Programme Management Office

Happy Saint Patrick's Day from the Programme Management Office!

A delegation from the British Overseas Territory of St Helena, consisting of His Excellency the Governor, Air Commodore Nigel Phillips CBE RAF, The Honourable Chief Minister, Mrs Julie Dorne Thomas and The Honourable Chief Secretary, Mrs Susan O’Bey, will arrive in Montserrat on Wednesday 13 March for a visit facilitated by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). The delegation will be welcomed by Her Excellency The Governor, Mrs Sarah Tucker and The Premier, Hon. Joseph E. Farrell.

While in Montserrat, the delegation will meet with Government Ministers and Public Service officials to discuss a broad range of topics including: good governance; fiscal accountability and monitoring; corporate leadership and their approach to programme management. The trip will include a visit to the Port Project, the new hospital site and the Geothermal wells.

Read the details here: https://www.gov.ms/2024/03/13/montserrat-welcomes-delegation-from-st-helena-toshare-experiences-and-build-wider-ot-relationship/

📢 Round-Up of a Busy Week in PMO! 📅

DAY 1-2: On Monday and Tuesday, the Programme Management Office joined the Hon. Premier and the Development Attache (HM Governor's Office in Montserrat) as part of a Montserrat delegation to the UK Trade and Investment Mission in Antigua, hosted by E.P. Chet Greene, and supported by the Antigua and Barbuda High Commission UK, Antigua and Barbuda Investment Authority, DMA Invest, UK Business and Trade, The Commonwealth, and the in The Bahamas - British High Commission Nassau. This event connected Montserrat with a range of technical specialists and potential opportunities in the areas of renewable energy, sustainability, infrastructure, aviation, agricultural development and cultural collaboration. Two investors agreed to visit Montserrat later in the week to explore near term investment opportunities (see below). In the evening, the delegation was hosted by the Deputy Governor-General Antigua Barbuda at Government House, Antigua and Barbuda. More details here: https://www.gov.ms/2024/03/11/montserrats-premier-attends-high-level-trade-and-investment-mission-in-anituga/

Also on Monday, the Deputy Head of the PMO, Ms Linda A.S. Dias, began her attendance at the Infrastructure and Projects Authority's Infrastructure Foundation Masterclass scheduled for March 11-15, 2024, in London, UK. More details here: https://www.facebook.com/MontserratPMO/posts/pfbid0iHyPpHkXeDhmghBdvJBSuzxbvGCV4YGDhRzbxa5x8GZWDNB6eX4AnYbcevV5qpf3l

On Tuesday evening, the PMO attended the National Honours and Awards Ceremony, hosted by the Office of the Premier- Montserrat - an incredible event of recognition, music, and culture at the heart of the St Patrick's celebrations.

On Wednesday, the Head of PMO met with mission team from Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC) to discuss Montserrat's new strategic outcome framework. The CARTAC team was on island all week, hosted by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Management, and led by Mr Colin Owen, previous Hon. Financial Secretary in Montserrat.

On Thursday, Montserrat hosted a successful trade and investment delegation from DMA Invest and GreenCrowd LLP to explore development and investment opportunities for the island. The dynamic itinerary provided senior level discussions and planning meetings, technical level discussions on geothermal energy, and site visits. Full details here: https://www.facebook.com/MontserratPMO/posts/pfbid0vieiNvtPo1TniXNpz5kpfXbKG7z9YMSDm9HPJGmr7KttQxMSAxxpNrL8rXV28EJ1l

Also on Thursday, the PMO supported the Ministry of Finance's roundtable engagement with the delegation from St Helena, including His Excellency the Governor, Air Commodore Nigel Phillips CBE RAF, The Honourable Chief Minister, Mrs Julie Dorne Thomas and The Honourable Chief Secretary, Mrs Susan O’Bey. In the afternoon, the Project Manager for the New National Hospital Project with the Montserrat Ministry of Health & Social Services provided a tour of the Glendon Hospital site and an overview of the new design. With Governor's Office St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, St Helena Government. More details here: https://www.facebook.com/UkinMontserrat/posts/813804447452169?ref=embed_post

On Friday, the new 3D Mammography machine, funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, was moved from the Programme Management Office to the Hospital site, in readiness for the installation of the equipment starting next week.

The PMO also held meetings on the new training and development opportunities enabled by the Government of Montserrat's new partnership with the Association for Project Management.

Phew! A dynamic, successful and varied week filled with collaboration, knowledge sharing and opportunity!

Have a great St Patrick's festival weekend everyone! ✊🏾

🇲🇸 Government of Montserrat welcomes Investment Delegation ✈️

On Thursday 14th March, the Premier, Hon. Joseph E. Farrell, welcomed representatives from two investment organisations to explore partnership opportunities in Montserrat:

🌎Mr Atam Sandhu of DMA Invest has delivered investment programmes for over 70 countries and has managed hundreds of high-level trade and investment summits and trade missions.

☀️Mr Rick Gambetta is the founder of Greencrowd LLP, a company with a strong track record of supporting projects in the renewable energy sector, amongst others.

This visit follows from the successful engagement of the Montserrat delegation at the UK-Antigua trade and investment summit earlier this week by the Hon. Premier, Martin Parlett (Head of Programme Management Office) and Alba Smeriglio (Development Attaché, HM Governor's Office in Montserrat).

Key highlights from the one day visit:

🔌The Deputy Premier, Dr. the Hon. Samuel Joseph and his team gave an overview of the renewable energy situation in Montserrat, followed by site visits to the geothermal and solar project sites.

⚡The MCWLE team had the opportunity to hear about successful examples implemented in other countries of transitioning to renewable energy. Mr Gambetta shared relevant experiences from GreenCrowd’s projects in similar developing geothermal markets and presented options for enabling greater investment interest in Montserrat’s geothermal and other renewable capabilities.

🤝🏼A productive discussion on trade and investment opportunities, with The Hon. Premier, the Hon. Deputy Premier, and Hon. Minister Mr Crenston Buffonge, as well as the Hon. Financial Secretary, Deputy Financial Secretary, Head of PMO and Development Attaché (Governor’s Office). This includes the opportunity to attend a key trade and investment event in the UK later this year as well as discussions on fine tuning our roadmap for investments in Montserrat.

🥂A visit to the Diaspora Engagement Event at the Good Life in Little Bay, where the visitors sampled some local products and engaged in discussions with some of the private sector reps presented at the event.

🇬🇧A debrief of the day’s activities and next steps with H.E. The Governor, Mrs. Sarah Tucker.

Programme Management Office | HM Governor's Office in Montserrat

This week, Deputy Head of PMO, Ms Linda Dias, is attending the Infrastructure and Project Authority's Infrastructure Foundation Masterclass scheduled for March 11-15, 2024, in London, UK.

The ‘Infrastructure Foundation Masterclass’, organised by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and Caribbean Development Bank is a five-day training course that combines learning sessions, practical case studies, sector-specific workshops and site visits to operational projects in the UK. The course will cover a comprehensive range of practical issues including: the planning, Procurement, delivery and financing of public infrastructure; contract standardization; implementing environmental, social and governance considerations (incl. Net Zero); public-private partnerships; and governance.

During the course, participants will learn how the UK Government manages its large portfolio of infrastructure projects. The course is designed for senior public sector officials who are currently, or expect to be, involved in the decision making and implementation of infrastructure programmes on behalf of their respective governments. Attendees will also have the capacity and intention to contribute positively to sustainable infrastructure in the medium to long term in their country, or the wider region.

Previous participants have included managers, technical experts and decision-makers at senior levels. The course is delivered by a wide range of senior practitioners with front-line experience in their relevant fields from the IPA and other UK Government bodies. There is also the opportunity for site visits to some of London's most significant infrastructure projects.

The IPA is the UK Government’s centre of expertise for infrastructure and major projects, supporting the successful delivery of all types of significant and complex projects. The IPA sits at the heart of Government, reporting to the Cabinet Office and His Majesty’s Treasury.

This afternoon we will be joining the Davy Hill community to provide a brief overview of the Davy Hill Basketball Project, funded by the Volcano Relief Fund, and to engage local residents on the plans.

The event, hosted by the Davy Hill Community Action Group, will start at 5pm, 6th March 2024 and will include remarks by Madam Speaker, Miss Charliena White (VRF Chair) and presentations from the PMO team.