Our Team in Belize

Experienced Technical Advisor with a demonstrated history of working in the international health sector. Skilled in Immunization, Health Communication, Epidemiology, Prevention, Reproductive Health, and Health Promotion. Strong professional medical doctor with a Masters in Public Health from University of the West Indies and a Certificate in Public Health Policy and Management focused in Public Health Policy from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Prior to joining UNAIDS in 2004, Mr. Guwani was an M&E Specialist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Senior Program Evaluator for the Red Cross HIV and AIDS Education and Prevention Programs. In 2001 James received his Doctorate in Medical Epidemiology from the Pennsylvania State University. He also holds a joint Master’s degree in Public Health and International Development Studies from Ohio University.

Ms. Talbert has a strong background in population and statistical development with over 30 years of experience in the Caribbean and East Africa. She has led population and housing censuses, poverty assessment and other social and economic surveys in several countries.

Prior to her appointment as Director at the UNFPA Sub-Regional Office for the Caribbean and Representative to Jamaica, Ms Talbert served as Senior Statistician with the World Bank Poverty and Equity Global Practice in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania where she managed the Statistical Development Project (2014-2021). Under her leadership, this project resulted in the improvement of the statistics law, strengthening of statistical and administrative data, and the enhancement of statistical infrastructure and human resource capacity. During her tenure in Tanzania, she also provided technical support to statistical offices in Zanzibar, Mozambique, Somalia and other East African member states.

In previous jobs, Ms. Talbert served as Chief Statistician, Government of the Cayman Islands (2009-2014); Statistical Consultant, Government of Guyana (2007-2008) and Deputy Chief Statistician, Government of Belize (2001-2007). She has also served as a consultant to the CARICOM Statistical Unit in analysing and preparing 2000 Census Country Reports.

Ms. Talbert is a native of Belize. She holds a BSc in Sociology and Public Administration, Minnesota State University, Mankato; MPhil in Population and Development, Centre for Development Studies, Kerala State, India and; MS in Demography, Florida State University. She was also a participant in the UNFPA Global Training Programme in Population and Development (1993-1994).

A national of Colombia, Liliana is a journalist and communications specialist with twenty-seven years of experience in the field — including twenty-three years with the UN and four years as a news producer.

As the director for the United Nations Information Centre for the Caribbean Area (UNIC Caribbean), Liliana works to educate Caribbean audiences about the work of the UN globally and provides communications support to various UN offices and agencies operating within the Caribbean region.

Before joining UNIC Caribbean, Liliana served as a Regional Communications Officer for the Development Coordination Office based in Panama. This position entailed managing a network of communication professionals across 25 countries. In previous years, she acted as Chief of Public Information and Communication Strategy in the UN Verification Mission in Colombia.

Prior to joining the Mission, she served as Information Officer for 17 years at UNIC Bogotá, which also covers Ecuador and Venezuela, and led public information activities.

Trained as a biochemist, Martin developed a management career between 1992 and 2003, holding regional management posts for Latin America and the Caribbean for Agro-Chemical companies. Due to convictions on social and political issues, he was an actively engaged citizen, participating in civil society activities with a focus on public policy issues. These convictions and experience moved him to become directly involved in strengthening democracy and good governance in Guatemala, leaving the private sector to engage in public policy design, analysis and implementation. During 2004, Martin was responsible of the "Security Advisory Office to the Guatemalan Congress". He facilitated the participation of civil society groups in the formulation of security sector policies through collaboration with congressional committees and parliamentary groups. In 2005 was appointed "Deputy Secretary at the Presidential Secretariat for Peace", the cabinet-level office responsible for the coordination and implementation of the Peace Accords. He led the Government’s efforts to re-structure the reparations programme for victims of the internal armed conflict, and in 2006 was appointed Executive Director of the Programa Nacional de Resarcimiento. After leaving public service Martin served as "Programme Officer for Haiti", developing a strategy to establish a decentralised and participatory dialogue process for peace and development in the Caribbean country. In 2011 Martin was appointed General Manager of Guatemala's Coffee Association to restructure the administrative body and strengthen the Association's ties and relations with private and public entities, and is actually Executive Secretary of Transparency Alliance, a civil society platform to advocate and promote integrity and transparency policies and measures across public and private sector.

Ms. Sylvie Bertrand (Canada, Bolivia) joined the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime for Central America and the Caribbean (UNODC ROPAN) as its new Regional Representative.

Bringing extensive experience to the region, Sylvie joined UNODC in 2004. She has served both in the UNODC’s field network in Kenya and South Africa and at its Headquarters in Vienna. More recently she served as Deputy Regional Representative at the Regional Office for Eastern Africa and prior to joining UNODC’s management team, she worked at UNODC in various capacities, including as Advisor, Expert, Programme Coordinator and Head of Pillar, implementing UNODC’s health and social development mandate, including HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support of people who use drugs and people living and working in prison settings, as well as UNODC’s response on drug use prevention, treatment and care.

Before joining UNODC, Sylvie served at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as a coordination officer in the Resident Coordinator's Office in South Africa and prior to joining the UN family, she had the opportunity to manage development projects in civil society organisations in Bolivia and Bulgaria. She worked in the public sector at the municipal level addressing management practices, including results-based management and services delivery.

Sylvie holds a Bachelor's degree in Political Science, advanced degrees in Municipal Management and Law, as well as a Master's degree in Public Administration from L'Ecole Administration Publique du Quebec, Canada. She is fluent in English, French and Spanish.