Sheryl-Anne Haynes is a retired Public Servant. She spent the majority of her career in the Town and Country Planning Division entering as a Town Planner 1 in 1984. She became Assistant Director in 1998 and was seconded to the Tobago House of Assembly in March 2002 as Advisor on Land Use Matters. In September 2004, on the retirement of the then Director, she was asked to return to the Town and Country Planning Division to assume the post of Director, a post she held until her promotion in 2010 to Deputy Permanent Secretary, She retired as Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Land and Marine Resources in 2013. Her passions are planning and GIS.
Ms Haynes obtained her Masters of Philosophy Degree in Town and Country Planning from Bartlett School of Architecture and Planning, University College London. In 2011 she became a fellow at Harvard University, Boston, having completed a Leadership Programme there.
As Director she upgraded the GIS system from its map making function to include analytical systems to inform policy decisions. Two of the projects created using GIS were the Guide for Hillside Development and the Site selection Programme. During that time the Town and Country Planning Division developed a comprehensive digital map base for the country and shared this data and the 2007 imagery it purchased with other government Ministries, Agencies and even the EU. Work continued more slowly during her tenure as PS in Planning as she attempted to incorporate GIS into other areas of the Ministry with limited success.
GIS was forced into the background during her tenure at the Ministries of Labour and Trade although there were clear applications for the system. In 2013, Ms Haynes became responsible for the Ministry of Land and Marine Resources and was able along with an excellent team of keen young officers to develop the static system initially created for the Land Management Division into a functional and analytical GIS providing information not only on state lands but also creating analytical programmes to inform various agricultural activities. During this time the Ministry was able to purchase 2016 photography which is currently being used to update the map base of the Surveys and Mapping Division. During this time the Ministry also hosted 2 GIS conferences, both well attended.
Ms Haynes has a wealth of experience in dealing with land use planning matters and understands the importance of timely decisions to the business world and the effective roll out of government projects. During her career she has perfected several systems to expedite the processing of applications, only one of which is using the GIS
She is a strong supporter of Caribbean integration and the development of sustainable communities both within Trinidad and Tobago and the wider Caribbean. She sees GIS as a means to help our region develop faster and smarter by providing data in a timely manner, facilitating data analysis and predicting future needs. For our economies to grow and develop information sharing and support is critical. GIS can help provide that.
