Jacqueline Sealy-Burke - BSB Consulting

Senior Partner / Consultant

About

Jacqueline Sealy-Burke
Has over 20 years practical experience as a manager, lawyer, educator and consultant. She has local, regional and international experience having worked throughout the Caribbean region and North America. Her extensive experience in social justice work is combined with years of practical knowledge in consultancy, project management, policy development, training and organizational leadership. Public speaking and technical writing have featured significantly in her professional career. She is a certified mediator.

Email: sealy@bs-bconsulting.com

EDUCATION

2003

Legal Education Certificate (LEC)

Hugh Wooding Law School Trinidad

1991

Bar Admission Certification

Law Society of Ontario Canada

1989

Master of Laws (LL.M)

Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Ontario, Canada

1987

Bachelor of Laws (LL.B)

University of the West Indies (UWI) Cave Hill Campus Barbados

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

Member of the Grenada Bar Association

Member of the Law Society of Ontario

Certified Mediator, OECS Supreme Court

Overview

WORK EXPERIENCE

2003-Present

Consultant (over 80 international and regional projects)

2003-2017

Executive Director, Legal Aid & Counseling Clinic

2003-2013

Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Public Health, St. George’s University

2007-2009

Adjunct Lecturer, School of Arts and Sciences, St. George’s University

2002-2003

Attorney at Law, Ciboney Chambers, St. George’s

1995-2000

Managing Partner, Burke Sealy-Burke Law Firm, Ontario, Canada

1997-1999

Sessional Lecturer, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Ontario, Canada

1991-2007

Sessional Lecturer, Department of Gender Studies, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

1992-1993

Articles of Clerkship, Office of the Official Guardian, Ontario, Canada

ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT

Executive Director

Legal Aid and Counseling Clinic, St. George’s, Grenada Director of Multidisciplinary Clinic

Managed the strategic direction of a non-governmental organization with a mandate to promote social justice

Administrative oversight over both the Legal and Psychosocial Departments

Offered leadership to a full-time staff of twelve (12), in addition to volunteers, interns and practicum students

Responsibility for institutional capacity building and training

Mobilization of funding support, inclusive of extensive grant writing

Budgetary planning and financial management

Engagement with international donors; State agencies and other social partners

Coordination of agency’s research and advocacy mandate

Lead Consultant and Project Manager

Consultant to PAHO: Lead Consultant for a team of consultants on a UN Spotlight Initiative Project (Grenada) aimed at improving service responses (health, social service, police and justice sectors) to violence against women and girls

Consultant to UN Women in the assessment of the regional Partnership for Peace Violence Intervention Programme.

Consultant to UN Women in the development of a training tool on gender equality in judicial decision making

Consultant to UNICEF on a large scale Situation Analysis of Juvenile Justice in Barbados. Managed research team.

Consultant to UN Women on an extensive research project. Preparation of baseline studies on the law enforcement and justice to sexual offences. Oversight of research for Antigua, St. Kitts and Grenada

Consultant to OECS Commission on a nine (9) country regional assessment of Child Justice systems across the OECS member states. This led to the development of Child Justice Action Plans for all OECS Member States. Managed team of research assistants.

Consultant to UNICEF in the development of Guidelines to assist stakeholders with the implementation of model Child Justice legislation

Consultant to National Centre of State Courts in the development of Diversion Strategies for all OECS Member States. This was followed by leading training workshops in the effective implementation of diversion.

Consultant to UNIFEM/UNICEF: Project entitled “Child Support, Poverty and Gender Equality in the Caribbean”. Led the component of the research on public assistance programming

Managing Partner

Burke, Sealy-Burke Law Firm

Managed a private law practice

POLICY DEVELOPMENT

The development of policy has featured significantly in a range of projects, several requiring production of Briefs, and Policy and Procedural Manuals, including but not limited to:

Development of Standard Operating Procedures to strengthen the Essential Services for women and girls who have been subject to violence in Grenada
Development of Guidelines to assist with the implementation of child justice legislation
Development of National Child Justice Action Plans for OECS States
Development of a Training Manual on Gender Equality in Judicial Decision Making
Development of Child Justice Assessment Reports for OECS States and Overseas Territories
Development of a Child Protection Training Manual for the OECS Supreme Court
Creation of National Diversion Strategies for OECS States
Creation of an Organizational Design for a Juvenile Treatment Residential Facility for the Government of Grenada
Development of a Human Resource and Procedural Manual for the Bacolet Juvenile Facility
Creation of Training Modules for Residential Treatment Workers for the Caribbean Development Bank
Assessment of National Foster Care Systems. Evaluation of the foster care system in St. Kitts & Nevis and Grenada
Creation of a Training Manual for Prosecutors on Legal Responses to Sexual Offences Commissioned by UN Women
Creation of National Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Protocols for both the Governments of Grenada and the British Virgin Islands
Development of a Policy Framework for the Assessment of Legal Protection of Children Orphaned or Made Vulnerable by HIV/AIDS. Commissioned by the World Bank

Training Expertise and Capacity Building

Extensive training experience across the Caribbean region and with stakeholders from diverse sectors, including law enforcement; justice; social services; medical and education:

Royal Grenada Police Force

Training of police officers in the area of domestic violence

Judicial Education Institutes of Trinidad and Jamaica

Training of Judicial Officers in bringing a Gender Equality Lens to Judicial Decision Making (Part of a Training Team)

Governments of Anguilla and British Virgin Islands

Training of Police Officers, social workers and mental health practitioners in the area of Gender Based Violence

Regional Police Training School (Barbados)

Training of Police officers and Police Prosecutors from across the region on issues relating to Gender Based Violence

Government of the British Virgin Islands

Training of Social workers, medical practitioners and Police in the area of sexual offences and domestic violence.

Government of Barbados

Training of Staff of Child Care Board on Child Protection Processes and Procedures

Government of Antigua

Training of School Counselors in the delivery of Violence Prevention Modules

Judicial Education Institutes of Jamaica and Trinidad

Training of Supreme Court and Court of Appeal Judges in judicial decision making and gender based violence

Governments of Dominica, St. Lucia, Grenada, Anguilla, Antigua and St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Training of Judicial Officers; social workers, police officers and other stakeholders in the implementation of the new OECS Child Protection and Juvenile Justice legislation.

Government of Jamaica

Training of stakeholders in that country’s recently developed Diversion Act and supporting Diversion Policy

University Teaching Experience

St. George’s University, Grenada

Adjunct Associate Professor with Department of Public Health. Designed and offered the courses Women, Law and Public Health; and Family Violence: A Public Health Perspective.

Lecturer with Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Designed and offered the Course Law for Social Workers

Osgood Hall Law School, York University, Ontario, Canada

Sessional Lecturer. Designed and lectured the course African Canadians, Racism and the Law.

University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Sessional Lecturer at the University of Toronto (New College and Woodsworth College) Designed and lectured the course Gender Issues in the Law.

Publications and Reports

The Feminization of Poverty : Maintenance Enforcement in Barbados.

LLM Thesis (1989)

Reform of Child Protection Law in the OECS and Turks & Caicos Islands

(Report prepared for the Family Law Reform and Domestic Violence in the Eastern Caribbean: Judicial and Legislative Reform Project. (2001)

Child Protection in Barbados: The Need for a National Reporting Protocol

Report Commissioned by UNICEF. (2007)

Situation Analysis Report of Juvenile Justice in the OECS

Commissioned by OECS (May 2018 –Sept. 2019)

Family Law Reform : The Social Service Implications

The Need for a Multidisciplinary Approach to Law. Report prepared for the Family Law and Domestic Violence in the Eastern Caribbean: Judicial and Legislative Reform Project. (2001)

Eliminating Gender Based Violence, Ensuring Equality: Regional Assessment of Actions to End Violence Against Women in the Caribbean

Published by UN Women (2003)

The Status of Child Protection in St. Kitts & Nevis The Need for a National Reporting

Protocol. Commissioned by UNICEF (2007)

Country Assessment Reports on Child Justice for Nine (9) OECS States

Commissioned by OECS Commission (Jun. 2016-April 2017)