Mia Mottley, leader of the opposition Barbados Labour Party, will serve as guest speaker for this year's First Global Vision Awards ceremony, to be held next Wednesday at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.

Mottley was elected to the Barbados Parliament in September 1994 as part of the new Barbados Labour Party administration, led by Prime Minister Owen Arthur. Prior to being elected as a member of parliament, she served as one of two opposition senators in the upper house between 1991 and 1994, where she served as shadow minister of culture and community development.

During that time, she also served on numerous parliamentary joint select committees on areas ranging from praedial larceny and domestic violence.

Minister of education

One of the youngest persons ever to be assigned a ministerial portfolio, Mottley was appointed minister of education, youth affairs and culture in 1994. During her tenure as minister, she was the visionary behind the Education Reform programme which was captured in that ministry's White Paper, 'Each Child Matters'.

In 1996, and again in 1997, she served as chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Standing Committee of Ministers of Education.

Mottley ably led the education ministry's largest-ever public sector investment project, the Education Sector Enhancement Programme, a US$213 million comprehensive reform initiative. One of the major components of this programme involved the widespread use of information and communications technologies to assist with improving the quality of the teaching-learning process. In this regard, Barbados was the first CARICOM nation to take its entire education system in this direction.

Her portfolio

Part of her portfolio as minister between 1994 and 2001 included responsibility for youth affairs and culture. In youth affairs, she directed the creation of this department, including the very successful establishment of a youth entrepreneurs' scheme and a national youth development programme. Her work in culture stands out in respect of the programming she directed, reflecting both culture as a developmental tool in the fashioning of a society, and the expansion of the economic aspects of the arts.

In August 2001, Mottley made history when she was appointed attorney general, the first woman in Barbados to hold this position. This appointment also included the portfolio of home affairs. She achieved yet another first when she was called to the Inner Bar of Barbados, becoming the youngest-ever Queen's Counsel on island.

Widely recognised speaker

Two years after becoming attorney general, Mottley was invited to serve as the island's second female deputy prime minister. In this capacity, she was also the chairman of the Social Council of Barbados and the deputy chairman of Barbados' Economic Council. Her responsibilities also extended to the chairmanship of a number of key Cabinet subcommittees, notably telecommunications reform and one oversight of the administrative and legislative initiatives to prepare Barbados for the advent of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy.

A widely recognised regional and international speaker, Mottley also delivered several lectures, keynote addresses and was a featured speaker at regional and international events. Mottley has been recognised by Essence magazine as one of the 100 emerging leaders of the 21st century.

This year's Vision Award nominees are Lorna Bell, executive director of Special Olympics Jamaica; Maia Chung-Smith, founder of Maia Chung Autism and Disabilities Foundation; Winsome Wilkins, president and chief executive officer, United Way of Jamaica; Dr Cecile Walden, principal of Sam Sharpe Teachers' College; and Caroline Miles of Seaforth High School in St Thomas.