1. CERTIFICATE AWARD CEREMONY FOR PUBLIC OFFICERS
Wednesday, March 28, 2007—9:30 a.m.
Radisson Fort George Hotel and Marina
Opening Remarks by
Mrs. Myrtle Palacio
This month, March 2007 marks the first full financial year of business operation for the
Office of Governance. What are the products in this business venture?—Human
Resource Management & Development, Good Governance & Modernization Initiatives,
ICT/E-government Projects and Initiatives—it is a business like any other. We shared
our strategic focus and direction with all and sundry at the beginning of the financial
year, and we will be accounting on our stewardship for this time period within the next
month.
Today, marks the end of Human Resource Development endeavours with the award of
certificates to deserving Public Officers who participated in our “Capacity Building for
Improved Governance & Public Sector Performance Project”. In compiling data on all
our training programmes for this financial year, we have determined that the Office of
Governance has touched some 1,562 in all sectors persons as follows:
 Performance Management Appraisal System - 701
 ICT/E-government
Introduction to Software 83
Taiwan Project - 145
E-government Awareness - 88
ICT for Development - 30
 Governance Awareness - 149
 Capacity Building - 366
If success was to be measured in numbers alone, then there are several partners that
assisted in bringing this success to fruition. In the Performance Management Appraisal
System (PMAS), Ms. Ruth Meighan of the Ministry of Natural Resources, Ms. Gwen
Nunez Gonzalez of the Department of Education, Dangriga and Mr. Jason Neal of the
Central Postal Service, along with Mr. Raymond Morris of the Office of Governance, in
addition to their usual workload, spent several days criss-crossing the country to bring
awareness to the new (PMAS). We partnered with the Belize Defence Force and the
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2. Embassy of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in the Introduction to Software, Website
Development and other E-Learning/Business topics. CARICAD and the Office of
Governance is a marriage made in heaven and CARICAD has responded, among other
areas, to the call for the E-government Awareness and the Capacity Building Projects.
The message on e-government was brought by Dr. Cletus Bertin, who is back with us to
facilitate the consultation process on the Public Sector E-government Policy. ICT for
Development was a one-day workshop sponsored by the Commonwealth Secretariat
GIDD and included all sectors—public private and social.
“Capacity Building for Improved Governance and Public Sector Performance” was
embraced not only by CARICAD but also UNDP and UNICEF. While CARICAD
provided highly qualified, well skilled facilitators, UNICEF and UNDP, along with the
Government of Belize (GOB) funded the workshops. In January, we toured every district
town with the Governance Awareness Project. This effort of Public Sector engaging
citizenry at this level apparently is a first in the Commonwealth and will be documented
for sharing with other member countries.
The Capacity Building Project consisted of workshops in six topical areas, namely:
 Organizational Review
 Strategic Planning
 Evidence-Based Policy Development
 Results-Based Performance Management
 Professional Writing
 Customer Service
For purposes of sustainability, Training of Trainers Workshops were conducted for:
 Strategic Planning
 Evidence-Based Policy Development
 Results-Based Performance Management
 Customer Service
A total of 366 persons were trained, 65 in Training of Trainers and 301 in Methods &
Principles. Five of the workshops were facilitated by Consultants from CARICAD,
and one in Professional Writing, by Ms. Dianne Lindo, Director, Charles T. Hunter
Commission for Social Outreach, St. John’s Landivar in Belize City.
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3. Reliable evaluation of training activities has proven to be very difficult, and the
questionnaires given to each participant immediately after each workshop are of
limited value; as the responses reflect the immediate impressions of the participants.
The success of these training sessions is its long term impact on the various
government agencies; and is dependent on top management’s support in fostering the
implementation of the training content in the day to day work.
The Office of Governance will measure the impact through various evaluation
strategies, including the response to the present call to Ministries for Annual
Reporting, Strategic Planning, the implementation of Management Teams, and the call
for the development of a Customer Charter. The strategy is to gather information from
a range of points of inquiry: trainees, supervisors, managers and the public—for eg.
Surveys on customer satisfaction—indicators, such as number of justified complaints
or reverse administrative decisions.
According to Change Management Guru, Abraham Maslov, “If the only tool you have
is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail”. Therefore, the primary goal for
the Capacity Building Project is to provide varying management tools in order to
improve the professional skills of senior and middle level public officers. In addition,
while it is not obligatory, professional development such as these may soon form part
of the criteria for promotion for some positions in the Public Service—Hence the
certificate. It is a recommendation that the Joint Staff Relations Councils will be
submitting to the Cabinet. The Office of Governance will be circulating its
certificated training schedule for this new financial year, with emphasis on IT,
leadership and change management. We invite you to participate.
Lastly, our mantra for this financial year has been, “Achieving More With Less”, and
this we have accomplished. I would like to commend members of my team—a small
group in size but extremely large in commitment and drive.
Seremei !! Thank you!!
Myrtle Palacio
Director Office of Governance
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