrigues, Carolyn 1973 births Living people 21st-century Guyanese politicians 21st-century Guyanese women politicians Female foreign ministers Foreign ministers of Guyana Guyanese women diplomats Government ministers of Guyana Women government ministers of Guyana People from Barima-Waini University of Regina alumni University of Guyana alumni Guyanese people of indigenous peoples descent Guyanese women ambassadors Indigenous women of the Americas