UWI, Government agree public service training initiative

The Government and the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill have signed an agreement to improve the training of public servants.

During the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding yesterday at llaro Court, Principal of the Cave Hill Campus, Professor Eudine Barriteau, revealed that the UWI’s Centre for Professional Development and Lifelong Learning (CPDLL) is to be tapped to help develop public workers’ skills.

Professor Barriteau said professional training is critical as an efficient and effective public service is necessary.

She said: “As this MOU emphasizes, the UWI has the capacity to improve public sector leadership, strengthen management capability and enrich research skills, all towards enhancing the crafting of public policy.

“At the university, we intend to use our expertise to strengthen public sector training and research so as to improve the quality and efficiency of the public service in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean.

“Every country needs a public service that operates effectively, efficiently and innovatively as it engages the public, monitors the progress of projects, tackles problems and makes strategic decisions.

“This requires ongoing access to training and education to acquire the requisite knowledge that is vital for operating in today’s global environment.

“Through the CPDLL, UWI Cave Hill provides that facility to employees. This Centre caters to the learning needs of a wide range of individuals seeking to remain competitive or who want to enhance their immediate employment prospects.

“With over 50 short courses covering a comprehensive and extensive variety of areas, individuals are able to enhance their career prospects.”

Signing the MOU for the Government, Prime Minister  Mia Mottley said Barbados in 2019 could not replicate the precepts of the plantation system in how it managed its offices and institutions, saying this would be counter-productive.

Said the Prime Minister : “It cannot unlock the productivity and the creation of wealth that this country needs to move to the next stage and to transform.

“A colonial public service that is as hierarchical in structure as the plantation systems cannot unlock and unleash the productivity and the creation of wealth in this country.”

Mottley said Government had a vision for the public service, which could be accomplished if all public servants go to work and give of their best at all times.

She said: “The mission that we have set is equally intended to be very simple and capable of being understood, appreciated and embraced by every single employee within the public service and I must add, those within the political sphere who come to work with the public servants.

“And the mission simply put is this: ‘We come to work and to make a positive difference in the lives of our people. We will make this difference by delivering world-class service in a creative way that is fair and honest. We will treat those whom we serve just as we would wish to be treated and excellence shall always be our hallmark.’”