Meet special envoy Alicia Herbert: A woman that has faced terrorists, war, and disease worldwide - now she lives in East Kilbride

The Prime Minister’s special envoy for gender equality has worked in trouble hotspots around the world - but was most worried about moving to live in Scotland.

International development specialist, Alicia Herbert OBE, has seen her face danger in war-torn Sudan, take on terrorist group Boko Haram in Nigeria, and help combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Mozambique.

Trinidad and Tobago-born Alicia Herbert moved to Scotland in 2016 and now heads up the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office’s joint HQ in East Kilbride – overseeing the work of almost 800 staff. Mum-of-two Alicia, 55, jokes she was more concerned about Scotland’s weather than any other move.

She explained: “My family worry and have often accused me of having a death wish but perhaps the move I thought hardest about was Scotland because everyone kept telling me it rains all the time.

“I now say it was the best decision because we love living in Glasgow and it’s so exciting to work alongside 800 staff in East Kilbride, helping to shape the UK’s foreign policy as a force for good in the world.

“The range of things we do at Abercrombie House include policy on Africa and Syria, all the way through to programme management, cyber security and the FCDO’s HR systems. A further 500 jobs are being re-deployed from London by December 2025 through the UK government’s levelling-up agenda, so East Kilbride is the place to be.”

Alicia is also the UK Government’s Special Envoy for Gender Equality. She helped spearhead the UK’s hosting of the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict (PSVI) conference in London at the end of last month, with Hollywood star Angelina Jolie and Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska amongst the speakers.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly announced a three-year strategy backed by £12.5million of new funding to tackle sexual violence in conflict – and more than 50 countries and the UN signed up to a new declaration on the issue. Alicia’s proud to have played a major role in the UK Government’s drive to improve the lives of women and girls around the world – to educate and empower them and end violence against women and girls.

She said: “Rape in war is a shocking reality of our world. Sexual violence is still all too common and we know it is happening in over 18 conflicts around the world today.

“FCDO is putting the pursuit of equality, empowerment and ending violence against women and girls, in all their diversity, at the heart of our work.

“In this role, I not only have responsibility for girls’ education, but other equality issues such as LGBTQ+ rights, disability inclusion, and helping support people affected by climatic shocks.

“I was in Uganda earlier this year to visit projects we fund through the UN to support young women who have suffered sexual abuse and exploitation through early enforced marriage.

“It was harrowing stuff with stories of abuse from a very early age, gang rapes in school, and being forced into sex work. There was not a dry eye during those discussions.

“But it was a highlight of the past year because these young women were telling me their stories and the positive impact our programme was having on their lives, helping them get new skills to turn their lives around.”

Alicia cites improving attitudes to gender equality in the UK as inspiration for her work. Remarkably, the Foreign Office banned women from diplomatic roles until 1946 and required women to resign if they got married until 1973. The first married female ambassadors were not appointed until 1987 - eight years after Margaret Thatcher became the UK’s first female Prime Minister.

Now women represent the UK as Ambassador in numerous key postings worldwide, including the US, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, China, Russia, Australia, Nigeria and Kenya.

Alicia said: “It is incredible to think that up until 1973, if a woman married, they had to give up theirjob with the Foreign Office.

“I had a mother who worked all the way through my childhood. She was self-employed, grew her own business, had seven children, so my model growing up was a woman who works and is a major provider. I knew it could be done.

“Even when I joined the civil service in 1999, women faced challenges. Having grown up in the Caribbean, joining the British civil service in my early 20s was like landing on a different planet.

“But now we have women heading up most of the key posts around the world. Whether you are an immigrant woman like me, come from a working class background, gay, lesbian or transgender, increasingly you can play a part in shaping the civil service.

“Hence the reason there is now such a focus by the UK to be a world leader on promoting equality throughout the world.”

Alicia’s determination to improve the lives of others has seen her operate in some of the world’s most hazardous countries.

She said: “I think my dear mum when she was alive did worry and ask ‘You’re going WHERE? Can you not just work in New York or somewhere safer?’.

“I have not come under direct threat, but that threat has been there. I lived in Sudan for three years from 2006 and there was always war. A US diplomat was assassinated not too far from my house on New Year’s Eve.

“Incidents like that shock you into remembering the environment in which you are working and what protections are needed to keep you safe.

“I helped with the UK’s contribution to the census, which was a major part of the comprehensive peace agreement.

“I was in Nigeria when Boko Haram was just seeding and by the time I left, they had become quite a force. Boko Haram literally means ‘Western education is forbidden’.

“I had colleagues working in the UN compound where 13 people were killed in a Boko Haram bomb attack in Abuja in 2011. I remember frantically sending in drivers to get our people out when they attacked Kano the same year.”

But Alicia added: “It is just the nature of the job that if you want to help the world’s most vulnerable people, you have to often go to places that are unstable.

“I don’t worry too much because the UK Government always has lots of security procedures in place to keep us safe. The chance to make a real difference to peoples’ lives over-rides any worry you may have.”