Caretaker for South East Clarendon, Patricia Duncan Sutherland has been appointed as the new president of the People’s National Party (PNP) Women’s Movement.

The announcement, made by the party and endorsed by Opposition Leader Mark Golding on Saturday (July 17), takes immediate effect and sees Duncan Sutherland succeeding the at least six-year appointee Jennifer Edwards.

In a brief statement on Twitter, Duncan Sutherland said her first order of business was the movement’s introduction of ‘Elevate Her’ scholarship and grant programmes, named in honour of past stalwarts within the PNP.

“As president of the @pnpwomen, I am eager to roll out numerous plans in collaboration with my committee for the upcoming executive year. The first of which is the #ElevateHer scholarships/grants,” Duncan Sutherland tweeted.

Arguably the most impactful initiative, the Beverly Manley Scholarship to ‘elevate her community’, sees the PNP Women’s Movement adopting one child from each of its 229 party divisions islandwide. The movement will provide scholarships, including financial and psycho-social support for the child and their parents.

The Marjorie Taylor Independent Woman Grant will be awarded annually to a member of the PNP Women’s Movement to advance her entrepreneurial and economic freedom goals. The movement added that the programme would be expanded to offer a grant to at least “one member per region per annum”.

And finally, the Portia Simpson Miller Strong Women in Politics Grant seeks to encourage gender parity across the Jamaican political landscape. With a view of increasing the number of women in representational politics, the movement said that the grant will lead fundraising efforts to contribute to as many female candidates’ campaigns as possible.

While she continues her wait for a berth as a Member of Parliament after two successive general elections, Duncan Sutherland has not been quiet and has stood up for women against gender-based violence and other issues.

Most recently, in May, Duncan Sutherland delivered a letter on behalf of the Women’s Movement to Kingston Mayor Delroy Williams during a ‘Thursdays in Black’ protest along Church Street in the capital.

“We are encouraging councillors islandwide to add their voices in protest and push their respective MPs to respond with the legislative amendments that can protect our women and girls. Violence against our women has no place in this country and especially not in our parliament,” she said at the time.

• See related article: ‘Thursdays in Black’ protests sweep Jamaica as voices grow against gender-based violence