Dozens of public servants from Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands (BVI), Cayman Islands and Haiti are learning how to make public projects and policies work better and more effectively for their countrymen.

The officials are participating in the Caribbean Development Bank’s (CDB) Public Policy Analysis and Management and Project Cycle Management (PPAM/PCM) training workshops, which started on September 10 in Haiti, September 24 in the Cayman Islands and got underway on October 8 in the BVI and Anguilla.

“You all are doing the best thing you could ever do,” Cayman Islands Minister of Economic Development, Roy McTaggart told the participants at the opening of the training there.

He noted that in a world of ever-growing expectations of the public service, the PPAM/PCM training was critical to help public sector officials keep pace with demands.

“One thing that hasn’t changed over the years is the public’s expectations of us as public servants. It grows every day and there are new demands and there are always calls for better and more government services,” stated the Minister, adding that the training would broaden participants’ vision and perspective on public service.

The need for such training has added urgency in Anguilla, which is still recovering from the devastating impact of Hurricane Irma in 2017. This point was underscored by Chief Minister Victor Banks who outlined recent relief packages that had recently been approved to restore and enhance services in the island.

“It’s important that we bring to the table the kind of skills that will assist us in the implementation and delivery of these critical services [such as] education, port development, health, hospitals – the whole gamut of needs that we have to address. It’s timely that we have this opportunity. This will redound I expect to the benefit of Anguilla,” said Banks at the start of the training.

The workshops are part of a wide-ranging CDB public sector training initiative aimed at improving the management, monitoring and implementation of policies, programmes and projects.

The PPAM/PCM Training Programme was launched in 2016 and has thus far trained over 1000 public servants across the region. The five-week in-person training programme is also complemented by a suite of online courses.

CDB’s Training Unit in its Technical Cooperation Division is facilitating the training programme, and Consultants from the Dods Training Group; the Centre for International Development and Training (CIDT), University of Wolverhampton; and MindBloom Consulting are delivering the modules and providing monitoring and evaluation services. Learn more about the programme.