The CPSC Governing Board (GB) conducted its very first virtual GB Meeting on June 25, 2020 via Zoom video conferencing. The shift from physical into a virtual meeting was to ensure the health and safety of the attendees amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The 109th GB Meeting had a complete attendance from all of the Board members and the CPSC secretariat, who discussed and deliberated on some important agenda items such as the Annual Report for Fiscal Year (FY) 2019-2020, Operational Plan and Budget Proposal for FY 2020-2021, and the Announcement of the Recruitment of the 12th CPSC Director General.
After adopting the provisional agenda and reprising the Board of the details of the 108th GBM including the actions taken on some Board decisions, CPSC Director General Dr. Ramhari Lamichhane proceeded in presenting the achievements and milestones of CPSC for FY 2019-2020 through the Annual Report. CPSC’s initiative of harnessing of the virtual platform through the Webinar Series and Online Regional Program was one of the highlights of the report. This was well-appreciated by the Board, and was recommended to be continued to be able to reach out to a wider audience not only in the member countries but to other interested individuals as well.
The deliberation on CPSC’s Operational Plan and Budget for FY 2020-2021 ensued, wherein consolidated activities of the Staff College for the incoming year based on its Corporate Plan 208-2023, and the corresponding budget necessary to implement these were presented to the Board. Receiving no objections, the activities and budget were approved.
The Board then tackled the details of the planning and timeline for the recruitment of the 12th CPSC Director General (DG), who will be replacing the outgoing DG in 2021. The Board also formed the Screening and Recommending Committee.
As CPSC’s Fiscal Year concludes, the turn-over of the Governing Board’s Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson Posts are relinquished to the new set of officers during the virtual meeting. The Valedictory Address of the outgoing Chairperson, H.E. Jaideep Mazumdar, was delivered by the Charge d’ Affaires, a.i. of the Embassy of the Republic of India Ms. Manisha Swami, wherein he thanked the Board and Secretariat for their support during his term, which was reciprocated with The appointment of the new set of officials with H.E. Norman Bin Muhamad of the Embassy of Malaysia as the new Chairperson and H.E. U Lwin Oo of the Embassy of Myanmar as the new Vice-Chairperson followed. Acceptance speeches from the new officers were delivered, and were proceeded with congratulatory messages from the Board members.
109th GBM Members and Representatives (L-R); (First Row) Dr. Ramhari Lamichhane, CPSC Director General; Ms. Casey Alvarez, CPSC HR Officer; H.E. Norman Bin Muhamad, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Embassy of Malaysia and GB Vice-Chairperson; Mrs. Tankamol Chimme, Policy and Planning Analyst of the Office of Vocational Education Commission representing the Royal Thai Embassy; H.E. U Lwin Oo, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Embassy of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; (Second Row) H.E. Betty Palaso, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Embassy of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea; Ms. Manisha Swami, Charge d’ Affaires, a.i., Embassy of the Republic of India and GB Chairperson; Ms. Saadia Awan, Charge d’ Affaires, a.i., Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan; H.E. Shobini Gunasekera, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Embassy of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka; Ms. Lina C. Sarmiento, Deputy Director General for TESD Operations, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Philippines; (Third Row) Ms. Rosalinda Gonzales, CPSC Finance Officer; H.E. Asad Alam Siam, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Embassy of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh; Ms. Emma R. Sarne, Director for Socio-Cultural Division, United Nations and International Organizations – Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA-UNIO); Ms. Maria Susan P. Dela Rama, Executive Director – Certification Office, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Philippines; Mr. Jan Michael Marasigan, CPSC Executive Secretary; (Fourth Row) Mr. Felix Sibal, CPSC ICT Officer; H.E. Gerard Ho Wei Hong, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Embassy of the Republic of Singapore.
