As a key Government agency serving the valuable public, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continually seeks to motivate and empower staff to be efficient and effective. The EPA, as much as possible, seizes every opportunity to enhance development of its staff through relevant training.
Staff development is viewed as a critical component needed to equip staff to respond to the demanding and evolving work portfolio of the Agency. It also helps staff members learn about responsibilities; develop required skills and competencies necessary to accomplish institutional and divisional goals and purposes; and grow personally and professionally, to prepare themselves for advancement in the institution or beyond.
A number of training opportunities were granted to staff of the EPA during the first quarter of the year. Officers from various programme areas were privileged to attend training on various topics, and made representation for the Agency, both locally and internationally. The training programmes which the Agency participated in during the first quarter of the year targeted both technical and administrative staff.
In the technical category, two (2) representatives from the Agency attended the 2018 Australasian Environmental Law Enforcement and Regulation Conference in Sydney, Australia for one week. This conference brought together more than 250 environmental law enforcers and regulators from around the world. With the Agency taking a more proactive approach to boosting its enforcement and compliance capabilities, the opportunity was taken to gain valuable knowledge and experience about modern methods used to ensure compliance with environmental regulations. Similarly, in the international arena, a representative from the Agency was able to benefit from a five-day Fellowship in Trieste, Italy, Europe, focusing on genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
Locally, officers attended an incident command training in Guyana facilitated by the Civil Defence Commission (CDC). This training sought to equip attendees with the ability to better respond to emergencies such as oil spills, fires, and other chemical and biological incidents.
A number of other staff were able to benefit over this period in areas relating to radiation, waste management, and land resource management.
Administratively, a number of staff benefited from Module 1 of the ‘Principles of secretarial practices and personnel practices and policy’, facilitated by the Department of the Public Service. This training is continuous, and other staff will be able to benefit from other modules developed by the Department, to better serve the public.
Undoubtedly, staff development is vital for the future of the EPA. An effective staff development policy is linked to the EPA having a robust improvement plan to include all staff – both technical and administrative. Most certainly, the profile of staff development has been raised in recent years; so next time you meet one of the highly skilled and trained staff of the EPA, remember that the Agency places high emphasis on developing its staff complement to better serve you, the public, while at the same time protecting and safeguarding our environment.
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