St. Maarten’s Ombudsman Rep To Visit
A representative of St. Maarten’s Ombudsman’s office is visiting Bermuda’s Office for the Ombudsman for a week of training, the Ombudsman for Bermuda, Arlene Brock announced today.
“Patricia Phillips, the Head of Office for the new Ombudsman office in St Maarten has come to our office to gain insight into our approach to our work,” Ms Brock said.
“Our office is recognized as a leader especially in small jurisdiction ombudsmanship,” Ms Brock said. “We have advised other jurisdictions on how to set up small offices and the dynamics and pitfalls of working in small jurisdictions. Even in the large jurisdiction of South Africa, our Annual Reports have been used to train staff.”
“This will be the fourth time in just six years that a new Ombudsman or deputy from the Caribbean has come to Bermuda to be trained by us,” Ms Brock said. “In 2006, the Ombudsman for Turks and Caicos spent two weeks here; in 2009 the Deputy Ombudsman for British Virgin Islands and in 2010 the Ombudsman for Grenada each spent a week”.
“Our office has developed a curriculum that gives each member of our small staff the opportunity to develop skills as trainers. Although tailored to the needs of each guest, the week generally covers statutory interpretation, complaint management, investigation and mediation skills, analysis, statistics, reports and ethics. In Ms. Philips’ case, we will also spend time on conference planning as next year St. Maarten will be hosting the Caribbean Ombudsman conference that Bermuda hosted in 2008.”
“The contact with the Ombudsman Office of Bermuda was made at the CAROA conference in Curacao in 2010,” Ms Phillips said. “The Ombudsman of St. Maarten, Dr Hilda Arduin, established a close relationship with Ms Brock which resulted in this exchange visit of the Head of the Ombudsman Office of St. Maarten. My visit was short by fruitful and informative and I wish to thank Ms Brock and her staff for allowing me to visit and learn from their experience.”
“Mr. Argar Alexander, Ombudsman for Grenada (June 22-25, 2010) visited our office for training in June 2010, and said “I wish to formally extend very special gratitude to Ombudsman Brock and staff of the Bermuda Ombudsman Office for the professional and hospitable way in which they hosted and assisted me during the study visit. I was very impressed with their modus operandi.”
The Deputy Ombudsman of the British Virgin Islands similarly expressed appreciation for his training in Bermuda: “It is still a marvel that so much could be crammed into a mere one week. Thanks you for this shining example of Technical Cooperation among Overseas Territories”
Mrs Sadie-Jean Williams, retired Complaints Commissioner for the Turks & Caicos stated, “The expertise of Ms Brock and her staff was a tremendous help for my tenure in my office. I gained a great deal from them.”
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