Jean Lowry has been IICA’s Representative to Belize since April 2014 following a similar posting as Representative in Barbados. She obtained her Masters of Science degree in Resources and Environment from Canada’s University of Calgary in 1986. After 15 years doing a broad range of environmental consulting work in Canada she moved overseas, spending 17 years designing, managing and evaluating international development projects in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. Jean Lowry has a deep appreciation of rural poverty and development and the role agriculture can play in poverty reduction and economic growth. She holds a particular interest in the empowerment of women and youth and in developing linkages with the private sector towards economic growth.