GoodHeart | Dr Barbara Carby named 2024 Stella Gregory Award recipient
Published:Saturday | January 18, 2025 | 12:06 AM
The Soroptimist International Club of Jamaica Kingston (SIJK) has named disaster risk management expert Dr Barbara Carby as the 2024 recipient of the Stella Gregory Award for Excellence. The annual award honours an outstanding woman who has excelled in her field and contributed to national development.
Dr Carby is recognised for her leadership in disaster risk management, including developing and evaluating hazard management programmes and promoting risk reduction awareness at community, national, and international levels.
Speaking on what an honour it is to receive the award, she told GoodHeart: “One is always happy when one’s effort is recognised, but this award is special to me because it commemorates the life of a woman who was a pioneer and who stood for excellence. The work of the SIJK with women and girls is also dear to me, so I am very pleased.”
The award will be presented during the Club’s Charter Anniversary Luncheon and Stella Gregory Awards Ceremony to be held on Saturday, February 15 at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel.
Dr Carby most recently served as director of the Disaster Risk Reduction Centre at The University of the West Indies, where she led the centre’s programmes and acted as principal investigator for various projects. Before that, she was director of hazard management in the Cayman Islands, where she established the national disaster risk management office and implemented the national all-hazards programme. She has also worked as a consultant in the Turks and Caicos Islands and Montserrat, developing standard operating procedures for their National Emergency Operations Centres.
She is best known in Jamaica for her role as director general for the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management ,with responsibility for all aspects of Jamaica’s disaster risk management. In that capacity, she introduced multi-hazard mapping, the use of hazard and risk maps to inform community development, and inclusion of mitigation programmes as part of projects. She further extended the concept of use of hazard maps for development planning to the parish level. Dr Carby also worked in community flood management, on the Aenon Town Flood Mapping Programme, and development of community flood management plans. This project also included training community flood warning teams and development of a community flood mitigation plan.
Speaking on why Dr Carby was selected as the 2024 recipient, president of the Kingston Club of Soroptimist International Jamaica, Dawn Campbell, explained:
“Jamaica lies in a disaster-prone zone. Recent developments have highlighted the importance of anticipating and managing natural disasters as a long-term strategy for reducing risk and minimising damage to the economy. Against that background, the SIJK thought it would be appropriate to recognise the work of Dr Carby, who has devoted a lifetime to disaster risk management. Her work is even more important/relevant today as we see the devastating effects of natural disasters worldwide.”
As for young professionals starting in the field of disaster risk management, Dr Carby left a few words of advice.
“There are many aspects to disaster risk management. For those who will work in the management of emergencies and disasters, I would say, consider carefully because that requires considerable personal sacrifice–leaving home and family for days at a time during a disaster requires commitment. Also, learn from others’ experiences and encourage feedback of all sorts, including criticism, and use it to improve plans, methods, approaches. And, above all, remember, people are at the centre of all we do in disaster risk management.”