Eunice Silva (born April 1956) is a

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

an civil engineer, writer and politician from

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

Career

Eunice Andrade da Silva Spencer Lopes was born on

Santiago, Cape Verde Santiago (Portuguese language, Portuguese for “James, son of Zebedee, Saint James”) is the largest island of Cape Verde, its most important agricultural centre and home to half the nation's population. Part of the Sotavento Islands, it lies b ...

in April 1956 and was the second-eldest of nine siblings. She attended the Technical and Industrial Institute in

Rostov Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and graduated with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in civil engineering in 1980. Returning to Cape Verde in 1981 Silva joined the state-owned construction company and also became a member of the Organization of Cape Verdean Women (OCVW), a women's rights campaign group. She studied economics at the

University of Havana The University of Havana (UH; ) is a public university located in the Vedado district of Havana, the capital of Cuba. Founded on 5 January 1728, the university is the oldest in Cuba, and one of the first to be founded in the Americas. Originall ...

, Cuba in 1995 and gained a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

degree from the

Central Connecticut State University Central Connecticut State University (Central Connecticut, CCSU, Central Connecticut State, or informally Central) is a public university in New Britain, Connecticut. Founded in 1849 as the State Normal School, CCSU is Connecticut's oldest publi ...

in 2001. Upon returning to Cape Verde Silva joined the Ministry for Infrastructure, Planning and Housing, having resigned her membership of OCVW. She was director of the ministry's studies and planning office and sat on its public and private works permits commission. Silva later entered the private sector and became secretary-general of the country's contractors association. Silva was elected to the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

in 2011. She has since served as vice-president of the Economic, Environment and Spatial Planning Specialized Commission. and president of the Cape Verde Parliamentary Network for the Environment, Combating Desertification and Poverty. Silva arranged a nationwide vote in 2013 to determine Cape Verde's seven greatest wonders and subsequently produced the ''Cape Verde Wonders catalogue''. She was in charge of the response to the 2014–15 eruption of Fogo, including provision of housing, money and employment to those affected. Silva also presided over the parliamentary inquiry into the loss of the ''Vicente'' ferry on 8 January 2015 which caused the deaths of 15 people. On 22 June 2016 Silva was appointed Minister for Infrastructure, Planning and Housing in the Movement for Democracy cabinet of

Ulisses Correia e Silva José Ulisses de Pina Correia e Silva (; born 4 June 1962) is a Cape Verdean businessman and politician who has been Prime Minister of Cape Verde since 22 April 2016. He took office after his party, the Movement for Democracy, won the 20 March ...

. Silva is also vice-president of the Alliance of Parliamentarians and Local Elected Representatives for the Protection of the Environment in Countries on the West African Coast (APPEL), a grouping of elected officials of the members of the Subregional Fisheries Commission (Cape Verde,

The Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...

, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau,

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

, Sierra Leone). Silva has written for Cape Verde newspapers on matters of urban planning and society. She is married, has two children and three grandchildren.

References

{{authority control Movement for Democracy (Cape Verde) politicians Cape Verdean writers People from Santiago, Cape Verde University of Havana alumni Central Connecticut State University alumni Members of the National Assembly (Cape Verde) Government ministers of Cape Verde Women government ministers of Cape Verde