Carolyn Trench-Sandiford is a leading advocate, in media, conferences and forums, for healthy and reformed governance and planning frameworks that are designed to reduce gender and spatial inequities, to eliminate economic and social disparity, and to improve the quality of lives of vulnerable populations and marginalized communities.

In her work, she champions the Sustainable Development Goals, and partners with public and private sector and civil society organizations, academia and community groups to deliver on SDG11-safe, inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable communities. Professionally, Ms. Trench-Sandiford is eminently qualified in the fields of Planning, Planning and Environmental Law, and Poverty Reduction Policy and Practice.

Carolyn is the President of the Belize Association of Planners and the Caribbean Planners Association, and is a Vice-President of the Commonwealth Association of Planners. She is also a member of Caribbean 2030 Leaders Network, a regional think and do tank, with a mandate to improving the Caribbean’s socio-political and economic trajectory, and has served as a member of the Physical and Environmental Planning Sub-Sector Committee of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency and of the Advisory Committees of the Caribbean Network for Urban Land Management and the Urban Planning Programme of the University of Technology. She is also recognized as a UN Global Evaluation Expert.

Elizabeth is a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory, first elected in 2016. Born in Tonga and migrating to Australia at 9 years old, she is the first (and so far, only) person of Pacific Island heritage to be elected to any Australian parliament. Elizabeth is the chair of the Assembly’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts, which examines government spending including the overall annual budget and considers reports presented by the Auditor-General to parliament.

Prior to her service in the Legislative Assembly, Elizabeth ran a family law practice and was a passionate advocate for women’s empowerment and domestic violence reduction.

Hon. Gervais Henrie is the Deputy Speaker of the Seychelles National Assembly since October 2020. His election followed the landslide victory of the Opposition party, Linyon Demokratik Seselwa (LDS) in the historic first change of government since country’s independence in 1976.

Hon. Henrie first served as a Proportionately Elected Member for the Opposition party, Seychelles National Party (SNP) in the 4th National Assembly which was in session from 2007 to 2011.

In September 2011, Hon. Henrie founded his own weekly newspaper – Le Seychellois Hebdo – a weekly political newspaper.

In September 2016, he was elected as a member of the 6th National Assembly for the district of Mont Buxton for the Opposition party, LDS. In October 2020, he became the first MNA to successfully defend his mandate in the constituency and return to the National Assembly as a ruling party MNA.

Hon. Henrie is also the Chairperson of the Standing Orders Committee and a member of the Scrutiny of Bills Committee.

Matthew has over a decade of experience working in the field of institutional parliamentary strengthening, parliamentary professional development and parliamentary diplomacy. He has been Head of Programmes at the CPA Headquarters Secretariat since July 2019. In his current capacity, he has strategic oversight for all programme delivery across the CPA Headquarters including all three CPA networks (Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians, CPA Small Branches and Commonwealth Parliamentarians with Disabilities). As a member of the Secretariat’s senior management team, he is central in directing the work of the overall organisation. Matthew also reports to and advises the CPA International Executive Committee in the governance of the Association. In addition to his main role at the CPA, he was appointed an Expert Advisor to the Anguilla House of Assembly Administration Committee in 2022 to advice on ongoing reform.  

Prior to his appointment in 2019, he was Deputy Head of International Partnerships at CPA UK, which included overseeing and devising the CPA’s election observation methodology and coordinating over seven Missions to UK Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. This work has resulted in electoral reform in all affected jurisdictions. Whilst at CPA UK, Matthew also held the roles of Deputy Head of Multilateral Projects; Americas, Caribbean and Europe (ACE) Programme Manager; Private Secretary to the CPA International Chairperson and CPC 2011 Project - Office Manager. 

Before joining CPA UK, Matthew worked for five years in the House of Commons, UK Parliament as a Communications Administrator within the Office of the Chief Executive, and as Senior Officer Clerk in the Vote Office.