Mrs. Patricia Aquing Executive Director

Patricia Aquing is the Executive Director of the Caribbean Environmental Health Institute (CEHI), which is an inter-governmental agency of CARICOM responsible for Environmental Management, with a specific focus on Environmental Health. She assumed this position in May of 2006 until further notice.

Prior to joining CEHI, she was employed by the International Labour Organisation (Caribbean Office) which is a specialized agency of the United Nations. At the ILO, she worked extensively with a number of South American agencies. She has 20 years of development experience in social and environmental issues in the Caribbean and has wide ranging experience in working with regional and international donor and technical assistance agencies.

Mrs. Aquing held the substantive position of Programme Director at CEHI and was responsible for assisting the Executive Director in the development and coordination of the CEHI's programmes. As head of the Programme Unit she was, among other things, responsible specifically for: identifying and building relationships with key Donor and Development Agencies and developing projects and programmes to sustain the work of the Institute and to meet the needs of Member States.

Mrs. Aquing received the Bachelor of Arts Degreee in Language and Linguistics from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus. Mrs. Aquing completed the Post-Graduate Diploma in Information Studies at the UWI at Mona, Jamaica. She also completed Programmes in Environment and Resource Management at the Haifa School for Managers, Israel; Watershed Management organised by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD); Development Studies and Project Management at the United Nations Staff College in Turin (formerly the ILO Turin Training Centre); Occupational Safety, Health and the Environment (ILO); Development of Technical and Vocational Training Systems (Policy and Strategy ) organised by the Inter-American Centre for Research in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CINTERFOR)and UNESCO and numerous courses on sustainable development issues as well as programme and project development organised by the CDB, UNDP, the World Bank, the IDB and others. She also undertook training courses in supervisory management, public awareness and public relations, information management and website development.

Before joining CEHI, Mrs Aquing worked with the International Labour Organisation Office for almost thirteen years where she held several portfolios including Information Officer and Caribbean Focal Point Coordinator for CINTERFOR, a sub-Agency of the ILO located in Montevideo, Uruguay. Between 1991to 1992, Mrs. Aquing held the position of Information Officer at CEHI and acted briefly as Programme Coordinator, on release from the ILO. Mrs. Aquing also worked on Projects at the UWI at St. Augustine and Cave Hill in Barbados. She is a national of Trinidad and Tobago.