CARICOM Re[ph]orm Newsletter

J A N - M A R

Reform in Focus PAGE 3

Update on the Reform PAGE 12

CA$20M for Regional Institutions Review PAGE 17

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E D I T O R ’ S

N O T E

Lisa Legall-Belgrave - Editor

Happy New Year from everyone in the Change Management Office (CMO)!

2020 is the Year of Vision and we wish you a year filled with happiness, health and prosperity.

CMO has hit the ground running and has begun the year with its sights set on completing several projects and initiatives that commenced in 2019 and to get started on new ones.

In this issue, we bring you a comprehensive look at the Reform Goals and the Supplemental Goals for each quadrant of the Reform Process starting on Page 3. You can also read a full update on the Reform Process on Page 12.

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The objective is to provide staff with an in-depth look at each quadrant and its goals and the work that is going into each and how they work together to ensure that the CARICOM Secretariat’s Reform Process is a success. The results of the 2018 Employee Connections survey starts on Page 13.

Enjoy this issue of Re[ph]orm and I hope to hear from you should you have any questions or wish to offer feedback.

Talk back to me either via email lisa.legallbelgrave@caricom.org or comment on the posts I share via the Intranet. I promise you, it’s okay.

Written by Lisa Legall Belgrave The Reform exercise currently underway in the Secretariat is the first comprehensive change process that the organisation has embarked upon. Several reports indicate that Reform was needed, which brought us to the establishment of the Change Management Office in the Office of the SecretaryGeneral in 2015.

TIME FOR CHANGE There is no question; the operation of the Secretariat can no longer be business as usual. The need for and time for change are here, and it takes time – a lot of time.

The Secretariat Reform Process is designed around six quadrants: Strategy; People; Processes; Technology; Governance; and Communications. Each has specific goals that are to be accomplished, with each tying into each other – they are interoperable.

As such, the work being done is not linear. Pieces of work within each quadrant take place simultaneously, yet some pieces of work cannot start or conclude until other pieces are completed. This type of change is simultaneous and iterative.

Through several interactions with EMC, the goals for each quadrant were agreed and are outlined here: • STRATEGY - Create a strategic and customer-centric Secretariat • PEOPLE - Attract, retain and empower the right people with the right skills and experience to achieve the mission of the Secretariat • COMMUNICATIONS - Inform, increase awareness, engage key stakeholders and promote the goals, achievements and ongoing work of the Secretariat and the Community • PROCESSES - Increase the efficiency and effectiveness

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of key processes, leading to enhanced decision-making, implementation and accountability • TECHNOLOGY - Strengthen ICT for the smooth, efficient and effective functioning of the Secretariat and the Community • GOVERNANCE - Reform governance arrangements in the Secretariat, Organs, Bodies and CARICOM Institutions to enhance decision-making, implementation, accountability and enforcement.

Each Reform Goal has Supplemental Objectives, which outlines how the goal is expected to be achieved. This article will take a look at the four of the six goals and their supplemental objectives: Strategy; People; Governance; and Processes.

STRATEGY GOAL The Reform is about charting a new direction for the Secretariat. Determining where the Secretariat is positioned in the marketplace is part of the process, that is, knowing where the Secretariat is and where it wants to go. Strategy is the roadmap to get there; hence, the Secretariat’s Strategic Business Plan is an important deliverable.

The Strategy Goal focuses on creating a strategic and customer-centric Secretariat, and to achieve this the Strategy Quadrant is built upon eight Supplemental Objectives, which we will take a closer look at. One of the first objectives is getting employees of the Secretariat to develop a customer service mind-set. Delivering excellent customer service is one of the most important factors in an organisation’s success.

Even though the Secretariat is non-profit it serves customers. The foundation of excellent customer service lies with our employees. However, unless our employees have a customer service mindset, training and policies mean little. Employees must be committed to providing an excellent experience to our customers.

Another objective that is critically important is identifying and distinguishing between the needs and wants of the Collective Member States (the customer). This means we have to understand who the customer is, and the customer needs. In the CARICOM context, answering these questions is complex. Knowing our customer requires gathering information from 15 sovereign Member States, which is not easy. It means trying to find out what our customer is “buying” and why they are “buying” it.

However, the complexity of the CARICOM grouping comes from, although collective, each Member State having

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different needs at different times. Each is at a different stage in their development and it is not a one-size fits all situation.

In order to deliver on our mandates, the Secretariat needs to be clear about Member States’ needs and to determine how best we can meet those needs.

WANTS AND NEEDS This next objective – to discuss, review and articulate the approaches and the underlying hypotheses, which seek to address the identified needs and wants of the Collective Member States – links closely to the previous one.

Once the Secretariat is clear about Member States’ needs and wants and determine the method in which to serve them, the next step is determining the Secretariat’s ability to deliver the required results considering the context and the available resources.

This means planning and making the right projections to ensure budgeting is completed in a timely manner and that staff with the required competencies and efficiency are recruited at the right time. Member States demand a lot of the Secretariat and our role is to deliver, although there are budgetary constraints.

Prioritising (rank order) the needs and wants of the customer, as well as the strategies, programmes, and initiatives, which will be pursued in order to achieve those needs and wants is a supplemental objective that we must not be shy about.

It is a difficult task, but it is how we can wow our customer.

OTHER OBJECTIVES The other objectives are equally as important: • Ensuring the most effective utilisation of the available resources; • Establishing clear measures and desired outcomes to enable the Secretariat to monitor, track and report on its progress against the prioritised goals and objectives; • Cascading the priorities identified into the Annual Work Programme of the Secretariat and using this as a basis for performance management and accountability.

Written by Lisa Legall Belgrave

The Governance Goal as stated in the Reformation Framework is about reforming the governance arrangements in the Secretariat, Organs, Bodies and CARICOM Institutions to enhance decision-making, implementation, accountability and enforcement.

According to the Governance Specialist “Governance is how society, or groups within it, organise to make decisions”. She stresses this is in a general context and outside of the Secretariat’s ecosystem, however it applies in principle.

This definition brings to mind three core questions: • Who has a voice in decision-making?

• How are decisions made?

• Who is accountable?

With that in mind, it is not hard to see how governance is “an area that touches every part of the Secretariat and the Community”. Governance intertwines the Strategy, People, Communications, Technology and Processes Reform quadrants. This short article explores the Governance goal and how the Supplemental Goals contribute to it.

Supplemental Objectives 1 and 2 seek to set out clearly the role of the Secretary-General (SG) and the responsibilities derived. Articles 23-25 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas form the basis of the SG’s role.

The Job Analysis and Time Utilisation studies helped to identify the four key components of his role. To complete this objective decisions must be made about which responsibilities are best delegated, what support is needed in the Executive Office of the SG and the levers of control that the SG should maintain direct management of to lead the Secretariat appropriately.

The SG needs improved procedures in order to hold executives accountable in the Reformed Secretariat (Supplemental Objective 3). The accountability framework will set the parameters for responsibilities and performance of the executive team. The Accountability Framework will be cascaded to the senior management team.

In support of the new vision – a Secretariat that is STRATEGIC, AGILE, EFFICIENT, and EFFECTIVE – all people-related rules, regulations and policies must be reviewed. Currently, the terms “policy” and “guidelines”

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are used interchangeably. A policy with guidelines will be developed to guide all future policy development (Supplemental Objective 4).

In 2000, the Secretariat used a consultant to develop a management system, which introduced the EMC and SMC construct. Objective 5 focuses on the review of the operations of these committees to improve decisionmaking and implementation of decisions.

Objective 6 will establish a consultative mechanism to support decision-making by the Organs and Bodies. This work is being managed through the CSME Unit.

Meanwhile, Objectives 7-9 are focused on improving the operation and decision-making of the Organs and Bodies.

This project is being funded through the 11th EDF. At the

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conclusion of the review of the project, there will be a clearly articulated process to move matters through the Organs and Bodies and ultimately to Heads of Government, a searchable database of decisions, and an agreed process for concluding and reporting on mandates of the Organs and Bodies.

Following the submission of the Landell Mills Report to the Conference of Heads of Government in 2012, it was recommended that the SG’s role should be enhanced with respect to the Regional Institutions (Objective 10). It must be determined whether this is best done directly, for example, through specific powers of oversight or indirectly as part of the supportive role that the Secretariat provides to the Committee of Ambassadors, Community Council and other Organs.

mission. The benefits include more efficient and effective practices, improved implementation speeds, reduction in waste, tasks, actions and removal of duplication and reduced costs (on a long-term basis).

Written by Lisa Legall Belgrave The Process Quadrant and its goal to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of key processes in the Secretariat, leading to enhanced decision-making, implementation and accountability is an integral part of the Secretariat Reform.

As we discuss this quadrant, you will see linkages with the Strategy Goal and the Governance Goal. Remember, the quadrants are interoperable.

The Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) exercise is the foundation of the Process quadrant. To recap, BPR is the approach that will allow the Secretariat to fundamentally rethink how we do our work in order to improve customer service, improve utilisation of resources, and become world-class performers. It’s essential to ensure that we can achieve the Secretariat’s

The overall Process Goal can only be achieved through realising its eight Supplemental Objectives, the first of which is to identify critical business processes within each area of the Secretariat.

Existing processes for HRM, SMU and RMTA have been mapped.

Each is linked to the provision of a service to internal and external customers. The Internal Service Review provides insight into the service experienced by the internal customers of the OSG and the Legal Department.

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Another objective is to improve the time and resource utilisation within key processes by eliminating duplication, variation between departments, delays, ambiguity and unnecessary process steps. So far, Future State maps for the three departments have been completed. This is what will enable the Secretariat to realise the efficiency in the Reform Vision.

Bringing key processes in line with international standards is another important supplemental objective.

The creation of the Project Management Office (PMO) within RMTA is an example of this. EMC agreed that the Secretariat will implement a Tier 2 PMO. To that end, a Programme Manager was hired to head the PMO. The PMO will strengthen project governance and control, standardise approaches, monitor and report on project progress, and bring it in line with global norms. Another example of processes that fall in line with international standards is the introduction of Results-based Management (RBM), which will improve monitoring and reporting in the Secretariat.

To review and update the Terms of Reference (TORs) for each department in line with the strategic direction of the organisation is a key component to the restructuring of the departments in the Secretariat. TORs are important as they define the purpose and services of departments. TORs typically document the objectives, scope, deliverables and outcomes to ensure there are no ambiguities and helps to keep departments on course. Stakeholder roles and responsibilities are also made clear when TORs are

developed, and they should include success factors, risk and constraints.

A Service Level Agreement (SLA) is a commitment between a service provider and a client. Particular aspects of the service – quality, availability, responsibilities – are agreed between the service provider and the service user. SLAs can be a legally binding formal or an informal “contract” between internal department relationships like in the case of the Secretariat. The supplemental objective related to SLAs speaks to creating and implementing SLAs for each department in line with the strategic direction of the organisation. SLAs also link to TORs and both will be completed after processes have been redesigned.

With the SLAs in place, the Secretariat’s internal service delivery should see improvement. However, more effective monitoring, assessing and reporting on the performance of individuals and departments are necessary. Again, the RBM will help to link department performance to employees’ performance.

The decision-making process within the Secretariat will be reengineered to make decisions timelier and to improve implementation and accountability. This will be done as a part of the Governance quadrant. The same will be done for the Organs and the Bodies; however, the reengineering of the Organs and the Bodies will be conducted in conjunction with the BPR work in the technical units. That body of work is closely related and their outputs form key work products of the technical units.

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PEOPLE: A KEY REFORM GOAL Written by Lisa Legall Belgrave

Talent is any organisation’s best asset.

The People Quadrant recognises the value of human capital as it seeks “to attract, retain and empower the right people with the right skills and experience to achieve the Secretariat’s mission.” This goal is supported by 10 supplemental objectives, which can be summarised into three main objectives: improve the employee experience; enable a results-based performance culture; and develop collective responsibility for management.

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Improving the Employee Experience The Employee Connections™ survey represents the Secretariat’s effort to gain insight by listening to employees, identifying their needs and taking decisive actions to improve working conditions. Patterns emerge from the results of the survey administered over the last three, consecutive years.

The survey findings reveal that employees believe they do not receive the training and development that they would like, they do not feel valued and respected, employees do not have a sense of commitment to the Secretariat, and employees believe there is a lack of opportunity for career progression.

As a result, EMC developed an action plan to: • Develop bespoke training • Create job families with clear information about requirements for progression • Ensure in the Reformed Secretariat that employees have personal career plans • Review HR policies to address unintended negative impact e.g. Leave • Draft a policy to govern all future policy development Some employees believe that compensation is one of the factors preventing the Secretariat from attracting and retaining top talent.

In the Inception Report for the ongoing market survey, LPD Hall and Associates found that during the last three years the Secretariat’s turnover rate ranged between 2% and 5%, which is significantly lower than the 12%-15% average annual turnover rate in the United States. LinkedIn reports the annual worldwide average turnover rate is 10.9%.

Another factor with the potential to affect recruitment is the processing time for hiring new staff. Again, anecdotal evidence suggests that the long hiring process has resulted in candidates accepting other positions. The Business Process Re-engineering efforts have resulted in the development of a process to reduce the average hiring time from 7.5 months to 3 months.

Overall, the Secretariat is working on several activities such as the Employee Connections™ survey, and the Compensation and Benefits Market Survey, which together with the BPR activities work to improve the employee experience. These will achieve the desired organisational culture to drive and sustain change.

Enabling a Result-Based Performance Culture EMC approved a new operating model for the Reformed

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Secretariat. In the near future, Matrix Management, Resultsbased Performance Management, Decentralised Decisionmaking and Achieving through Teams will become the norm for the Secretariat.

Matrix management enables multiple levels of accountability

so that individuals can lead in their areas of strength. The metrics in results-based performance management makes the process objective and strengthens the link between performance and pay. De-centralised decision-making allows for decisions to be made at the lowest competent level; it supports faster decisions with fewer bottlenecks.

Only critical exceptions or strategic decisions will be made at the highest levels. This will require staff to work with others at different levels of the organisation – sometimes taking direction from junior employees – respect must be based on competence in areas of strengths rather than level.

This new model will require different capabilities among staff at all levels.

Capability Models The Capability Model is developed to support four job families – Executive, Managerial, Technical and Administrative – and lay the foundation for talent management in a results-based organisation. This model captures capabilities in the unique professions in the Secretariat and support eight components of talent management – Strategic Workforce Planning, Skills Assessment, Attraction and Retention, Learning and Development, Compensation, Career Development Succession Planning and Performance Management.

Strategic Workforce Planning begins with the identification of capabilities in the Secretariat’s Strategic Business Plan and is refined during the development of annual work programmes. Capability models guide Skills Assessments to identify whether employees have the capabilities necessary to achieve results. Once skill gaps are identified, managers consider the cost and benefits of Attraction versus Retention. It may be cost effective to hire someone with the requisite capabilities at a lower salary. However, if the candidate is high performing, training cost are relatively low and expectations for retention high, managers may have a strong case to support a Learning and Development solution.

Career Development Capability models help ensure that employees are compensated based on an objective evaluation of the value of the job they perform for the organisation.

Employees should receive compensation based on the capabilities required to do the job. These capabilities guide Career Development as they enable managers to coach employees using individual development plans based on performance and abilities. The understanding of the

capabilities necessary to perform at the next level is critical for a fair, transparent and equitable Promotion Policy and Succession Plan. Effective Performance Management is the key to successful talent management as decisions about talent must be based on objective measures.

Developing Collective Responsibility for Management Improving the employee experience in a results-based performance culture requires collective responsibility for management. Directors and managers must form a cohesive team to implement, lead and sustain desired organisational culture. One way in which the People Quadrant is facilitating collective responsibility for management is through the Accountability Framework.

Accountability is the ownership of responsibilities combined with the obligation to report on the discharge of those responsibilities. An Accountability Framework makes roles, responsibilities and expectations clear, supporting the availability of reliable and timely reports about intended and actual results. It will describe the initiative, its rationale/ logic, purpose and intended results, how performance will be monitored and whether or not an evaluation is planned.

Focusing on performance measurement and programme evaluation will encourage results-based management and decision-making. This will establish a basis for objective assessment of the progress of any initiative and whether it is achieving its intended results. Indications of the method and timing of performance evaluation provides the executive with available information from which progress and success can be assessed.

This assessment will determine if adjustments or modifications to the initiative are required. Coupled with the framework will be the database to support the tracking of EMC decisions and action plans.

Furthermore, the existing process for performance management and training have been mapped through the BPR exercise in HRM. It is envisaged that the performance management process will drive the accountability for each process at the individual and department level.

The People Quadrant focuses on creating a new employee experience that will enable the Secretariat to attract and retain the Region’s best talent. Upon successful implementation of proposed changes, Secretariat employees can expect to enjoy meaningful work, supportive management, positive work environment, and growth opportunities.

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WHAT’S IN STORE FOR REFORM IN

2020

FCR, followed by Legal. Once all the Directorates get going, OSG, ODSG, Conference Services, and the Documentation Centre and Registry will commence.

PEOPLE This year, each specialist will be focused on completing projects and initiatives that are key to bringing the Reform Process to completion.

Key 2019 Initiatives - the Market Survey and Job Alignment, the Accountability Framework and the Functional Structure should be completed in the first quarter.

BPR Work continues in RMTA, HRM, the Communications Unit and in the technical units, which commenced in September 2019.

The focus in 2020 will be launching the Project Management Office (PMO). So far, the core functions have been identified, the processes mapped, and areas of improvement have been identified. The next stage for the PMO includes the approval of the TORs, which have been drafted in a joint effort by PMO and the Change Management Office (CMO).

The PMO has also completed its draft project management methodology. Consultations on this scheduled. Agreement must be reached on the projects to test the new project management methodology.

Meanwhile, BPR in the technical units started in TEI, followed

by OTN and HSD. The next Directorate to get started will be

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Work on the Capability Model continues into 2020. The Capability Model is a framework to guide Secretariat employees on the knowledge and skills they need in a results-focused organisational culture. The first draft is completed and very shortly the CMO will start consultations across the organisation.

Another body of work within the People quadrant is the Job Evaluation Tool. Job evaluation is the consistent, logical and equitable analysis and measurement of job functions through identifiable compensable factors of each job.

Other work that is being undertaken in this quadrant during 2020 are job description templates, the Leading Change Workshop and Job Families Implementation.

GOVERNANCE Under this quadrant the Governance Specialist will be focusing on the Review of a number of Organs and Bodies, namely CARICOM Committee of Ambassadors, Community Council and COTED. The Executive and Senior Management Committees will also be reviewed during the course of the year, and finally the Review of the Regional Institutions, which is a huge project, and will also commence this year.

CONNECTED &

ENGAGED Written by

There is considerable evidence that supports the idea that engaged employees produce better results.

Engaged employees experience less stress, are absent less absence, produce higher quality work and overall safety at work.

Engaged employees are those who work with passion and feel a profound connection to the organisation. They drive innovation and move the organisation forward.

The tool the Secretariat has used since the introduction of the employee engagement survey – Employee Connections™ – views employee engagement as an attitude. That is, a mind-set, manner, or viewpoint characterised by certain behaviours. Contributing factors lead to engagement, which in turn leads to organisational and personal success.

The third instalment of the survey was released in 2018, and the results of that survey is now available.

The 2018 Engagement Results

In 2018, the Secretariat had fewer employees than in 2017 and 2016. Hence, while fewer employees participated in the survey than the previous years, the participation rate showed a slight increase to 67%. There has been a slight decrease in the engaged scores with 28.5% of employees stating they are engaged, which is a one and a half percent decrease from the 2016 and 2017 scores.

Meanwhile, the number of employees not engaged increased to 64.5%, up 4.5% over the 2017 scores, and the employees reporting they are actively disengage decreased to 7%, a decrease of 3%. The factors and sub-factors of engagement the survey measures are: Empowerment – Job

Clarity, Support and Resources; Belonging – Respected, Competence and Team; Ownership – Mission & Direction, Commitment & Confidence, and Satisfied; Engagement Attitude.

28.5% Employees are Engaged

The Secretariat’s engagement is better than the worldwide average, which according to Gallup research is 15%. The US engagement average is 34%. There is still a lot of work to be done within the Secretariat to improve engagement.

Gallup further states that employees who are engaged: • Despite challenges and barriers, the engaged do not often let problems become an excuse for inaction or destroy their ability to perform.

• They seek ways to operate at their best, which means they focus on their strengths and do not spend too much time trying to do what does not come naturally to them.

• They are intentional about their engagement. They have a plan and independently, proactively try to improve their engagement rather than expecting someone else to engage them.

• They take accountability for their performance instead of blaming others when things do not go, as they want.

64.5% Employees are ‘Not Engaged’

The 2018 survey recorded a moderate level of Empowerment,

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while the Belonging and Ownership scores can be considered low. Employee Connections™ explains that employees who are “not engaged” tend to fluctuate in their performance. They frequently have duties, which they do in an “automated” fashion, which means they can easily miss errors and changes. On occasion, they are given duties, which cause them to “wake up” and pay strong attention, but this is not frequent enough. They are also more easily distracted and are frequently likely to multi-task, again making them less attentive to the work they are doing and thus more prone to errors and poor quality work.

Meanwhile, Gallup states employees who are ‘not engaged’ may meet expectations of their jobs but do not expend discretionary energy or feel passion for their work.

7% Employees Actively Disengaged

Actively disengaged employees typically are unhappy at work, but more than that, they will undermine the progress that their engaged co-workers make.

57% of Executives, are ‘Engaged’ and 31% of Senior Managers are ‘Engaged’ This is significant because research shows that supervisors who work for engaged leaders are 39% more likely to be engaged, and employees who work for engaged managers are 59% more likely to be engaged. Over the last three years, the percentage of employees scoring within the engaged range decreased in all three management levels.

This was most pronounced for senior managers, 83% were engaged in 2016, this fell to 73% in 2017 and 31% in 2018.

62% of Employees Report feeling Empowered

This measures the extent to which employees believe that they have the permission, power and capacity to do their jobs effectively.

• Job Clarity – 89% of employees are clear about their jobs

• Resources – 54% of employees believe that they have the resources that they need to do their job well,

including systems, tools and equipment and, technical and professional knowledge

• Support – 76% of employees believe they get the support and information that they need to get their job

done well.

31% of Employees have a sense of Belonging

Belonging measures the extent to which employees feel that they are attached to or are a part of a group or organisation.

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Belonging fulfils employees’ needs for relationships and fairness.

79% of employees believe there is a sense of team within the Secretariat, which is primarily due to having friends, or people that they get along well with.

• 40% of employees feel respected, while only

• 15% of employees feel the Secretariat gives them the opportunity to improve their competence.

24% of Employees report having a sense of Ownership

Ownership measures the extent to which employees have a sense of proprietorship towards the Secretariat. Employees who have a strong sense of ownership believe that they are responsible for the performance of the organisation, they see themselves as representatives of the organisation and promote its brand, image, services and products.

• Mission and Direction – 56% of employees believe they have a clear understanding of the Secretariat’s

Mission and Direction.

• Commitment and Confidence – 21% are committed to the Secretariat and are confident it can meet Member States’ needs.

• Satisfied – 51% of employees are satisfied with their roles and work at the Secretariat.

65% of Employees have the right Engagement Attitude.

This speaks to the underlying attitude that supports engagement. The survey’s main goal is to give staff a voice and encourage employees to speak freely and openly about both the good and the bad. The feedback and action planning sessions enable employees and managers to work together to find solutions to address those areas that are not working well.

Since the first employee engagement survey in 2016, engagement in the Secretariat has largely remained stagnant, with small shifts in numbers between the engaged, not-engaged and disengaged categories.

Measuring and improving engagement are linked to positive organisational outcomes such as improved retention, higher customer satisfaction and loyalty metrics, increased productivity, fewer safety claims, and minimised absenteeism so it is important to continue to measure employee engagement in the Secretariat and develop a programme focused on improving the overall engagement levels.

CANADA FUNDS REGIONAL INSTITUTIONS REVIEW The Government of Canada has awarded the Secretariat CA$20 million to fund an independent review of the CARICOM Regional institutions.

The project, which will be managed by the Change Management Office, will be governed by a Project Steering Committee, comprising representatives from the Secretariat, Member States, relevant regional agencies, development partner agencies and the project sponsor. The PSC will oversee the project’s strategy, review progress, provide technical guidance and approve annual work plans.

In addition, Canada will provide an Organisational Development (OD) Specialist to assist with the development of the project plan and the TORs for the consultant.

Liza Bynoe, Head - Change Management Office stated that “the project is an ambitious undertaking and one that was being explored for several years.

“The Conference o f Heads of Government mandated this project over seven years ago. There were several attempts to find funding, and finally through tremendous effort, including having the President of the Bureau write the Government of Canada, we have been successful,” she said.

The review will assess the degree to which each institution has evolved, offer unique services, and complement efforts to achieve regional integration. The project, which will be conducted over an 18-month period, provides an independent, objective (fact-based)

assessment of the Regional Institutions and allows each organisation to provide a self-assessment.

It is expected that the Review will engage representatives from the technical directorates once the OD Specialist begins his/her work.

In addition, the review will identify the modus operandi of each Institution, its oversight and governance arrangements.

It will also make recommendations for the standardisation of governance arrangements and broad policies and procedures, make recommendations to strengthen the Community’s ability to monitor and guide the programme priorities and performance of the Institutions, and finally make recommendations to strengthen the capacity of the Institutions to support the Community’s ability to take decisions, develop and implement mandates.

Recommendations will address mandates from Heads of Government with respect to the Institutions e.g. enhanced oversight by Community Council. Questions to be answered include: Is there scope for greater functional cooperation?

The Project Management team will comprise Radha Permanand, Project Coordinator, Winston Richards, Accounts Officer and a Project Assistant. The Project Coordinator and the Project Assistant will coordinate, guide and direct all activities of the project to ensure that the project’s objectives and results are achieved within the timeframe and in accordance with the established rules and procedures of CARICOM and Global Affairs Canada.

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