Aspiring policy-maker wants to make a difference in the lives of others

NALINIE Singh has often joked that the short time she spent volunteering in the Office of then Leader of the Opposition, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, taught her more than she’d ever learned during her years of university abroad.

Perhaps it was because she was exposed to the more practical side of things, as opposed to just the theoretical aspect of her Political Science and Latin America and Caribbean Studies at York University in Canada.
The 31-year-old aspiring policymaker, who likes to multitask and feels bored if she has too little on her hands to do, wants to be able to make a difference in the lives of people all across the country, thus using her current portfolio at the Office of the President (OP) to do just that.

She is presently on the Social Monitoring team at OP, which means that whenever the President and Vice President go on outreaches, she would be there to document issues raised by residents, so that she and the rest of the team can follow up with those concerns and the relevant agencies that can address them.

Nalinie, who also graduated from an online Master’s programme in Political Science from the University of Illinois, also sits on the board of the Guyana Competition and Consumer Affairs Commission, the Board of Governors for the St. Rose’s High School, and the Scholarship Selection Committee of the Ministry of the Public Service.

Nalinie also has experience in event planning, public speaking, public relations, fundraising, leadership, marketing, training teams, budgeting and social media, most of which she has acquired during her time at York, working with the College Council and at the Student and Leadership Development Office.

“I like managing multiple things at a time, and I am used to staying up long hours. I get bored if I’m not busy,” Nalinie told Pepperpot Magazine in an interview. Currently involved in politics with the People’s Progressive Party/Civic, the New Amsterdam-born former student of Mae’s Schools and The Bishops’ High School has her heart set on eventually being able to craft certain policies that she feels the people of Guyana absolutely need.

While in high school, she’d often change her mind about what career path she wanted to pursue, but a casual conversation she had with a lawyer while attending temple one day had a life-changing effect. While discussing careers in Guyana, he suggested she pursue Political Science. Nalinie heeded the advice and applied for a Political Science and Economics Degree.

She couldn’t be happier that she did. “It’s a really interesting subject matter to study because you learn how governments and democracies work,” she reflected. After coming home from university in 2018, she did volunteer work in Dr Jagdeo’s office with her direct supervisor being Minister Kwame Mc Coy.

Talking about her experiences there, she said: “I don’t think any two days were the same; it was a different task every day. The now Vice-President gives very clear directions of what he wants and what to get done. We worked on a lot of political workshops to train other people.”

Policies to Make a Difference
Politics, she feels, is one of the fastest means of being able to help people, as it provides an opportunity for the formation of policies that can benefit many people at once. “Politics is one of the ways you can make the greatest changes in someone’s life than almost any other field because you can make a policy that helps people. Policies, in general, can help a larger amount of people at a faster pace than any other profession I feel; it’s more far-reaching.”

Asked about some of the policies she would especially like to formulate if she ever gets an opportunity, she called attention to the fact that many people in Guyana suffer from chronic kidney failure because of two main causes: hypertension and diabetes; two afflictions that are higher in people of colour. Almost 60 percent of the people on dialysis, she noted, find out that they have these conditions when it’s too late, whereas had they known, they could have kept the symptoms down with medication and lifestyle changes.

“So one of the policies I would like to see is us having a health campaign maybe once a month where we go on outreaches, even house-to-house, and test people for hypertension and diabetics[sic] and give them advice,” she shared.

A second far-reaching policy in which Nalinie is interested is the preservation of indigenous languages and cultures through a hinterland language course, whereby residents can be taught how to properly document and even get the information into books, so that it can be shared with more people and preservation can take place.

One Step at a Time
Nalinie, forever in search of a great adventure, believes that it’s her duty to inspire others to succeed. “I believe that leading with integrity is the only way to lead. I have held many leadership roles over my many years in school as I followed my path of learning.” Being able to spread positive vibes anywhere she goes, is a skill that she prides herself on.

When it comes to effectively managing tasks, she details everything and inputs it into a planner, which helps her remember what she has to do. “I break things down. Nothing is impossible to do. You just need to figure out all of the steps involved and then focus on one step at a time,” she advised.

She also believes that nothing is final. “If you fail one class, don’t worry about it. Try again. No obstacle is too big to overcome. Whatever the obstacle could be, you just go one day at a time with it and don’t be afraid to ever ask for help. If you can’t do something, don’t pretend that you can. Say you don’t understand and ask questions. Never be unclear of your instructions,” she further recommended.

Nalinie is grateful for her family and friends’ support. “To do anything, you need a good social support. No man is an island; we always need others to help us.”