SMALL STATES NETWORK
FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (SSNED)
NEWSLETTER 2009: 01
Issued on 3rd January 2009
CONTENTS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Secretariat Personnel Changes (click to go to section)
Recruitment of Administrator
Projects: Current and Proposed
Directory of Experts
SSNED Website
Collaboration with Other Entities
Proposed Stagiare Arrangement
Annex, Central Bank of Malta, St Pius V Street, Castille Place, Valletta, VLT 1060, Malta
Tel: +356 2122-3525; +356 9926-2141; Fax: +356 2122-8504; Email: admin@ssned.org; Website: www.ssned.org
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1.
SECRETARIAT PERSONNEL CHANGES
1.1 Mr Stefano Moncada
Mr Stefano Moncada, who was selected for the post of administrator of the Network during the
second half of 2008, decided not to take up a full time position within the Network, as he was
offered a full-time post at the University of Malta as from November 2008.
1.2 Ms Stephanie Vella
Ms Stephanie Vella, who was Stefano’s assistant and worked part time for the network, became
pregnant and stopped working for the Network at the end of November 2008. She has had a baby
boy, Luca, in December. She will probably return to work for the Network on a part-time basis
in March or April 2009.
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2. RECRUITMENT OF ADMINISTRATOR AND ASSISTANT
2.1 Call for applications
Due to the fact that Stefano Moncada and Stephanie Vella could no longer work for the Network,
a fresh call for applications for the post of Administrator of the Network was issued by the
Secretariat in November 2008. The advert was drawn up in close consultation with the Central
Bank of Malta and was published in the Maltese National papers. There were 21 applicants. Of
these 5 withdrew their application when we informed them of the salary that the Network was
prepared to offer, which was in the region of Euro 28,000, including a performance bonus and
three withdrew their application because they were offered another position in the meantime.
The interviews were held on 9 December 2008 at the Network premises in Valletta. The
interviewing board was composed of Mr David Pullicino, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank
of Malta, Mr John Agius, Director Human Resources at the Central Bank of Malta and Prof.
Lino Briguglio, Chair of the Board of Trustees and Acting Director-General of the Network.
2.2 Interviews
The Board agreed that the interviewees were to be assessed on the basis of five criteria namely ,
(i) administrative experience (ii) office and computer skills (iii) relevant qualifications (iv)
suitability and adaptability for the job and (v) person ality, along a 10 point scale. Details of the
scores assigned by the Board will be made available at the next meeting of the Board of
Trustees.
2.3 Final Selection
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We position was offered to Mr Dave Pulis. He accepted the position, with the conditions we
were offering him. The conditions are broadly similar to what was offered to Mr Stefano
Moncada, who was the previous administrator.
We also decided, in consultation with the Central Bank of Malta to engage Mrs Maryrose Vella,
on a part-time basis to replace Ms Stephanie Vella. Mrs Maryrose Vella agreed to work part-time
for the Network. The Conditions we are offering her are broadly similar to what we offered to
Mr Stephanie Vella.
2.4. Problem re Recruitment
The problem we are facing with regard to recruitment is that the Network cannot offer a really
permanent position, because we cannot be sure that funding will be forthcoming when the
current grant is totally utilized.
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3. CURRENT AND PROPOSED PROJECTS
3.1 Current Projects
The Network is currently engaged in 4 projects. Other projects will be proposed at the next
Board of Trustees Meeting.
3.1.1 Current Twinning Projects
Development of e-learning. Beneficiary Ministry of Education, Seychelles with the
University of Mauritius as service provider
Development of e-Government: Beneficiary: Government of St Lucia, with Malta
Information and Training Services (MITTS) as service provider
Public Transport Regulation: Beneficiary: Ministry of Transport Malta, with the Land
Transport Authority of Singapore as service provider
The contracts have been drawn up with the respective governments and service providers, in
consultation with our lawyers. They contain a main contract with special provisions and 7
Annexes, 3 of which are (i) general conditions for twinning projects (ii) the Terms of Reference
for a particular project and (iii) the budget for a particular project. The budgets were agreed upon
by both the beneficiary state and the service provider, and closely vetted by the Secretariat to
ensure that they yield value for money. The other annexes are administrative templates. These
documents have all been placed on the SSNED website and can be accessed by a password made
available to the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Finance of the countries forming part of
the Board of Trustees (if requested), and to the partner organisations on the same Board (if
requested). All documents will also be made available to members of the Board of Trustees at its
next meeting.
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3.1.2 Current Training Workshop
Subject: “Sustainable Development Strategies for Small States” which will be held in March
2009 (details available at: http://www.ssned.org/sdstrategies .)
Organisers: SSNED in collaboration with the University of Malta.
Target Participants: Intended for 15 participants, nominated by the Ministry of Finance of
Small States. Participants must be suitably qualified public sector officials at senior or
middle management levels.
The deadline for applications was 31 December 2008. We received 30 applications and will
select 15 participants according to the criteria set out in http://www.ssned.org/file.aspx?f=48 .
3.2 Proposed Projects
3.2.1 Proposed Twinning Projects
The following proposed projects will be discussed at the next meeting of the Board of Trustees.
Gambia requires assistance in:
o Setting up a Competition Authority
St Kitts requires assistance in the following areas:
o Debt analysis and risk management
o Public expenditure management
o Public sector reform strategy
o Creation of land sales agency
o Value added tax
St Lucia requires assistance in:
o e-commerce legal infrastructure
o Value added tax
3.2.2 Proposed Training Workshops
Subject: “Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation with Special Reference to Pacific Small
States”
Organisers: SSNED in collaboration with The University of the South Pacific
Target Participants: Intended for 30 participants, who are Pacific Small States’ public sector
officials at senior or middle management levels or members of NGOs located in Pacific
Island States involved in climate change.
:
Subject: “Competition Law and Policy with special reference to the Caribbean Small States”
Organisers: SSNED in collaboration with The University of the West Indies,
Target Participants: intended for Caribbean small states’ public sector officials at senior or
middle managements levels and members of Caribbean regional organisations.
3.2.3 Proposed Exchange of Students between Small States’ Universities
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The SSNED will collaborate with the University Consortium of Small Island States (UCSIS) in
developing and implementing a student exchange scheme between the universities of small
island states. Four Universities will be involved namely:
University of Malta
University oaf Mauritius
University of the South pacific
University of the West Indies
Method. The four Universities will devise a compressed course spread over 2 weeks, covering 24
hours of tuition (plus assignments to be worked out over a period of time following the course).
This can be done under the auspices of UCSIS.
o The courses will focus on Environmental Studies or Economics or International Relations
and will be offered sometime between July an September.
o This course will form part of a Masters course offered by our respective Universities.
o Students following a masters course at the UMT, UMU, USP, UWI will be allowed to
follow the compressed course offered by the other Universities as part of their studies.
o Scholarships will be offered by the SSNED (covering travel, accommodation and a
modest per diem).
o Tuition will be offered free of charge by the Universities
o The number of students will have to be limited (say up to 5 students from each
University)
Existing arrangements: At the UMT we have such a course in place already, entitled "Research
Methodology". The University is devising a new one entitled "Economic Vulnerability and
Resilience of Small States".
o At UWI there are two such courses, entitled "Professional Skills for Environmental
Managers” and “Measurement and Analysis in Natural Resource Management”.
o At UMU students have already shown interest in this possible exchange programme.
o The USP has a number of short courses already in place, which could be structured to fit
this scheme.
3.2.4 Future Projects
It is envisaged that as the Network become better known worldwide, more small states will
request to participate in twinning projects. We understand the:
Belize will soon be requesting assistance in:
o e-commerce legal infrastructure
Guyana may be requesting assistance in:
o e-learning
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4. DIRECTORY OF EXPERTS
The Network placed an advert in the Economics in November 2008 and invited experts on small
states issues to register their name and expertise with the Network. The advert also invited
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authorities of small states to propose projects to be funded by the Network. We received more
than a hundred replies, and we are currently going through them one by one to ensure that the
replies were serious. We shall be writing to all the experts that replied so that a database of
expertise can be drawn up and placed on the Network website.
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5. SSNED WEBSITE
The Website of the Network (www.ssned.org) is now operational. Members may send
information for posting on the network. In the site you will also find information about twinning
projects (http://www.ssned.org/twinning-proj ). Members of the Network may request funding
for specific projects, in line with the work programme of the Network, which is also available on
line (http://www.ssned.org/work-prog ).
The website also contains a list of members of the Network http://www.ssned.org/membersnetwork ). The Network now has 23 members, so there are quite a few members of the Small
States Forum that are yet to join. We will make a fresh attempt to notify the small states that
have not yet joined to do so.
This newsletter will also be posted on the Network, but a password will be needed to access it,
which password will be made available to all members of the Network.
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6. COLLABORATION WITH OTHER ENTITITES
6.1 Collaboration with Hamburg University of Applied Sciences
Following consultation with members of the SSNED Board of Trustees, the Secretariat accepted
to cooperate with Hamburg University of Applied Sciences as partner agency in connection with
a major conference on climate change http://www.klima2009.net/en/aims . This cooperation will
will involve the following:
Representatives of the SSNED will address delegates by means of a short introduction and
video podcast, which can be prepared sometime in mid-2009;
The SSNED submits information on some key projects it s undertaking or involved in on
climate issues and small States, which can be disseminated in the section “climate projects
from around the world”;
SSNED staff may submit information on some key publications reports on climate issues,
which will be disseminated in the section “climate change studies library”
The conference material will carry the the SSNED logo.
Information about the 2008 session of the conference, held under the patronage of Dr. Achim
Steiner, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and S.R.H. Prince Albert II of
Monaco, Prince Albert Foundation is available at:
http://ipo.npolar.no/meetings/Kurzkonzept_5S_engl.august2008.pdf . Many international
organisation acted as partner agencies in that conference.
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6.2 Collaboration with the African and Asian Development Banks
The Network is trying to establish a collaboration arrangement with the African Development
Bank, where the African small states are represented. This arrangement should enable us to
communicate better with the African small states. The HQ of the Bank is in Tunis, which is very
near Malta. I have already discussed this matter with Ambassador Peter Sinon, the Bank’s Group
Executive Director who was interested in this proposal.
During a visit to Manila I met high ranking officials at the Asian Development Bank. They are
very interested in what we are doing. We received help from the Bank in contacting persons
from Pacific Small States with regard to the consultation process we recently conducted and with
regard to the publicity we made for the training workshops.
7. PROPOSED STAGIARE ARRANGEMENT
The secretariat would like to propose a “stagiare" arrangement whereby a national of an SSNED
member state works within the Network secretariat (similar to placement or internship). The
position will not be remunerated but the Network will offer a modest subsistence allowance
covering full board accommodation. This arrangement enable to person concerned to learn how
to organize events and will help in the coordination of projects. Feedback about this proposal
will be appreciated.
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