Deborah Hickling Gordon, lecturer in cultural studies and the cultural and creative economy and coordinator of the B.A. in Cultural and Creative Industries at the Institute of Caribbean Studies, The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, has been invited by UNESCO to take part as an expert in the UNESCO Expert Meeting on the Implementation of Cultural Rights.

The meeting takes place on November 13, 2026, at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

The invitation was extended by Nayef Al-Fayez, Assistant Director-General of UNESCO’s Culture Sector. It brings together experts and practitioners from diverse regions and disciplines to examine the challenges of putting cultural rights into practice as it builds on the momentum of MONDIACULT 2025, UNESCO’s World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development.

Participants will identify practical approaches that can be adapted to different cultural and institutional settings. Their input will shape a new UNESCO policy guidance note. The note will help Member States and other stakeholders design policies that promote equitable access to, participation in and contribution to cultural life.

Through UNESCO Dr Hickling Gordon is currently facilitating the development of Belize’s National Strategy and Roadmap for their cultural sector.

She authored the cultural economy framework for Jamaica’s Cultural Policy between 2013 and 19; and led capacity building in cultural policy reporting in Belize, St Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago among other cultural economy projects. She is an associate in the PJ Patterson Institute for Africa Caribbean Advocacy and a member of the Pan African Enterprise Economic Research Council based in Trinidad and Tobago.