Met services starts work on five-year action plan |06 March 2014

The National Meteorological Services (NMS) has started a series of consultations which will eventually lead to the formulation of a five-year strategic action plan.

The consultations were launched yesterday by the principal secretary for Environment and Energy Wills Agricole, who said the exercise is an opportunity for stakeholders and staff of the NMS to discuss and interact together on the plus’s and minus’s of the organisation, and what they expect from the service in five years’ time.

Present at the launch ceremony, held at the International Conference Centre, was the director general in the Division of Climate Affairs, Adaptation and Information in the Ministry of Environment and Energy, Alain de Commarmond, and Shella Mohideen, chief executive of the School of Business Management of the University of Seychelles (UniSey). UniSey is playing a consultative role in the drafting of the plan.

“The NMS is a highly-skilled organisation, respecting, abiding by and operating under numerous standards and guidelines working with so many partners in several sectors. This requires sustained and high investment to ensure that it has required capacity and remains modern and up to date. So I expect this strategic action plan will provide a clean picture of the NMS assessment of the factors affecting meteorology both now and in the future,” said Mr Agricole.

Mr Agricole also said he expects the plan to harmonise nicely with the country’s blueprint in sustainability which is the Seychelles Sustainable Development Strategy 2012-2020 and to integrate additional strategies to address both short- and long-term constraints in different fields of meteorology.

He also said it is important that any plan is flexible and can cope with the changing environment so implementation of this plan by NMS means an even greater sense of ownership of the outcomes.

Mr Agricole said the challenge is for all of us to strengthen capacity development and coordination between all agencies involved.

Noting that effective implementation of the plan requires teamwork and adequate capacity in the NMS, Mr Agricole said his ministry will endeavour to boost capacity and foster team spirit and build coordination with all agencies involved.

Human resource development, financing and investment, infrastructural development, international relations and networking to name a few, are also areas to be tackled by the plan.  

Mr Agricole thanked the UniSey for its consultative role in the drafting of the strategic plan.

Mr de Commarmond described the drafting of the plan as a historic exercise for the NMS and it is a plan for all concerned.

“It is a shared responsibility where we all have a stake in its success,” said Mr de Commarmond.

He said the questions all stakeholders should be asking themselves are where the NMS is now; whether it is in line with our and international expectations and why they have to plan strategically.

He cited various fields that are needed to be tackled to be able to come up with a good plan for the NMS.

Mrs Mohideen explained the UniSey’s plans to conduct the consultative work and the methodology involved.

She stressed that discipline is needed in drafting the plan so as to sort out what is important to start with.

She also noted various points to be considered during the drafting like starting self-assessment – what has been working and what has not; root causes analysis; what can be done within five years and addressing the issues they have the capacity to deliver; where does NMS want to go; risks that can hinder the implementation, among others.