Sociologist and Head of the Mona Unit of  UWI's Institute for Gender and Development Studies, Dr. Leith Dunn, has again been named a member of a Commonwealth Elections Observer Group for the Presidential Elections in an African country. This time, she will join the team of Commonwealth observers for President Presidential elections in Rwanda which takes place on Monday, August 9.

Dr. Dunn leaves the island shortly to join a thirteen-member delegation of eminent persons drawn from Africa, Asia, North America, Europe, the Pacific and the Caribbean, appointed by Commonwealth Secretary General, His Excellency Mr. Kamelesh Sharma. The Commonwealth Observer Group will be led by former Tanzanian Prime Minister, Dr. Salim Ahmed Salim.

This is the third occasion on which Dr. Dunn is being asked to serve as a Commonwealth election observer for polls on the African continent.  In March 2002 she was part of the Commonwealth Observer Group for controversial elections in Zimbabwe. In September 2006 she was again requested to serve as part of the Observer Group for the Zambia Presidential Elections. Her current appointment will take place under the authority of the National Elections Commission of Rwanda, where the Commonwealth Observer Group has been mandated to help determine whether the conditions exist for the free expression of the will of the electors and if the results of the elections reflect the wishes of the people of Rwanda.

Dr. Dunn's latest assignment comes against the background of an active academic career in both gender studies and social development, including issues of gender and governance.