Nita Barrow Unit PhD Student Wins Anthony N. Sabga Caribbean Excellence Award
February 6, 2026
PhD student Shamelle Rice
PhD student Shamelle Rice has been awarded the prestigious 2026 Anthony N. Sabga Caribbean Award for Excellence in the category of Public and Civic Contributions.
Shamelle is a fierce and vibrant leader who exemplifies feminist transformational leadership. She founded and directs Jabez House, Barbados’ flagship organisation which serves women sex workers and their families, one of the most vulnerable and marginalised groups in Barbados who disproportionately experience gendered and sexual violence, poverty and social and economic marginality.
From economic empowerment to psychosocial support, community building to skills training, Jabez House prioritises the needs of sex-working women from across the Caribbean, affirming their right to be, their right to a good life and to decent work. This is life-giving and sustaining work to which Shamelle has been committed since 2012, and which has reached over 800 women from several Caribbean countries.
“I am pleased to offer my heartfelt congratulations to Shamelle on this singular achievement. Shamelle exemplifies the best of Cave Hill students and alumni – that critical link between knowledge production, praxis and tireless commitment to social transformation,” noted Dr Tonya Haynes, Head of the Institute for Gender and Development Studies: Nita Barrow Unit.
“For almost 15 years, Shamelle has nurtured a model of community engagement that centres women who are too often erased from national development discourse—sex workers navigating violence, poverty, exclusion, and shame. Jabez House is more than a physical space; it is a site of feminist reimagination where care, creativity, and livelihood intersect. Women are not merely offered opportunities to learn new skills; they are ushered into a community of care, mutual understanding and respect. Their voices are amplified. They are seen, and they see each other. They are invited to co-create new possibilities for their futures.”
In addition, Shamelle is an author and scholar whose autoethnography of her work with Jabez House is published in one of the most established women’s studies journals. Her commitment to knowledge creation and to mentorship secures the generative nature of her leadership. In 2023, Shamelle served as a tutor in the Caribbean Institute in Gender and Development: An Intensive Training programme, the region’s premier Gender and Development programme offered by the Institute for Gender and Development Studies: Nita Barrow Unit since 1994. As a tutor, she offered one-on-one mentorship to community leaders and state functionaries seeking to do transformative work in their own countries.
Shamelle is currently pursuing a PhD in Gender and Development Studies at the Institute for Gender and Development Studies: Nita Barrow Unit. Her doctoral research is located in the sub-field of Critical Studies on Men and Masculinities.
The Anthony N Sabga Caribbean Awards for Excellence were initiated by Anthony N. Sabga, founder and chairman emeritus of the ANSA McAL Group of Companies in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Launched in 2005, the awards were created to recognise and reward excellence in the Caribbean region, as well as to bring awareness of the significant work done in the region to improve the lives of its people. Prizes are awarded in the spheres of Arts & Letters, Science & Technology, and Public & Civic Contributions
