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Civil servants training for financing takeover
by The Daily Herald
Posted: Nov 3, 2009 15:15 UTC
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MAHO - Civil servants of various departments are involved in a five-day training course, aimed at equipping them to better access and manage European Union (EU) Development Funds.
The Department of Development Cooperation, headed by Director Ralph James, is coordinating the workshop that opened in Sonesta Maho Beach Resort and Casino Monday morning. The workshop is entitled “Building capacity for coordinating and managing EC-development cooperation in Curaçao, St. Maarten, Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba.”
James told The Daily Herald that the workshop is part of the dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles that will make the new countries of St. Maarten and Curaçao as well as the Dutch public entities of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba ready to take care of their share of EU funding for development projects.
Finance and Personnel Commissioner Xavier Blackman said at the opening that St. Maarten has to look at ways its partners like the EU fund projects.
“I find that direct budgetary support is the best way to go; so instead of dividing up and providing sporadic funding for projects, the money simply goes on the budget and is used accordingly,” he said. Using this method, there is no red tape, the money is stipulated, the reporting and control mechanism is present and it fits within the structure.
When the new entities are officially in place by October 10, 2010, civil servants will be equipped with the know-how to access and manage funds coming from the EU.
EU funding has been used for a variety of projects on the islands and is necessary in many areas. These funds will still be available to the islands in their new constitutional framework, but their civil servants have to be ready for the task.
Similar trainings will be held on Saba next week and later in Curaçao to bring the civil servants on those islands up to date with the EU regulation on funding, project dossier preparation, the relationship between the EU and the Dutch islands, other aspects of the accessing development aid.
Civil servants taking part in the training that ends Friday are from the Departments of Finance, Project and Programme Directorate, Tourism and Economic Affairs among others. Representatives of St. Maarten Chamber of Commerce are also taking part in the training.
James expects that civil servants on all islands will be ready to take over the duties of DEPOS on their island in the new constitutional framework.
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