Barbara Tillett-Abdulhadi - Secretary

Urban Planner

Ms. Tillett-Abdulhadi began her career as an urban planner in 1989 at the Urban Development Corporation after graduating from the College of Arts, Science and Technology in Jamaica (now the University of Technology – UTech) with a diploma in Physical Planning. A few years later, the Corporation was absorbed into the Housing and Planning Department (HPD), where she served as a Senior Planner. While working in this role, she took a year of study leave to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Urban Planning and Environmental Design at Ball State University in Indiana, USA.

She later left the HPD and spent a year at the Statistical Office supporting the 2000 Population and Housing Census. Following this, she worked briefly as a consultant with the Environmental Technical and Social Assistance Project, assisting communities impacted by the construction of the Southern Highway, before joining the Physical Planning Section of the Lands and Surveys Department as a Physical Planner.

In 2005, she relocated to the Middle East, where she lived with her husband. Upon returning to Belize in 2012, planning professionals in the country were in the process of forming a professional association. She was invited to join this effort, and in 2013 the Belize Association of Planners (BAP) was established.

Since then, she has served on the Executive Committee as Secretary. As a member of BAP, now the Belize Association of Professional Planners (BAPP), she has participated in numerous planning forums and contributed to project initiatives that support participatory planning and community empowerment, while continuing to advocate for the importance of planning in Belize’s development.