WILLEMSTAD - It is an honour for me to be featured in this new segment for this article in the Curaçao Chronicle. First of all let me introduce myself dear readers. I am Marva Cecilia Browne, born on the Caribbean island of Curaçao 58 moons ago on August 19, from immigrant parents from the island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. I lived most of my life in Curaçao except for when I left to further my studies firstly at the University of the Sacred Heart in Santurce, Puerto Rico and afterwards at Point Park University in Pittsburgh, USA. I studied Communication (B.A.) and Journalism & Communication (M.A.) respectively in Puerto Rico and the U.S.A. with specialization in broadcast and written journalism. Upon my return to the island in 1992, I worked as a broadcast journalist for the oldest radio station of the Dutch Caribbean, Radio Curom Z86. An unforgettable and wonderful experience and learning school for me on responsible journalism for which to date I am very grateful and proud to have worked there. On occasions, I was a stringer for Reuter’s International news agency based in Venezuela. In 1994 -1996 I was elected the first female president of Prensa Uní, the Press Association for journalists in Curaçao.
In my eagerness to explore other challenges I left the active field of journalism to become a civil servant at the then Department of Education, Culture and Youth as policy officer in 1997. The opportunity arose to apply for the position of Secretary General for the Netherlands Antilles National Commission for UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation), a position which I was offered again when Curaçao became an autonomous partner within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. I am presently thus the Secretary General for the Curaçao National Commission for UNESCO. As Secretary General for UNESCO Curaçao you work a lot with international organisations all over the world and colleagues in different parts of the world covering the five regions of Africa, Asia & the Pacific, Europe & North America, Arab and Latin America & the Caribbean. Of course you also work with local organisations and stakeholders such as NGOs, schools, and other ministries on the island. The work I do is very rewarding when internationally you are appreciated and recognized for all your efforts to implement UNESCO’s programmes in your country. I always say to do this work you have to have the UNESCO SPIRIT. The fact that I am a person who is committed to my work makes a huge difference in being successful in what you do. I am often told that my laugh is very contagious and flows over to others. My enthusiasm when I speak or give information about UNESCO radiates from my face according to third parties. In this line of work, opportunities are presented to chair and moderate international UNESCO meetings, function as rapporteur during these meetings, organise capacity building trainings, give trainings, coordinate and facilitate the process for specific projects to take place on behalf of the organisation.
Come October 25th, Curaçao will be celebrating its 10th anniversary of becoming the 7th Associate member of UNESCO. Mind you though our relationship with UNESCO goes way back to 1983 when the Netherlands Antilles, of which Curaçao formed part of, became the first country to become an Associate Member of UNESCO by making use of the possibility granted in the UNESCO Constitution to do so.
Looking back on my career as a civil servant assigned to doing UNESCO at the Ministry of Education Science, Culture and Sports one of my greatest achievements I can highlight, even though they are many, is that we were the first Caribbean country to have an assessment done on the Media Landscape in Curaçao by using the UNESCO instrument on Media Development Indicators.
In my free time I am an active member the Girl Guides Association of Curaçao a volunteer for more than 41 years and also a member of the Soroptimist International Club Curaçao an organisation of women professionals who work towards the development of women. In the past I was also a member and President of the Board of Councillors for the JCI Youth Chapter of the JCI organisation (Junior Chamber International). As you can read I have a passion to work with our youth to make them responsible citizens for the future