Npso guidlines

Building Resilient National Private Sector Organisations June 2013

A series of ‘hands on’ guidelines to effectively build and manage NPSOs

PIPSO MISSION: To lead the facilitation of private sector-driven economic growth for the benefit of the region.

The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Pacific Islands Private Sector Organisation concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

May 2013 Original: English Š Pacific Islands Private Sector Organisation 2013

CONTENTS How to use this Guide

1

Section 1 Introduction 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Characteristics of NPSOs 1.3 Classification of NPSOs 1.4 Stage of Development of NPSOs 1.5 Benchmarking

2 2 3 3 3 4

Section 2: Organisation Development 2.1 Background 2.2 Structure of a National Private Sector Organisation 2.3 Strategic Planning 2.4 Financial Management 2.5 Membership Development 2.6 Internal Organisation 2.7 Communication

5 5 5 6 6 8 9 10

Section 3: Governance 3.1 Background 3.2 Structure of NPSOs 3.3 General Assembly and Board 3.3.1 Formation of the Member Assembly 3.3.2 Functions of the Member Assembly 3.3.3 Payment of dues 3.4 The Board 3.4.1 Eligibility of potential nominees 3.4.2 Election of Board members 3.4.3 Termination of office 3.4.4 Responsibilities of the Board 3.5 Committees 3.6 Secretariat 3.6.1 Eligibility of potential candidates 3.7 Accountability 3.8 Transparency and communication 3.8.1 External Auditors 3.8.2 Internal Auditors 3.9 Avoiding corruption and conflict of interest 3.10 Communication with stakeholders

11 11 11 11 12 12 12 13 13 13 14 14 14 15 15 16 16 16 16 16 17

Section 4: Advocacy 4.1 Background 4.2 NPSO Advocacy Tactics 4.2.1 Dialogue platforms 4.2.2 Direct advocacy 4.2.3 Public relations 4.2.4 Lawsuits

18 18 18 18 18 19 19

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4.3 4.4

4.5

Development Partners Role in Enhancing Advocacy Measuring the Success and communicating it to Members 4.4.1 Reviewing the National Business Agenda 4.4.2 Reviewing the Position Papers 4.4.3 Reviewing advocacy tactics Member communication

19 20 21 21 21 21

Section 5: Public-Private Dialogue 5.1 Background 5.2 Risks of PPD 5.3 Summarised Charter of good practice 5.3.1 Principle 1: Mandate and Institutional Alignment 5.3.2 Principle 2: Structure and Participation 5.3.3 Principle 3: Champions 5.3.4 Principle 4: Outputs 5.3.5 Principle 5: Outreach and Communications 5.3.6 Principle 6: Monitoring & Evaluation 5.3.7 Principle 7: Sub-National 5.3.8 Principle 8: Sector-Specific 5.3.9 Principle 9: International Role 5.3.10 Principle 10: Post-Conflict / Crisis-Recovery / Reconciliation 5.3.11 Principle 11: Development Partners 5.4 Charter of good practice 5.4.1 Mandate and Institutional Alignment 5.4.2 Structure & participation 5.4.3 Champions 5.4.4 Outputs 5.4.5 Outreach and communications 5.4.6 Monitoring and evaluation 5.4.7 National 5.4.8 Sector-Specific 5.4.9 International Role 5.4.10 Post conflict/crisis recovery/reconciliation 5.4.11 Development Partners

22 22 22 23 23 43 24 24 24 24 24 25 25 25 25 25 26 26 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 35

Section 6: Evaluation of a PPD

37

Section 7: Effective Communication Strategies 7.1 What is a Communications Strategy and why do you need one?

7.1.1 Review past Communications Strategies 7.2 How to write a Communications Strategy 7.2.1 Set an achievable goal 7.2.2 Identify your audience 7.2.3 Creating key messages 7.2.4 Select your communication tools or vehicle 7.2.5 Resources 7.2.6 Timelines

38 38 38 38 39 39 39 39 41 41

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7.2.7 Monitor and evaluate the success of your communications

41

Section 8: Communications Tools and Advice 8.1 A website is a must in a technologically driven world 8.2 Social Media Marketing = word of mouth marketing 8.3 Press releases

42 42 43 43

Section 9: Building relations with the media 9.1 Creating relationships with the media 9.2 Understanding the Media 9.3 How to handle a Media Interview 9.4 Media interview: the do’s and don’ts

44 44 44 44 45

Section 10: NPSO Business Services 10.1 Background 10.2 NPSO and Business Development Services 10.3 Options for Business Development Services 10.4 Measuring the Success of BDS

46 46 46 46 49

Appendix Appendix 1: NPSO Assessment Criteria Appendix 2: Checklists for NPSOs Appendix 3: Niue Chamber of Commerce Business Survey– Sample Appendix 4: Organisation Policies and Guidelines – Sample Appendix 5: Sample Constitution – Cook Islands Chamber of Commerce Appendix 6: PIPSO Board Charter – Sample Appendix 7: Press Release Sample 1 Appendix 8: Press Release Sample 2

50 50 51 58 60 79 84 90 91

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How to use this guide

HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE The approach offered by the guide is based on the principles of results-based management complete with implementation and monitoring methodologies.

experiences of successful organisations around the world.

The theoretical part is supported by examples of best practices to benchmark with, checklists to help review what the organisation is currently doing in relation to service development and delivery, as well as practical exercises, as described below:

The approach contains steps to follow and takes into consideration different useful strategic tools and methods of building effective services based on the

Checklists are designed to verify where your organisation is currently placed and to identify gaps to be covered.

Best Practices provide examples of how other organisations have tackled the problems you are facing.

Examples can be used for quick learning and reference before actual application.

Assessments provide a form of benchmarking of minimum standards

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Building resilient NPSOs

Section One - Introduction 1.0 Rationale

Fundamentally, NPSOs have the following main roles: being an advocate and service provider.

With the growing integration into the world of international trade with trade promotion becoming a continuously complex task for the trade promotion agencies alone, as well as increasing demand for more dialogue and consultation with private sector as the ‘engine of growth’, a lot is being demanded of businesses. The Government has now begun looking to Chambers of Commerce and other business organisations representing the private sector for guidance and input into a number of policies and development frameworks as there has been growing recognition of the role that these intermediaries can play here.

a.

Being Advocate The first role of a NPSO is to influence the policy and regulatory environment, so that they are conducive to business growth, development and job creation. This representational function is executed through lobbying and advocacy. But it is also an advisory and negotiation function, as it involves dealing with the Government, development partners and other interest groups, and civil societies. As the voice of business, the NPSO is the privileged partner of Governments on private sector issues.

This is also coupled with the mounting demands on National Private Sector Organisations (NPSOs) and Private Sector Organisations (PSOs) to respond to an increasingly complex range of services required of them by their members; whether these are manufacturers, exporters and importers, industryspecific businesses such as tourism, agriculture, fisheries or extraction businesses.

A number of factors can explain the central role an NPSO plays in its national context: • being the voice of business on a wide range of economic and social issues; • holding a wealth of information from the perspective of business; • being a membership organisation trusted by members; • Being a recognised social partner at various levels and for various purposes.

The role of NPSOs is to coordinate private sector development work within their countries and to advocate on behalf of their members with Government, Development Partners and other international bodies. If NPSOs are to fulfil their dual role of, on the one hand, acting as the organisations representing the interests and the views of the business community vis-à-vis the government and other national and regional stakeholders, on the other hand, offering direct services to the business community, it is essential that they have the necessary infrastructure to enable them to provide such services, not merely efficiently but also effectively.

All activities related to this function can also be described as “outward looking activities”. b.

Being a provider of services The other main function for a NPSO is to provide direct services to its own members. Usually these services include information, advice and direct representation at appropriate forums. While the range and nature of services differ depending on the level of operations, most NPSOs provide some kind of services.

This document provides NPSOs with a guideline based on best practices to be able to understand their functions and roles in this increasingly dynamic and changing world of business.

Working with NPSOs requires an understanding of their tasks and functions.

All related activities can be qualified as “inward looking activities”, since they are directed towards members, being either individual or collective (e.g. regional or sectoral level).

Provision of direct services to members considerably helps to attract and retain members and adds value to membership subscriptions. In that sense, offering quality and value services to members, i.e. services that help members to enhance their performance and competitiveness, are key to expanding and retaining membership.

1.2 Characteristics of NPSOs NPSOs are collective organisations of businesses established to promote business interests. The overriding function of any NPSO is to be the voice of business, whether at the local, regional or national level, or at the sectoral level. At the same time, NPSOs also play an important service role, providing member companies with advice, information and knowledge in the business environment.

c.

Getting the right balance These activities have the unique objective to serve members’ needs. The relative importance given to these two functions by an NPSO depends on the national context and on the nature of the organisation.

NPSOs are crucial partners for reaching out to entrepreneurs and enterprises. They are the suitable entrance point for promoting economic reforms as well as for developing and providing demand driven business services for small and medium enterprises. They can serve as a host for specialised facilities and can also have the propensity to take over delegated functions by authorisation of the government. As needs grow, NPSOs must then put themselves in a position to be able to satisfy these needs and as a result, search for additional resources.

For example, in developing countries, which need to solidify the fundamentals of market economy and influence policy to promote business growth and development, and capture the benefits of globalisation, influencing policy and regulatory environment is likely to be the most important function of the NPSO.

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Section One 1.3 Classification of NPSOs The stage of development of the organisational performance refers to the management of NPSO, but also its range of services and its capability to lobby members’ interests. NPSOs would need to be classified first before performance is measured and compared. The more qualified classification that could serve this purpose is to cluster NPSOs of the same:

In more advanced countries, where NPSOs would have already established themselves the balance depends on its policy dialogue, traditional service role of an organisation and the maturity of companies as members. Another important consideration is obviously the level of operations. The peak organisations usually have only an advocacy role. However, some organisations are adopting innovative approaches to add value and to provide services directly to selected group of members, such as multinational or big national companies.

Another case where when peak organisations provide direct services is when the business in the country is not organised along regional or sectorial lines or the membership is mixed, as in Indonesia.

➢ State of development – the physical state of the NPSO; ➢ Number of members – the total membership and the classes of membership; ➢ Size of area/coverage – the total area which the membership covers i.e. urban % & rural %; ➢ Financial turnover – the financial capacity of the NPSO; ➢ Level of representation – the inclusiveness of the NPSO; and ➢ Other features of the country.

In order to be sustainable and effectively represent the business in the long run, a NPSO has to therefore take its environment into account and find the right balance between outward and inward activities. The ability to anticipate future needs of businesses and issues they may have to address will reflect the degree of professionalism of the organisation.

For the Pacific, PIPSO has classified the various NPSOs according to the structure developed by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat. This classification thus determines the membership fees accrued by each member country:

An NPSO could be described with the following set of functions:  

    



1. Small Island States (SIS): Palau, FSM, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Niue, Cook Is. 2. Middle-range: Tonga, Samoa, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands 3. Large: Fiji and PNG

Provision of information related to the promotion of trade and investment; Provision of information concerning rules and regulations emanating from Government and other competent authorities and having a bearing on business; Publicising the capabilities of members and their areas of business; Promoting interaction amongst members’; Organising trade fairs and exhibitions; Receiving or mounting business missions; Consulting and dialoguing with Government and development partners; and Providing training for its members.

In accordance with the reasoning given to each of these classifications, the NPSOs are then charged with varying levels of membership fees (subject to change): 1.

2.

3.

1.4 Stage of Development of NPSOs For the last three years, PIPSO has been building the capacities of the national private sector organisations for its 14 member countries to be able to perform the functions required and to engage in dialogue and consultations with Government and key development partners. Further work will be required to develop specific private sector strategies for Governments to consider promoting and implementing to increase economic growth.

Small Island States (SIS) – FJD 1,000.00 Middle-range: FJD 3,000.00 Large: FJD 10,000.00

The direction the Secretariat took in terms of developing the capacity of NPSOs is focused on three key strategies and are as follows: 1.

2.

3.

3

Strengthening the core; Building capacities and businesses; and Creating options for the future.

Building resilient NPSOs

PIPSO Capacity Building Focus

An Assessment followed this capacity development stance in 2012 and this process defined standards of NPSO organisation, planning and performance. The process helped to identify strengths and weaknesses of NPSOs. The illustration provided below gives you an idea of the varying levels of development of the NPSOs in 2012. This was based on a survey conducted in mid-2012 for all of the NPSOs. The assessment covered all the key aspects of a fullyfunctioning NPSO as outlined in NPSO Assessment Criteria contained in Appendix 1 on page 50.

1.5 Benchmarking The determination of the compliance of NPSOs to the areas prescribed in Table 2 will be based on an evaluation and discussion between PIPSO and NPSOs. Exemplary forms of best-practice have actually been prescribed in the following sections.

5. Membership 6. Services 7. Financial Situation 8. Advocacy and External Relations Accompanying the questionnaire is an evaluation form and this is used to assess the feedback of members of the NPSO. The Guideline has also collected a series of best practice documents from a number of sources including the International Labour Organisation resources for “Effective Employer Organisations”, International Finance Corporation of the World Bank resources on “Building the Capacity of Business Membership Organisations”, Sequa, gGmbH-Partner for German Businesses, BMO Toolbox as well as resources from member NPSOs. The documents being referred can be used for reference purposes.

Benchmarking is used to measure achievements and efficiency.

It is a tool to check the level of organisational performance.

Benchmarking offers the possibility of NPSOs comparing themselves with other NPSOs within the same category. A comprehensive NPSO benchmarking tool which includes an assessment questionnaire based on an excel sheet has been developed to be used by the Secretariat in plotting an NPSOs progress in this regard. The questionnaire may require 1-2 hours depending on the situation and on the completion of the assessment, is able to view diagrammatic results in tables and charts.

1.6

The questionnaire addresses the following key topics: 1. Organisational Status 2. Leadership 3. Staff 4. Office Infrastructure

Further Readings Assessments for NPSOs - Page 50

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Section Two

Section Two - Organisational Development 2.1 Background Well organised NPSOs work effectively and efficiently, enjoy active membership participation and have an excellent reputation in public. Unfortunately, many NPSOs do not have the organisational strength and management capacities to achieve this status. On the one hand, numerous organisations are willing to act as chambers, federations or business associations, but they are also wasting resources by competing with each other and are too weak and unstable to represent SMEs effectively. The established larger NPSOs, on the other hand, are often dominated by large-scale enterprises because they are easier to organise and bring in more economic power and political influence.

Six key issues of NPSO management will be analysed in greater detail: (i) NPSO Structure; (ii) Strategic planning; (iii) Finance; (iv) Membership development; (v) Internal organisation; (vi) Human resource management; (this is not discusses below) (vii) Communications.

2.2

Structure of a National Private Sector Organisation

Based on that, NPSOs should develop their organisational strength and management capacities to become more effective and ensure their long term prospects. Better organised NPSOs are more focused, enjoy greater membership participation and improve their public recognition and acceptance. They are able to fulfil their responsibilities for the whole – small and large – business community and can therefore be regarded as genuine representatives of the private sector.

General Assembly Executive Board Committees

Secretariat

Poor management practices and organisational weaknesses will be reflected by the following typical problems of NPSOs: ➢ Low membership ➢ Poor leadership (lack of mission statement and strategic planning) ➢ Lack of administrative skills ➢ No clear-cut division of tasks between honorary representatives and secretarial staff ➢ Negligible influence on government policy ➢ Weak communication and public relations ➢ Unattractive services ➢ Inadequate funds and income generation

The illustration here above describes the existing structure of NPSOs in the Pacific Region. ➢ The General Assembly of members is the highest ranking body of a NPSO. These are basically the individual business members of the NPSO. It elects the members of the Executive Board.

This section looks at how NPSOs could improve the management and deal with the internal features of NPSOs, describing how NPSOs are organisationally structured and operated. It is important to realise that these problems should not be seen in isolation: by reinforcing each other, they cause a vicious circle of poor NPSO management. The central problem of many NPSO lies in the lack of knowledge of what they should do now (mission) and what they want to become in the future (vision).

➢ It is the Executive Board (President, Vice Presidents, Treasurer, etc) that governs the NPSO. Board members are working for a NPSO on an “honorary” basis. ➢

In the absence of a meaningful mission and vision, NPSOs will attract only a few members having to cope with insufficient financial resources that in turn limit the scope for good services and advocacy. Without attractive benefits of membership, companies will abstain from joining the NPSO or decide to quit. Therefore, efforts to strengthen a NPSO’s management capacity have to be given due consideration, even when the primary objective of the promotional activity is to enhance service delivery and/or policy advocacy.

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The day to day work is done by the Secretariat, which is the operative arm of a NPSO. The Secretariat is headed by a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) or Executive Director.

Depending on the situation in the country, there are varying degrees of authority placed on either of these titles. It is therefore important to ensure that this is appropriately manned to enhance the credibility and reputation of the organisation.

Building resilient NPSOs An alternative suggestion/addition to this structure is the formation of committees. These are an important instrument of NPSOs for internal discussion and preparation of decisions.

Committees can be industry-based or issues based and are made up of members and are assisted by NPSO staff. These committees provide advice to the Board as well as the Secretariat on key issues pertaining to private sector development.

To facilitate the development of their plans, NPSO efforts should be directed towards the following key areas: A.

2.3 Strategic Planning Just like other public or private organisations, planning instruments are a valuable tool for the development of NPSOs. With the help of strategic planning, a consensus about the organisational priorities can be reached among the stakeholders of an NPSO. This helps to keep activities focused and reduces transition problems from one set of leaders to the next.

Membership survey: Planning needs accurate background information about the performance of the NPSO and the demands of its members.

Donors may commission surveys to deliver the necessary information.

B.

The most common tools for strategic planning are the NPSO’s vision (general ambitions), mission (more detailed objectives), work plans, and budget statements. Strategic planning does not have to be regarded as a highly technical exercise for smaller NPSOs but can also be introduced step by step. Experience has shown that successful planners use realistic assumptions, monitor their leaders’ impact, and make sure that leaders commit themselves to the strategic planning elaborated by NPSOs.

Strategic workshop: Based on the results of the membership survey, a planning workshop can be organised in which leading board and staff members participate and develop a consensus on the NPSO’s vision, mission statement, and longterm priorities. Donor representatives, PIPSO and other bigger NPSOs representatives may act as counsellors during these workshops.

C.

Preparation of a business plan: A business plan outlines future activities (in a specified manner), a time frame, budget and training requirements.

Short-term experts can help NPSOs draft better business plans.

NPSOs are encouraged to coordinate the development of their individual strategic plans. These are generally valid for a period of 5 years, however note that these ought to be revised annually.

2.4 Financial Management NPSOs are nonprofit organisations, but they have to cover their cost of operation. When considering the roles that a NPSO ought to play, it is important that it is capable of delivering expected services. The NPSO must have adequate resources.

Staff costs usually take the largest share in total expenditure; office costs and printing are two other major expenses. In addition, most NPSOs realise that to continue to play a truly active role in the community they must grow.

These plans: A.

Provide a framework within which all subsequent NPSO decisions can be taken; Profile the organisation, and thereby may motivate/involve members; Are valuable tools for informing partners, e.g. for networking purposes; Assist in benchmarking and in performance monitoring and evaluation; Stimulate change and are a good basis for future plans.

B. C. D. E.

Often public subsidies are threatening an NPSO’s independence and may undermine its efficiency. Grants by donors and members are made on a case-by-case basis and are therefore not a sustainable source of finance. NPSOs, whose members predominantly consist of SMEs, would always suffer from greater financial difficulties than organisations with bigger, wealthier members.

Strategic planning includes the following:  

 

  

In such conditions, an NPSOs must reform their financial management practices as a prerequisite for all other capacitybuilding measures. The primary objectives of reform measures include the diversification of income, the provision of a steady cash-flow and the ability to build reserves for periods of financial strain. At the same time NPSO can explore a partnership agreement with their Government that would secure some annual grants to assist in the operation of the NPSO.

A NPSO SWOT Analysis; An identification of potential strategic areas with regard to results of a SWOT analysis; Decisions as to which priority issues should be addressed; Precise objectives/results should be achieved, with whom (networking partners); A formulation of targets for the strategic areas and decisions; A monitoring and evaluation mechanism of these targets; and Feed the results back into planning.

a.

Membership Fees and Administration Membership fees or subscriptions constitute a major component of NPSOs revenue. Membership fees are normally calculated on an annual basis, payable in one lump sum or in installments.

The method of computing the fees or subscription varies.

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Section Two Where subscriptions are found to be inadequate and temporary financial support is needed, an excess or surcharge can also be levied. The basic principle is to charge what members will bear.

Normally, for the fees paid or payable, the members expect to receive some palpable services. Circulars, bulletins and the like providing information of general interest as well as information on government notifications or regulations, trade inquiries and opportunities, timetables of trade fairs and exhibitions within the country and abroad, and access to a library are some useful elements.

On the other hand, those who are not members also seek similar information. This leads to the question: should nonmembers be allowed to obtain all such information? In that case, why should anyone pay a subscription? Is the chamber not serving its broad objectives by disseminating information in the overall business interest? Clearly, a line of demarcation may have to be drawn between routine information and other services that are special to the members paying for them.

As new functions are added, new sources of revenue are found. The range and diversity of services rendered by a NPSO provide a clue to the manner in which sources of revenue can be classified. Resources could thus be categorised as either traditional or nontraditional.

Therefore, transparent accounting is not optional but a moral and often legal requirement. Many NPSOs have to operate in a fragile financial environment: particularly in conditions of voluntary membership, membership dues have to be set at a modest level to avoid deterring prospective members and facilitate their collection.

NPSO staff members must be trained to deliver basic financial statements (balance sheets, income statements, cash flow) in an understandable, accurate and timely manner. The actual bookkeeping and accounting of NPSOs will depend on the regulations of the relevant country and for the relevant type of NPSO (e.g. different for a larger NPSO than for a small association).

The prevailing regulations in each country will prescribe the books and records that NPSOs have to keep and provide rules for tax-acceptable vouchers and receipts, for inventory as well as for profit and loss account statements, balance sheets and audit procedures. Nevertheless, the use of external financial accountants for more complex issues and audits is encouraged. c.

Income-generating services The promotion of new services for members should always be used to diversify the income base of the NPSO. In developing income-generating services, NPSOs should keep in mind the possibility of crowding out existing commercial providers.

In general, sources of income for a NPSO other than membership fees could be: ➢ Rental fees or other business investments; ➢ Earnings from government programs, delegated functions, subsidies; ➢ Business services to members and nonmembers; ➢ Donations from members; ➢ Donor-funded support/projects; ➢ Earnings from social functions/events; ➢ Training services; and ➢ Trade Fairs.

The practices followed are:  A flat rate, say, per organisation per annum;  A graduated tariff with different rates for large, medium-sized and small industries, and or trades, services, and professions;  A rates' structure related to annual turnover (in some cases value of imports);  A rates' structure related to equity (capital+ reserves);  A rates' structure related to the number of employees;  A rates' structure related to taxable income;  Different rates for different classes of membership; and  A combination of two or more of the above.

A high income from services is not easy to achieve, because NPSOs have to compete with other business support providers (among them private enterprises) on the market. Some NPSOs hesitate to charge members for NPSO services (at all or above cost), because their understanding of NPSO principles forbids ‘profit making’. This attitude keeps NPSOs chained to low income and donations, which are not a reliable source of income and which may come with ‘conditions’.

b.

Book-keeping for NPSOs Quite a number of NPSOs keep accounts of an acceptable professional standard and have assigned the supervision of financial procedures to untrained persons. However, members as well as other contributors (government, development partners) want to know what the NPSO is doing with their money.

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The only solution for NPSOs is to grow beyond the threshold of membership fee income without strings attached and within their vision is to develop business services which earn an income higher than the cost of these activities. When NPSOs conduct income generating activities, they will remain nonprofit organisations because their aim will remain to be nonprofit. A surplus income from services is meant to cover the costs of the NPSO’s operations and not to generate a profit for its members.

Building resilient NPSOs

Case Study: Income Generating Options for Chambers of Commerce A chamber in Thailand derives its main income from organising an annual football cup event.

Others earn from golf tournaments. Both activities may be good as crowd draws and money earners but are not compatible with the main mission of a Chamber: to support business enterprises.

From this angle, earning income by conducting commercial fairs is a better alternative, e.g. the Kiribati Chamber of Commerce since December 2012, has taken on itself the role of organising trade fairs for its members. The trade fairs are growing in popularity and they are looking to organise a few more over the course of the year. The activity was also an opportunity for the KCCI to also begin their membership drive.

2.5 Membership Development Members are the reason for the existence of an NPSO. More members mean more income and more political power for an NPSO. Therefore, membership development should be a central issue for each NPSO. All issues of NPSO management are interrelating; problems in membership development reinforce the quality of service and advocacy.

Instruments for membership development which are encouraged include:  Recruitment: Marketing and awareness campaigns need to be conducted on a regular basis.

 Retention: Existing members need to be

Membership recruitment is often left to the Membership Officer within an NPSO, who also handles membership administration. However, it should be remembered that membership development is a task for all NPSO staff/leaders and departments. The recruitment of new members and the retention of existing ones are of fundamental importance for all NPSOs. However, membership development may be given low priority because:

cared for intensively in order to give them a sense of ownership and allow for their participation. All efforts to win or keep members are in vain if the NPSO does not have convincing services (including advocacy) and has no presence in the market and in public discussion on business issues. NPSOs have to realise that they are in competition with many other institutions that may also offer strong business benefits (Clubs, Rotary/Lions, prestigious NGOs, political Parties, BDS providers, etc).

(i) leadership is satisfied with the present status quo; (ii) the NPSO acts more as a social club for a few big members; (iii) small groups are politicising the work of the organisation, or (iv) The membership base in a certain region is limited. Nevertheless, an attractive membership framework is important for NPSO development.

 Administration: Membership administration

will be much easier with a comprehensive and up-to-date list of members.

Furthermore, it is vital that NPSO also emphasise on the collection of data when members register. Complete data on members are a treasure trove for NPSOs, as they are a basis for many business services. Specific data help to identify special needs of members and targets for services.

Electronic general-purpose database systems tailored to the specific needs of a particular organisation can also be used to upgrade other NPSO services, e.g., by developing an electronic matchmaking tool.

Membership development covers marketing efforts for new members (corporate identity, public relations) as well as the administration of existing members (membership database, structure and payment of dues). It is not enough to attract additional members every year if a comparable number of enterprises drop from the NPSO’s membership list.

Many NPSOs have difficulty dealing with such a “revolving” membership structure. To achieve a significant increase in membership, the secretariat should develop a precise strategy for the recruitment and the retention of members.

In order to develop an effective strategy to attract or retain members it is important to know why members leave or why nonmembers are not interested in joining. Undertake a survey or conduct a group discussion in order to learn about the reasons and find solutions to overcome obstacles.

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Section Two 2.6 Internal Organisation A well-structured work flow and division of responsibilities between executives (Board Members) and staff members (as laid down in the by-laws and job descriptions) are crucial for the efficiency and success of NPSOs. If the secretariat is strong and well organised, it may become the main vehicle to deliver outputs and relieve voluntary representatives from day-to-day activities.

But there are many NPSOs whose internal structures are not very clear-cut, whose boards do not delegate responsibilities to staff members and where the style of work differs significantly between the NPSO’s stakeholders. Therefore, a suitable CEO with strong leadership skills, an attractive work environment for staff members and an efficient internal communication are necessary ingredients of a well-functioning NPSO. Development Partners may support NPSOs in their efforts to assign clear tasks and responsibilities – especially with regard to a separation of the roles of the secretariat and board – and to improve the work of the staff members by implementing effective administrative systems and forming strategic partnerships with external service providers.

The performance of NPSOs is determined by the performance of its players. These are both, NPSO leaders as well as NPSO staff. Investment in these players to improve their knowledge and motivation is a decisive factor for NPSOs to become more professional and successful. Therefore, capacity building for staff and NPSO leaders should be an important element of any organisational development.

There are different ways to make progress in capacity building for NPSOs: a.

Networking with other NPSOs. Elected NPSO leaders are usually in business and encounter numerous travel opportunities. In this connection they will often have (or could have) meetings with other NPSOs regionally. They can thus provide their NPSO with examples of how other NPSOs function.

The Board (best together with the Secretariat) can easily prepare a list of ‘want-to-know issues’ which the travelers can take along and respond to after their return, in writing or verbally (e.g. during the next Board/staff meeting). It is imperative that the information gained from such exchanges is disseminated to members for their information. b.

Staff exchange with other NPSOs This is also a valuable tool that can be arranged with other NPSOs in the region. PIPSO had supported a similar activity where a staff from an NPSO was on a work attachment at another NPSO for a period of two weeks. c.

Induction for new Board members New Board members may have no previous experience of NPSO work. In order to speed up their learning curve, NPSOs should develop introduction folders (to be distributed to newcomers) containing e.g. NPSO Constitution, vision/mission statements, work plans, budgets, introduction papers to the Secretariat,

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etc. A half-day (or longer) induction workshop (possibly linked with a golf tournament or other team building event) is another method of getting new Board members ready for work. d.

Induction for new staff Brief instruction sessions with relevant background information for new staff should be arranged. Furthermore, new staff will need a one-to-one introduction and systematic coaching for some time and it is important that a “buddy” system is developed within the NPSO to enable the new staff members’ to learn the ropes quickly from their relevant buddy. e.

Training workshops for staff and Board members Development partners could be requested to conduct/run a series of management workshops. NPSOs should use these workshops as an opportunity to generate ideas for improvement and change. However, this will only work if participants get the opportunity to share their new knowledge and ideas with the NPSO. f.

Job descriptions and incentives Job descriptions are important instruments for staff development, particularly when they include quality requirements. They should be reviewed and adjusted to the actual work of the NPSO regularly. Job descriptions also serve as a basis for assessing performance and deciding on incentives. Generally, NPSOs have to become more innovative in creating incentives. They increase loyalty and productivity.

Staff incentives can be: promotion to a higher position, a salary increase, and a bonus for good work in cash or kind (e.g. to accompany a trade delegation to a foreign country), a nomination (e.g. best staff of NPSO in 2007) or even a training course. Job rotation within the NPSO is another instrument to increase productivity and motivation of new and existing staff. g.

Staff Evaluation/Assessment Normally, the person supervising an employee should assess his/her performance. The assessment should include work performance and general qualities. It is often the case that employees rate themselves better than their superiors do.

Assessments therefore have to be conducted tactfully.

It is recommended that staff assessments be conducted at least once a year. A very positive assessment could/should be followed by incentives, so as to reward the efforts of the staff to serve the NPSO well. A negative assessment should be accompanied by specific advice on how performance can be improved. The results of assessments must be kept confidential by the NPSO. If the employee being assessed strongly opposes the final assessment score that he/she has received, a review by a more senior officer can be made possible.

Intervention in the field of NPSO management is always a sensitive issue, because it may interfere with the partner’s autonomy and self-reliance. Participatory planning and cofounding are good practices to ensure that the recipient has a genuine interest in the intervention. It is also important that support measures are chosen in accordance with the wishes of the NPSO’s constituency – the members.

Building resilient NPSOs 2.7 Communication Communication with the public is quite often a low priority for NPSOs. Apart from the lack of relevant skills and resources, that communication is a natural by-product of other activities.

Well-designed communication programme/guideline in forms people about the mission and achievements of a NPSO and will help it reach its potential as well as gain reputation.

Communication efforts may take various forms but are most commonly delivered by public relations activities, sponsoring, media events, advertising or meetings.

NPSO must have sufficient resources and qualifications to maintain the quality of the information material or electronic presentation.

Refer to Section 8 and 9 for guidelines on how to create an effective communications strategy.

There are various types of communication: external and internal. Further there is topdown, bottom-up, horizontal, and two-way communication. In addition, communication can be informal or formal.

NPSOs will need to develop an overall communications strategy and improve the information process, both internally within the membership and externally toward the public. More specifically: •

Communication Strategy: It can help NPSOs to create a comprehensive public relations and information strategy. This includes a decision on the basic information to be delivered, the selection of the right communication channels as well as the formulation of targeted and easily understandable messages. PR consultants may help at this stage.

•

Internal communication: Newsletters and annual reports are effective tools to communicate regularly with members (and nonmembers), NPSOs should publish interesting information regularly. When delivered in a cost-efficient and successful way, NPSOs may generate some money with the help of these services, e.g. by advertising.

•

No matter the form of communication as prescribed above, there are four basic rules for effective communication: 1.

Precisely know/define the message you want to communicate 2.

Express the message in terms easily understood by the target group or person and generally acceptable (mind cultural differences!)

3.

Choose the best means of communication (verbal, written, etc.)

4.

Choose the best channel (circular, meeting, advertising, etc.) for the message

2.8

External communication: The tools here include both printed and electronic information material, which specialists can assist in developing. For example, PIPSO could provide financial and technical support to set up a Web site or to develop press kits and presentation material. However, the concerned

Further Reading and Links

Sample of a Private Sector Survey: Niue Chamber of Commerce - Page 58 Sample of Policies and Guidelines for NPSOs - Page 60

PIPSO Strategic Planning Workshop - 2012

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Section Three

Section Three - Governance 3.1 Background Sound governance is the foundation upon which any organisation is built. This is true for governments, companies and NPSOs. Having sound governance indicates that an organisation has the necessary institutions and tools to ensure credibility, integrity and authority in forming rules, making decisions, and developing programmes and policies reflecting members views and needs. It is primarily through sound governance that NPSOs maintains the trust of its members and enhances its reputation and influence with those it interacts with.

It is clear that the governance rules of an NPSO have to be in line with the law and practice of the country which is the legal environment for their operation.

While the organisation rules provide a sound basis for governance of the organisation, it is even more important that they are applied in a spirit of member orientation.

Subjects normally considered to be within the scope of the constitution are:

A failure of good governance in NPSOs can not only damage the reputation and reduce the effectiveness of the organisation itself, but can impact negatively on the reputation of those it seeks to represent. Sound governance is an essential element in ensuring that the organisation works in the genuine interests of its membership.

 The name and aims of the  

NPSOs have an important role to play in the midst of reform and developing economies. Governments require credible and transparent partner organisations, which represent the genuine interests of the business community. Moreover, national and international donors seeking to invest in the further development of NPSOs need to be assured that they are legitimate, transparent and rule-based institutions.

 

organisation; Definitions, rights and responsibilities of members; The operation of the Member Assembly; Board membership, tasks and duties and decision making procedures; The preparation and presentation of accounts;

 The appointment of an independent auditor;

 The process of amending the constitution;

 Merger and or dissolution of the organisation.

Sound governance is generally achieved through: 

 



The establishment of democratic structures and procedures for decision making; The existence of adequate checks and balances on decision makers; Transparency in decision making, implementation and member communication; Elimination of inappropriate and undue influence on decisions.

The core document is the NPSO constitution that sets out the fundamental structure and rules of the organisation.

The constitution lays down the most fundamental operating principles and should only be changed by a majority (and typically by more than a two-thirds majority) of the Member Assembly. It is recommended that where specific details are not necessary, the constitution should stick to fundamental issues of principle and procedure. This will ensure sound governance in the context of a more flexible constitution that does not require regular revision. An inflexible and bureaucratic constitution may in fact engender a culture of disrespect for what is the key instrument of sound governance.

3.2 Structure of NPSOs All NPSOs have constitutions and/or bylaws which regulate the structure and governance of the organisation. These documents set out the powers held by various individuals and groups, and the manner in which important decisions must be made. It is necessary to have appropriate procedures to promote and, if need be, enforce the rules. The rules should, as far as possible, be clear and simple. Overregulation should be avoided.

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Other forms of NPSO rules include by-laws, charters and codes of conduct, policies and guidelines. These are generally subject to more frequent amendment and tend to deal with issues of detail.

These documents can normally be changed by decision of the Board.

3.3 General Assembly and Board The General Assembly is the highest authority within a NPSO. It is the central body for decision-making and election of Board members. The General Assembly usually convenes in the Annual

Building resilient NPSOs General Meeting (AGM). An AGM either is a meeting of all members of a NPSO or an assembly of delegates that have been elected by the members. The members of NPSOs should be the ultimate beneficiaries of the organisation’s activities as well as the ultimate authority in its governance. The authority and legitimacy of Board members and management stem directly from the support of the members.

3.3.1 Formation of the Member Assembly The Constitution of an NPSO should set out clear and objective membership criteria. As the NPSO, membership of all businesses is essential. Understandably there would be criteria to meet, but if a company meets those criteria, agrees to be bound by the Constitution and objectives of the NPSO, and is willing to pay the membership fees, then that company should be entitled to membership.

Exactly how members participate in the governance of the organization can vary depending on the size (number of members) and complexity (number of industries and geographical regions) of the organisation and should be clearly established in the constitution.

While, larger businesses may exercise a prominent voice in NPSO matters, it must not be such to the point of excluding the proper participation of other members. The rules of the NPSO should clearly indicate measures to provide a fair and balanced representation of all members. This may include, for example, a target or percentage allocation on the number of representatives from SMEs, from a particular region, or from a particular industry, commensurate with the percentage of members that match that profile.

The Samoa Chamber of Commerce illustrates the ideal situation for of a membership structure. Within the Samoa Chamber are other PSOs including the Samoa Manufacturers Association, the Samoa Hotels Association, the Mamanu Inc (Elei Printing) and others. Each of these PSO holds a seat on the Executive Board of the Samoa Chamber of Commerce ensuring that the views of the members are well represented.

In the case of the NPSOs from the SIS’s, each member company can submit a representative to the Member Assembly, which in turn elects or approves Board members and approves other Board decisions. In the larger countries, there may be a need for indirect or layered representation. If layering is appropriate, NPSOs should take measures to ensure that their organisation represents all members, and all geographical and industrial sectors that are constituents of the organisation.

The principle is very clear: within the limitations of size and complexity members should have as much direct say in decision making as possible.

3.3.2 Functions of the Member Assembly NPSO members have several rights and responsibilities: ➢ Members own the right to amend the NPSO Constitution; ➢ Members have the right to appoint the Board and to dismiss individual Board members; ➢ Members should also have the right to nominate their own candidates for Board membership or other work in the organization (e.g. for special committee work); ➢ Other important duties of the Member Assembly typically include approval of the budget and amendments to the constitution.

In order to establish these rights, the Constitution of any NPSO should clearly indicate the process by which the Member Assembly elects or approves the Board. Equally important, the rules should indicate the procedure by which the Member Assembly may vote for the removal of individual members of the Board. There should be clear and objective procedures detailing the percentage of votes required for a quorum and the percentage of votes required for passing a measure.

3.3.3 Payment of dues NPSOs rely on fees or dues from members to support their daily operations. NPSOs should ensure that there is a mechanism by which 1) membership fees are determined, including the mechanism for; 2) periodic changes in the fee structure and any; 3) extra charges for individual members requiring special services.

It is clear that non-payment of dues is grounds for cancelling membership. The Constitution of an NPSO should address the issue of non-payment of membership dues, clearly outlining the procedure for notifying members that they are in arrears, and the procedure for expelling nonpaying members The Constitution should also indicate the status of membership rights for any member in arrears; for example, members in arrears may lose voting rights in the Member Assembly, the right to services, the right to have representatives holding office, or the right to participate in activities undertaken by the NPSO. NPSOs should consider varying classes of membership that pay dues on a different scale of contributions; these could be, for example, “affiliate” members. Such cases should be clearly outlined in the constitution, along with details of the rights of reduced-rate members. Frequently, for example, affiliate members do not enjoy voting rights or the right to hold office (service-only members).

NPSOs themselves should promote the principles of voluntary membership and independence of action where practical or legal obstacles to their application exist. Equally, membership criteria should not be based on racial, gender, religious or ethnic

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Section Three discrimination.

Companies may freely choose to leave an NPSO at any time. The Member Assembly may decide to cancel the membership of any company that fails to maintain the membership criteria (e.g. fails to pay member fees). The NPSO may decide not to refund fees for a member that withdraws from membership; this and other conditions surrounding the leaving of the organisation should be clearly presented in the NPSO’s Constitution.

The Member Assembly Checklist:  The NPSO Policies clearly indicate measures designed to provide a fair and balanced representation of all members of the NPSO in the Member Assembly.  The NPSO Policies clearly indicate who may and who may not be a member of the NPSO.  The NPSO Policies indicate the process by which the Member Assembly elects or approves the Board of Directors.  The NPSO Policies indicate the process by which the Member Assembly may remove members of the Board.  The NPSO Policies clearly establish the mechanism by which membership fees are determined.  The NPSO Policies clearly address the issue of non-payment of membership dues, including the procedure for expelling non-paying members and the status of membership rights for any member in arrears.  The NPSO Policies clearly indicate other member responsibilities, for instance the type of information members are expected to share with the NPSO.  The NPSO Policies clearly define objective membership criteria.  The NPSO Policies clearly indicate that membership is voluntary.

Based on ILO Best Practice for Effective Employers Organisations

The Board has a crucial role in ensuring both the good governance of the organisation and its long-term sustainability.

The Board should be made up of executives who are considered by the members to be generally representative of the membership of the organisation.

It is important to ensure that members of the Executive Board do not have any political history so as to prevent anyone from using the system as a means to promote their personal political views.

While the Board may be structured in such a way as to reserve seats for particular industries or regions, or other subgroups within its membership this is not encouraged. What would be encouraged rather is representation of varying skills sets onto the Executive Board.

The Board Charter should establish clear measures to prevent the Board from being dominated by any particular group, industry, region or faction e.g. by larger members to the exclusion of the interests of the other members.

The By-laws of some NPSOs also foresee the possibility of coopting additional Board members (with limited rights) in order to strengthen and sustain the work of previous boards. The President heads the Board. Vice-Presidents and the Treasurer are responsible for specific areas. As stipulated in the Constitution a Board can consist of up to 20 members; however this must be in proportion to the number of members.

3.4.1 Eligibility of potential nominees Where there is direct company membership, the Board should be composed of actively serving senior managers in member companies. It is preferable that all Board members be the President/CEO/managing director of the firm they represent, but whether this should be a minimum qualification may be decided by each organisation depending on its circumstances.

Where membership is via regional or sectorial bodies, equivalent controls on seniority should apply. In order to avoid conflicts of interest and to safeguard the independence of the Board, certain occupations should make a person ineligible for membership of the Board for instance, a currently serving member of Parliament or a former member of parliament for example, should be prohibited from serving on the Board of an NPSO.

3.4 The Board The Board governs the NPSO. Usually, Board members are elected for a one or two-year term. The Board serves members by: ➢ overseeing management activities; ➢ facilitating the decisions of members; ➢ maintaining open communication channels with and between members and management; and ➢ Ensuring the observance of constitutional processes within the NPSO.

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It is important that NPSO by-laws clearly document the eligibility criteria(qualifications, incompatibilities) of members of the Board.

3.4.2 Election of Board members The NPSO Constitution should clearly indicate the process by which Board members are nominated and elected. There are multiple ways of doing this that are more or less equally adequate, and a NPSO should choose the method that best suits its circumstances.

Board members may, be proposed by individual members or a

Building resilient NPSOs special committee set up for this purpose and elected by the Member Assembly.

BOARD RESPONSIBILITIES:

Whatever the procedure, the principle of governance to be maintained is that the means of nominating and electing members of the Board should be transparent and open.

Nomination and election should not take place behind closed doors by a single person (e.g. the President) or a group.

 Approving the annual business plan



The Constitution should normally limit the number of consecutive terms of office that a Board member should hold.



3.4.3 Termination of office In extraordinary circumstances, members may wish to end the term of office of individual members of the Board, or the entire Board. This could result from broad dissatisfaction of the members with the entire Board or with an individual Board member.

 

The NPSO Constitution should clearly establish a mechanism by which members or their representatives can remove individuals on the Board, or the entire Board.



Typically this should involve a majority vote of the Member Assembly at a regularly scheduled meeting, or a special meeting called for this purpose. Just as management is ultimately answerable to the Board, so must the Board be ultimately answerable to the general membership.



3.4.4 Responsibilities of the Board The Board is responsible for maintaining the basic direction of the NPSO.

•

In many cases, Constitution or by-laws of a NPSO will only describe the duties of the Board in brief and general terms.

More specific duties and responsibilities could be put into Board Charter.

•

The Board Charter guides and monitors the performance of an Executive Board, its President or other elected members.

Through these functions, the Board plays a key role in the governance of the organisation by providing a check and balance system which prevents management from running the organisation without any safeguards or constraints. The Board must, however, resist the temptation to “micro-manage” the organisation.

3.5 Committees Committees that are made up of members are an important instrument for the functioning of NPSOs. It is important to clearly define the role of a committee within the governance structure of a NPSO, in order to avoid confusion and/or conflicts between the Board, management, and the various committees that may exist within the organisation.

Usually, NPSOs have a number of committees on various issues in place. Committees are appointed by the board or – depending on the Constitution – elected by the general assembly. There are standing committees and ad hoc committees.

and budget prior to its recommendation to the Member Assembly; Reviewing the performance and termination of office of the Chief Executive and appointment of a new Chief Executive as required; Electing the President of the Board (and a Deputy President); Setting strategic direction for the organisation (as opposed to day to day business); Making changes to the constitution of the employers’ organisation prior to recommending such changes to the Member Assembly; Approving new members, prior to making recommendations to the Member Assembly, and other housekeeping issues; Appointing the external auditors and receiving the external audit report.

Standing Committees deal with issues of a recurring nature (e.g. customs and taxes; finance and administration of the NPSO, etc.) and therefore exist continually.

Ad hoc Committees are established for a special reason, e.g. when the NPSO wants to conduct a fair, an anniversary, work on a special issue for advocacy etc. Due to their nature those committees are dissolved when the task has been completed.

Depending on the given Constitution, the NPSO Board or President may – with the approval of the Board – appoint Chairpersons for Committees. These Chairpersons would then select Committee members (from the NPSO members) and possibly also a limited number from the public, if provided for by the Constitution.

In some instances, an Executive Committee is often established (according to the Constitution and not elected) to function as a short-cut NPSO unit to facilitate quick decisions. Members of such a Committee are usually the President, the Vice President and one or more other important Board members.

The connection between Committees and the Secretariat is usually ensured by involving the Chief Executive Officer or an authorised staff person as nonvoting Committee member.

Committees primarily exist to serve the Board in carrying out its responsibilities. This concerns, first of all, the development of policy positions/decisions on issues of relevance to the

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Section Three organisation. Committees are a means to make full use of the experience and expertise of members in preparing such decisions/positions, to settle possible divergences of opinion at a very early stage and thus make the policy positions/decisions more adequately reflect members’ views. Committees or project groups may also be set up to support management functions where special expertise is required (e.g. addressing technological issues facing the industry) or in-depth member participation is required.

In any case, it should be clear that committees are support structures meant to facilitate decisions by the Board/management, not to make decisions themselves. All Committees report to the Board, which may or may not adopt recommendations that have been developed by the Committee.

3.6 Secretariat The Secretariat is the operative arm of the NPSO. Usually, the Secretariat is headed by a CEO or Executive Director who is appointed by the Board. This person has a central position in its daily management, but also has important governance responsibilities. The CEO is typically the highest level of full time management in the NPSO. It is important that an NPSO has a fully functioning Secretariat to be able to coordinate the activities of the NPSO and to provide the required support to its members and the executive board.

The primary role of the CEO is the day today management of the employers organisation and its staff, and the implementation of long term strategies and action plans. The performance of the CEO in this regard will largely dictate the overall success of the organisation in its activities.

A NPSO Secretariat should be governed by a set of guidelines and policies to ensure that systems of governance are in place and well-documented. These systems are usually required by development partners who would be looking to partner with NPSOs in carrying out development work at national levels.

This guide, however, will restrict itself to the responsibilities of the CEO concerning matters of governance.

In the area of governance, the CEO is responsible for the general administration of the organisation; this means ensuring that legal requirements and the employers’ organisation own rules are observed. The CEO must promote formal meetings related to governance matters (such as meetings of the Board or the Member Assembly), and facilitate good communication between management and the Board and management and the membership. More specific governance responsibilities are noted below.

The CEO of a NPSO typically has responsibility for hiring and managing the staff of the organisation. It is encouraged that while the CEO holds the decision making authority over the filling of management positions, the remuneration for senior positions may be subject to Board or Presidential approval. It is important that the CEO be able to choose his or her own management team and that this management team sees the CEO as their principal employer.

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As noted in the section on Boards above, it is also important that the Board Charters clearly distinguish between the responsibilities and authority of the President of the Board and those of the CEO. Normally, the CEO should have, within the budget, complete authority over the day to day management of the organization and any staffing issues. NPSOs are encouraged to give the CEO delegation limits to be able to ascertain the limits to which he is able to make decisions particularly when it deals with money.

The authority of the President should be limited to such matters as, for example, removing the CEO for poor performance or serious misconduct. This provides a sufficient check on the CEO’s powers, without undermining the authority of the position and the ability to manage the day to day affairs of the organisation.

The CEO’s formal authority in governance matters is not limited to staffing and management issues. Many of the Board decisions, for example on a merger of the organisation with another business association, will often stem from the recommendations of the CEO. Additionally, while the Board has the authority to approve the annual business plan and budget, it is typically the CEO who presents these items for the Board’s approval.

3.6.1 Eligibility of potential candidates The position of Chief Executive of an NPSO is often full time and this is recommended for all NPSOs. From a good governance point of view, it would only be necessary to preclude, in line with national law and practice, any candidates with poor records in the area of governance matters, such as any “unspent” criminal or civil penalties for corporate malpractice.

In some instances this could be a part-time position and the title is often Executive Director. In these instances particular attention must be given to avoiding potential conflicts of interest. In such a case, the job description of the CEO should clearly indicate the separation of duties between the organisation and the outside position. This should include proportion of time spent on NPSO functions, the confidentiality of organisational information. The NPSO must also consider the other roles that may be accepted by the CEO and the proportion of remuneration that may come from other employment.

The appointment of the CEO is a function of the Board and/or the President of the Board. The authority to appoint the CEO should, however, remain with the Board or President. Since the CEO plays an influential role in the day to day affairs of the organisation, it is good practice to have a well-documented appointment procedure to avoid any potential confusion or conflicts.

While the rules of the NPSOs should provide the CEO with sole authority over the staff of the organisation, there should nevertheless be a grievance procedure concerning the CEO as well as those concerning fellow staff members. It is also important that regular performance appraisals are conducted

Building resilient NPSOs for staff of the NPSO (conducted by the CEO) as well as the CEO (conducted by the President of the Board).

With regards to the dismissal of a CEO, the exact procedure for this step should be documented in the contract of employment of the CEO. Clear documentation not only allows the organisation to react quickly in the event of serious misconduct or poor performance on the part of the CEO; it can also preclude any wrongful dismissal litigation on the part of the CEO, or challenges to the Board’s authority in this matter.

3.7 Accountability In order to avoid any one person/committee/group acquiring too much power or authority and disrupting the governance of the organisation, it is important that the Constitution and the by-laws of the NPSO clearly establish the authority of the Board or management in relation to their respective committees. In all cases person/committee/group must remain answerable to the General Assembly, Board or management however the hierarchy.

Boards and management should be careful about delegating too much decision making authority to committees. Additionally, a summary of the work of all committees, including those set up by management, should be periodically and transparently reported to the Board. This periodic reporting allows the Board to ensure that each committee is operating within the framework of the rules.

3.8.2 Internal Auditors Larger NPSOs may also consider including an internal audit function, which is responsible for ensuring the accuracy of internal reporting and compliance with management rules.

The internal audit function can report directly to the CEO, with the authority to report to the Board in cases involving serious misconduct associated with the CEO or any other staff.

The internal auditors should seek to uncover and rectify any lapses in proper accounting or procedure before such lapses are uncovered by external auditors or third party investigators.

3.9 Avoiding corruption and conflict of interest Avoiding corruption and conflict of interest is crucial to sound governance in any organisation. The policies of an NPSO can take active measures to preclude malpractice in its operations.

The Board should draft a code of conduct for the organisation, which would be used to guide management behaviour, and to evaluate their performance.

Another way to avoid corruption and conflict of interest is to develop internal checks and balances. Many of the recommendations in this guide are based on the need to develop a balance of authority and oversight between the various core institutions of governance in an NPSO.

General principles, such as the “four eye” principle (which requires an activity such as approving invoices for payment and signing cheques, to have the approval of at least two people) can be basic but effective means of building checks and balances into an organisation.

3.8 Transparency and communication Transparency and member communication are crucial for NPSOs. Such an organisation serves an important function as a trusted advocate for its members. Malpractice in the performance of its operations undermines the interests of its members and casts a negative image over them. In order to maintain the trust of members and others with which it relates, and to ensure the proper governance and functioning of the organisation itself, concrete steps should be taken to promote transparency and to ensure timely and accurate communication with members, with other organisations and with the general public.

3.8.1 External Auditors As noted in the sections on Board responsibilities and committees above, external auditors should be commissioned by the Board, at least annually, to review the finances of the organization. This review should ensure that all income and expenses are properly accounted for. The policies of an NPSO should establish the criteria for external auditors. They should be appropriately qualified and be members of a reputable firm with no direct connection to the management of the organisation. The auditors should be directly appointed by the Board, or a special audit committee appointed by the Board for that purpose. The auditors should report to the Board or its audit committee. The external auditors have a responsibility to examine the finances of the organisation and certify that the records kept by management accurately reflect its income, expenses and other financial circumstances. The exact role of the auditors can be briefly described in the rules of the employers’ organisation.

Given the core function of an NPSO, it is important that it retains independence from other social partners and the government. Therefore, it is considered good practice to avoid giving or receiving contributions from political parties. While an NPSO should decline any contributions from political parties, it is acceptable and normal for it to receive funds from an authorized public official as part of an authorized and clearly documented commercial contract.

Another form of conflict of interest can arise when Board members or top managers become unduly influenced by parties external to the organisation or vested interest groups within it. This can occur, for example, when external parties or internal special interests seek to curry favour with Board members or management through a valuable offer. The offer can consist of promises of future employment, elaborate gifts, additional income or benefits.

Board or management capture can also occur where Board members or management have informal ties to particular groups, internal or external, which interfere with their responsibilities and obligations to the organisation as a whole.

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Section Three The potential problem of capture can be especially pronounced in an NPSO with a minority of large firms that may seek to unduly influence its policy. Even within an organisation of relatively similar sized firms, there is the possibility that a specific industry may try to unduly influence particular policy positions of the organisation, to the detriment of other members.

To avoid such dangers, the Board should clearly establish limits on gift giving and receiving, and the record of Board members and management on this matter should be periodically reviewed by the President. Informalities that lead to conflicts of interest should be controlled by the existing checks and balances within the organisation: the President should oversee the CEO, the Board should oversee the President, and the Member Assembly must oversee the Board. Establishing clear guidelines at the earliest possible moment, however, can do much to avoid any potential conflicts in the future.

3.10 Communication with stakeholders A NPSO sits in the middle of a large interconnected web of organisations. Its most immediate stakeholders are its members who rely on it to conduct advocacy and social dialogue in their name. Beyond these immediate stakeholders, the NPSO has a relationship with Government, other Non State Actors (NSA) as well as regional and international development partners.

It is important that for each of these groups the organisation maintains appropriate communications.

At a basic level, these obligations to communicate should be explained in the Constitution of the NPSO. Communication with certain organisations can be assigned to specific representatives of the organisation, such as the CEO, and inserted into the job description of those representatives.

The principal stakeholders of any NPSO are the members. One of the most significant institutions for communication with members is the Member Assembly. The Member Assembly is central to the governance of the organisation because it provides the opportunity to communicate with members, as well as the opportunity for members to communicate with the Board and management. It is at the Member Assembly that members or their representatives have the opportunity to voice any formal concerns they may have about the organisation and its management.

It should be noted that advances in communication technology, principally internet related communications, provide the opportunity for NPSOs to offer increased transparency to their members and other organisations and groups. As internet facilitates continuous communication with members, and feedback from members, the role of the Member Assembly may change overtime. Nonetheless, the rules of the NPSO must clearly allow for two-way communication between the members and the Board and management.

The purpose of the NPSO is to serve the members; ensuring that their voice is heard is a central underlying principle of good governance.

3.11

Further Readings and Links

Sample Constitution: Cook Islands Chamber of Commerce and Industry - Page 79 PIPSO Board Charter - Page 84

PIPSO 2013 Annual General Meeting - Members, stakeholders and partners were present

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Building resilient NPSOs

Section Four - Advocacy 4.1 Background An essential ingredient for the private sector to flourish is an adequate framework of economic policies. In most developing countries, SMEs in particular are unable to realise their full economic potential due to distorted and/or over-regulated markets. They suffer from intentional as well as unintentional policy-induced constraints on their development: unsustainable and unstable macroeconomic conditions may be a general disadvantage, but more specifically complicated foreign trade and exchange rate policy, biased tax laws, limited access to formal credit markets as well as burdensome bureaucratic procedures and administrative requirements may discriminate against SMEs. Despite the fact that SME development has been assigned high political priority in most developing countries over the past several years, existing programmes lack scope and sustainability, and in some cases have led to even more policy biases. As opposed to large companies, SMEs lack the power to influence government policies or public opinion when they act individually.

NPSOs can be instrumental in expressing the needs and problems of the whole private sector, but especially of SMEs. Lobbying and advocating for a more conducive economic environment are therefore core activities of NPSOs. In this context, business associations with a more homogeneous membership will find it easier to design a coherent advocacy strategy.

Ideally, NPSOs with more members from very diverse branches and professions are often readily accepted by government bodies as true speakers for the entire business community in a country. By actively engaging in advocacy, an NPSO raises its profile among policy makers and enhances its reputation within the business community. This helps in attracting new members and raising contributions from old ones. In return, NPSOs with better funding can devote more resources to advocacy.

Policy makers may profit from advocacy by getting access to firsthand business information and feedback on policies; they may also improve their reputation among the NPSO’s members as potential voters. Therefore, NPSOs have to be regarded as instrumental for facilitating more democratic participation in decision-making.

Despite their great importance, most NPSOs are not very successful when it comes to performing the task of voicing interest representation. NPSOs commonly have to face the following challenges: ➢ Insufficient capacities to monitor the policymaking process, analyse the impact of proposed laws and regulations on their membership, and prepare informative position papers; ➢ A fragmentation of private sector interests and “mushrooming” of voluntary NPSOs; ➢ An informal style of interest representation, which favors influential bigger businesses and leads to frequent, unpredictable policy changes;

➢

An atmosphere of mistrust and misunderstanding between private sector organisations and public bodies, leading to more political interference and supervision; ➢ A closed shop mentality on the part of many NPSOs (especially established chambers), which may not be too willing to accept SMEs or outsiders and therefore cannot be regarded as genuinely representative bodies; ➢ Vested interests of influential members and executives, which may lead to self-serving behaviour and a politicisation of NPSO advocacy efforts.

4.2 NPSO Advocacy Tactics All these factors can endanger the public prestige as well as the reputation of NPSOs and therefore diminish the effectiveness of advocacy efforts. In simple terms, advocacy is the act of “advocating” on behalf of a certain group in favour of or against something (or somebody). Policy advocacy of NPSOs is geared toward initiating new, changing existing, or abolishing outdated laws and regulations concerning business.

An NPSO can become involved at every step of the legislative process. Advocacy is also about communicating and influencing public opinion regarding business. Therefore, NPSOs can participate in the decision-making process in several ways. The most important tools include: 4.2.1 Dialogue platforms: They can take the form of institutionalised (mandatory) public-private consultations, e.g., joint committees, advisory councils, hearings, etc. All these forms allow for a formal participation and structured exchange of opinions between government officials and business representatives (mostly from NPSOs) at regular intervals. Such institutionalised dialogue may evolve gradually as a customary right or may be explicitly prescribed by law. Public-private dialogue platforms may be national or regional and targeted toward specific industries or economic issues.

NPSOs should strive for representation in all joint committees whose decisions are relevant for their members. Next to these quasi-mandatory consultations, there may be more voluntary, unregulated dialogue platforms which are initiated by the NPSO itself, e.g. conferences or an informative debate on pressing economic issues. In order to substantiate their claims, NPSOs have to create institutional capacity for tracking and analysing the political process or preparing draft laws.

4.2.2 Direct advocacy: An informal way of interest representation, direct advocacy measures can take many forms: letters, telephone calls or office visits. These measures are intended to guarantee the support of politicians on specific issues. Despite the more informal nature of these activities, NPSOs should make sure that the positions they present are carefully prepared and that the delegate who establishes the contact has good communication skills. NPSOs may also

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Section Four consider using the well-established relations of bigger member companies to support their case. However, they should make sure that these influential members do not follow their own agenda.

4.2.3 Public relations: Successful interest representation requires not only the recognition by politicians but also the support of the public. NPSOs should therefore produce useful and easily understandable information on how new laws and regulations affect businesses, employees, investors, suppliers, and customers. Member surveys as well as external research bodies can deliver necessary background information on pressing policy issues. By publishing press kits, news releases and FAQ fact sheets and organising live appearances on radio or television shows etc. NPSOs may use the media to convey their messages to politicians and the general public.

4.2.4 Lawsuits: Court action is the most extreme way of enforcing the lawful claims of the business community against government bodies. Because of their inherent conflict potential, NPSOs should use lawsuits with extreme care and only in extreme cases. In some cases it is sufficient for an NPSO not to engage in a case directly, but to support the court action of one of its members instead. Nevertheless, an NPSO should be able to have access to a minimum pool of legal know-how for necessary support.

Since policy-making is a complex, multilevel process, the above activities have to be used in combination to achieve an impact. The adequate form of activity is very much situation and country-specific. For example, it will depend on whether the NPSO is constituted under public law with mandatory membership or as a completely voluntary organisation. NPSOs which are partly government-funded or financed by mandatory fees, may face restrictions on the scope of their advocacy activities. Naturally, NPSOs will have more freedom for interest representation in countries with democratic governance structures.

4.3 Development Partners Role in Enhancing Advocacy If advocacy efforts are focused too much on current pressing issues, this has the tendency to lead to highly personalised adhoc decisions on advocacy measures. Development partners can help NPSOs achieve more effective advocacy activities.

However, both partners should keep in mind that the field of advocacy is particularly susceptible to a collision of interests between them. Development partners have legitimate political objectives, which they try to promote by their projects.

These objectives should not necessarily be detrimental to the NPSOs involved, but the agenda for advocacy should be defined primarily by the interests of the NPSOs’ members and representatives.

Nevertheless, there are many ways by which development partners may support the advocacy efforts of NPSOs. Some of the instruments for donor intervention include: A. National Business Agendas (NBA): Development partners may support NPSOs in launching a national business consultations or business forum. These Forums

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are intended to stimulate investment and economic growth by setting legislative and regulatory priorities and communicating them to policy-makers. It consists of a collection of issue briefs, which identify key obstacles and give short-term, easily understandable recommendations on how to overcome them. Such forums also educates the members of a country’s business community about public policy issues and allows them to present their concerns with a unified voice, which attracts more attention and increases the likelihood that the outcomes will be adopted.

Encouraging the participation of the business community to forge alliances with PSOs and other interest groups is necessary. NPSO inclusiveness is a priority to ensure the total participation of businesses.

An NBA can be regarded as successful when its recommendations are implemented legislatively.

B. Media training: Shaping public opinion in favour of an NPSOs position will greatly increase the success of a policy advocacy campaign. In doing so, the easiest and cheapest way to deliver the NPSO messages to the public is to use existing print and broadcast media resources. However, not all NPSOs are able to cooperate efficiently with the media.

NPSOs with the help of manuals, seminars and workshops can build their public appearance. A substantial communications strategy is also provided as a guide for NPSOs to be able to understand what is required here.

Since media coverage can take different forms, there are various means of transmitting the NPSOs message to the public that require specific training, including press releases, position papers, fact sheets, prepared speeches, press kits, TV appearances, etc. It is advisable to appoint a media relations representative from the board who has good communication skills and experience in dealing with the media.

NPSOs should have the capacity to analyse and translate proposed laws and regulations in easily understandable language, to deliver the message in a suitable way, and to follow up efficiently with media contacts.

NPSO should be able to earn the reputation of a “brand name contact” for first-hand business positions among the media. In this case, voluntary media coverage will usually be enough for the NPSOs advocacy efforts. development partners may also actively promote their partner’s interests by contracting external advertising and marketing specialists. They can also cofinance the production of media kits and ready-made advocacy material.

C. Coalitions and grassroots networks (Civil Society

Building resilient NPSOs Organisation-CSOs): Networking can be a useful way to increase the number of organisations and individuals that support a NPSO’s stance on one or more issues.

Coalitions and grassroots campaigns will enhance the visibility and credibility of advocacy measures.

This is especially important if NPSOs are too small or too specialised to be accepted by the government as representatives of a majority of businesses. Even larger NPSOs will have to look for alliances and broad-based support in a more globalised world.

Options to Developing Business Agendas: 1.

2.

In many developing countries, the business sector is deeply divided and as independent and neutral players, support from development partners can act as moderators and coordinators between different interest groups. Development partners can assist NPSOs in building these advocacy coalitions and grassroots networks through: ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢

3.

4.

Organise formal and informal meetings as well as conferences for NPSO representatives; Share their knowledge about the proponents and opponents of advocacy issues; Offer contact information on possible alliance partners; Support the production of background studies and position papers; and Leverage the interests of the coalition vis-à-vis the government.

It will not always be a simple task to maintain solidarity and commitment between the coalition members. Alliances including NPSOs with a diverse membership base, which are working in other regions or in other industry sectors, are the most stable. Such coalitions may be the first step toward the development of formal apex bodies.

Temporary cooperation with rival PSOs also has to be considered, however, because there are important policy issues where all PSOs are working toward the same goal.

5.

Conventions of key business leaders: Since they are recognised as a neutral party and have multiple business contacts at their disposal.

Focus groups: Since it is necessary to address specific needs, regional and industry focus group discussions may provide the private sector with a sense of ownership.

A draft private sector strategy: The results are synthesized into a draft agenda.

Feedback and revision: Development Partners can use their business network to help reach a consensus. They are, of course, also requested to make their own comments.

Publication and distribution: The presentation of the NBA can again be backed up by the organisation of highlevel conferences and meetings.

An NBA can be regarded as successful when its recommendations are implemented legislatively.

4.4 Measuring the Success and communicating it to Members If your organisation wishes to ensure that your National Business Agenda remains relevant and that you are adopting the most effective advocacy tactics on the ground, you will need to review advocacy efforts in a variety of ways. Your overall advocacy approach will combine a series of strategic priorities.

PIPSO Sub-regional Workshop - NPSO Partnership Framework

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Section Four 4.4.1 Reviewing the National Business Agenda NPSOs must review their NBA on an annual basis and at Board level. This will require: ➢ An updated sweep of the external environment (SWOT) to add or exclude items; ➢ Checking that your agenda priorities have not been resolved; have not changed to the extent that your policy objective has to be revised; or circumstances have changed so that the issue has become irresolvable; and ➢ Re-checking with members that the agenda remains relevant to them.

The core tools for undertaking this review are the same as those involved in the original strategic exercise. There will be times when a new and major strategic issue arises that needs urgent priority attention. This will often be associated with a major change in the operating environment like a currency crisis, oil price shock, natural disaster or other unpredictable event. When this happens, NPSOs will need to review the advocacy strategy as a whole in order to put the new issue in the right place on the agenda and to create the resources necessary to tackle it.

In reviewing advocacy effectiveness the kinds of question you need to ask include the following:  Is the issue still relevant to our members?  Has the issue changed in any way?  Is further research required?  Are our goals still achievable?  Have timelines changed?  Are we up to date with our advocacy actions?  Are we targeting the right people?  Are we reaching the targets?  Are we using the right messengers?  Are our messengers sticking to the objectives set?  Does our message need to be modified?  Do we have sufficient resources?  Are we taking advantage of opportunities for coalition work?  Are our coalitions effective?  Are we coordinating with supporters outside our coalitions effectively?

In any event, the material contained here should be reviewed and revised every six months, reissued to key individuals and re-posted on your website to ensure that your members always have up to date information.

4.4.3 Reviewing advocacy tactics Advocacy tactics should be kept under continuous review to take account of changing time scales, changing policy directions and new opportunities and threats. This review will be the responsibility of the individual coordinating the advocacy effort on the issue in question.

4.5 Member communication Members need to be regularly updated on the organisation’s advocacy objectives, the actions being taken by the organisation, the actions it would be helpful for them to undertake, and how the advocacy effort is progressing. They will also need to have available the most up to date facts on the issues on the advocacy agenda.

Member communication is vital if you are to secure commitment to your objectives and solicit member help in advocacy actions.

Communicating priorities, actions and successes is about more than commitment and support. Your members and nonmembers will judge the success of your organisation as a whole upon how influential and successful your advocacy efforts are seen to be. As successes are perceived, membership will expand and income will increase.

It is often very difficult to explain advocacy success. On many occasions a lobbying success for the organization will mean that a piece of legislation is delayed or is a little less damaging than might otherwise be the case. Advocacy successes are normally qualified and are rarely explainable in win/lose terms. Even where there are relatively clear “wins”, it is often difficult for your organisation to claim and broadcast them.

For these reasons, members will often judge advocacy success by the effort they witness the NPSO to be putting in, the relevance of the issues to their organisation and the volume and tone of media coverage.

4.4.2 Reviewing the Position Papers NPSOs must ensure that the all its Policy Position papers remain “current”. It should be updated with new facts and information as changes occur. This will be a relatively straightforward process for the individual coordinating the advocacy brief for each particular subject.

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Communicating Advocacy Issues: ➢ Undertake adequate and regular member consultation on the lobbying agenda; ➢ Keep members regularly up to date on the actions you are taking through newsletters, magazines and updates; ➢ Keep advocacy information “alive” on your website; and ➢ Ensure members see any helpful media coverage you receive in your regular publications and on your website.

Building resilient NPSOs

Section Five - Public-Private Dialogue (PPD) 5.1 Background The recent years have seen an increase in countries conducting dialogue between businesses (private sector) and governments as a means of promoting appropriate conditions for private sector development and eradication of poverty.

PPD, the study by the World Bank concluded that the PPD has been a very effective change tool which enabled the transformation of the economy with a clear impact on local growth in virtually all cases. In Egypt, citrus exports grew five-fold in volume and fourteen-fold in value while Lebanon and Barcelona gained enormous growth in the volume of their cruise passengers.

PPD aims to strengthen policy-making by incorporating valuable private sector input and initiatives for reform. Dialogue improves the flow of information relating to economic policy and builds legitimacy into the policy process.

At the 2013 Forum Economic Ministers Meeting (FEMM), the Ministers “recognised NPSOs” as the focal point for regular dialogue with government departments and ministries.” This recognition emphasizes the importance for NPSOs to be adequately competent and prepared to conduct effective PPD with desired outcomes for private sector development.

PPD have many potential benefits, which includes: • Facilitating investment climate by supporting champions for reform, creating momentum, and accelerating their reform process. The most tangible benefits of PPD are the policy reforms it can speed up. These can include new legislation, the amendment or scrapping of existing legislations, removal or simplification of regulations and controls, standardization of procedures across different jurisdictions, and establishment of new institutions.

• Promoting better diagnosis of investment climate problems and design of policy reforms.

Governments that listen to the constraint of the private sector are more likely to devise sensible priorities plans and workable reforms. This in turn can boost investors’ confidence for longer term investment.

• Making policy reforms easier to implement.

When businesses understand what a government is trying to achieve with a reform package, they are more likely to accept and work with the reforms in practice. PPD can help ensure that reforms actually take effect on the ground, by helping disseminate awareness of the changes, feed information back and keep up the pressure for action.

• Promoting transparency, good governance, the taking of broader view by setting an example of openness and rigorous cost-benefit analysis, and by creating pressure of public scrutiny.

• Building an atmosphere of mutual trust and understanding between public and private sectors, improving social cohesion and civil society.

PPD can build consensus, trust and understanding between the public and private sectors simply by bringing people together on a regular basis and allowing them to get to know each other.

Amongst numerous examples around the globe on the success of

In preparing this Guideline, references have been made to international guides on PPD, namely the World Bank PPD handbook, CIPE (Center for International Private Enterprise) Reform Toolkit and resources from the www.PublicPrivate Dialogue.org.

5.2 Risks of PPD Six principal risks have been identified, summarized in Table 1 below with its mitigation strategies. These are subsequently detailed further.

Table 1: PPD risks and Strategies Risk

Strategy

1. Reinforcing vested interest 2. Dominated by large businesses

Transparency in selection of PPD representation

3. Talking Shop

Develop clear goals, strategies and priorities Inclusive representatives and well prepared position papers

4. One-man Show

Solicit every members views

5. Political risk

NPSOs should remain apolitical

6. Duplication of efforts

Transparency of process and inclusion of all relevant parties

1.

Reinforcing vested interest When PPD is not done well, it can give unhealthy influence to an unrepresentative group of stakeholders, reinforce links between politicians and lobbyists, and provide a veneer of legitimacy for bad policies.

Strategies: Strategies for tackling this risk include an explicit commitment to transparency in the selection of representatives to the PPD. There should be a formal selection process in place.

2.

Dominated by large businesses It is usually easier to engage with representatives of a small number of large businesses than with a large number of small businesses – as it is simpler to organise, and they are more likely to speak with a unified voice. This has often led to the interests of SMEs being under-represented in PPD. Strategies: The NPSO should be well organised and have the

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Section Five capacity to solicit every member’s view on issues for the PPD. This should be summarised well to ensure that all views have been considered including the small businesses.

3.

Talking Shop “Talking shop” is a phrase that recurs often in the literature about PPD – discussions are long and unfocused, no concrete results are achieved, people lose interest and attendance declines. If poorly planned and unfocused, it can degenerate into a talking shop, which leads to disillusionment, disengagement and loss of credibility, giving strength to opponents of reform and slowing down the reform process.

Strategies: Developing goals, strategies, and priorities for the PPD venue or for the dialogue will reduce these problems.

The agenda must be strict and clear and communicated well in advance, and when there are concrete proposals on the agenda that require decisions. An experienced and resourceful organiser can head off the risk of meetings getting diverted into tangents by managing expectations in private conversations beforehand.

A media strategy that involves setting public objectives can put pressure on participants. Another solution to talk shops is to change the composition of working group committees, or close down some working groups and start new ones. Or, more radically, to wind up one particular PPD mechanism, and establish another.

4.

One-man show If built too closely around a particular individual, a PPD can risk becoming a one-man show, which collapses when the key person loses interest or moves on. It is inevitable that competitiveness partnerships will rely to some degree on the enthusiasm and commitment of key individuals and the personal involvement of top-level government figures is one of the determining features of success. But building the partnership too closely around individuals is a significant risk.

Strategies: The NPSO should ensure that representations at PPD are inclusive and position papers should be prepared well in advance. Position papers should be endorsed by the NPSO council before presentation at PPD. 5.

Political risk PPD can become politicised by being closely associated with a particular party. In some countries, leading businesspeople may also be leading figures in opposition political groups, making it difficult to persuade governments to engage or to keep a PPD politically neutral.

Strategies: NPSO’s constitution should clearly define the membership of the NPSO council, which should exclude politician including past ones. Politicians that have businesses can still members of the NPSO. NPSOs should remain apolitical. An effective outreach program can help de-politicise the process by emphasising the practical benefits to real people.

Presentational skills are key here, as battles must be chosen carefully. It makes sense to concentrate on explaining reforms that can be framed simply so that everyone can understand.

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Direct outreach to parliamentarians and local politicians – indeed, to decision-makers of any political level who are in a position to facilitate or obstruct the approval or implementation of reforms – can also help to defuse political tensions.

6.

Duplication of efforts If not sufficiently well coordinated with existing institutions or other dialogue mechanisms, duplication of efforts can overburden and confuse participants. Some PPD mechanisms may, unexpectedly, become victims of their own success.

Similar organizations may spring up seeking to get in on the act, duplicating the work and diluting the effectiveness of the original by overburdening individuals and confusing lines of communication.

Strategies: If PPD mechanisms are set up as initiatives, separate from any existing institution, it can be hard for them to avoid competing with institutions. One of the reasons a new competitiveness partnership may be needed is that existing institutions are failing to fulfil their theoretical role. But it is necessary to give careful thought to whether a PPD will be encroaching on ground already adequately covered elsewhere.

Transparency of process and inclusion of all relevant parties are the key factors in bringing this about. These risk factors are raised not to suggest that competitiveness partnerships are fraught with danger, but to show how awareness and careful planning can help participants to avoid potential pitfalls.

5.3 Summarised Charter of good practice The following principles are used as the Charter of Good practice in using Public-Private Dialogue for private sector development: 5.3.1 Principle 1: Mandate and Institutional Alignment A statement of objective is helpful for clarity. A formal or legal mandate can be an important help in some political and economic contexts, but mandates are never sufficient to establish good PPD. Wherever hosted and whenever possible, PPD should be aligned with existing institutions to maximise the institutional potential and minimise friction.

• Dialogue depends on the capacity and mind-set of participants, and a legal mandate is not sufficient to create this.

• Nonetheless, a formal mandate is a signal that can establish credibility, make continuity more probable, and enable dialogue to be better integrated into an existing institutional framework.

• A mandate with legal backing is especially likely to be helpful in transition economies or countries with strongly bureaucratic traditions.

• However, energy should not be diverted into establishing a legal status at the expense of losing momentum on substantive reform efforts.

• Legal mandates that are too detailed carry the risk of restricting flexibility and restraining initiatives from adapting to changing circumstances.

• Existing institutions should be capitalised on as much as possible. Even when hosted outside existing institutional frameworks, PPD is more

Building resilient NPSOs effective when aligning its structure with existing institutional priorities and lines of command.

5.3.2 Principle 2: Structure and Participation PPD’s structure should be manageable while flexible, enable participation to be both balanced and effective, and reflect the local private sector context.

• Appropriate structures can be formal, informal or a mixture. Their design needs to take into account existing processes and institutions.

• Participation of relevant representative stakeholders should be agreed on in a transparent manner and be balanced and practicable, so as to best serve the objectives of the dialogue.

• Dialogue structures can be set up to carry out specific participatory processes in a series of working groups, for example to contribute to the elaboration of reform strategies for specific sectors, issues or regional areas.

• An organisational design operated under the umbrella of a secretariat is often useful to help ensure a coherent approach to public-private dialogue, including the shaping of an over arching policy framework.

5.3.3 Principle 3: Champions It is difficult to sustain dialogue without champions from both the public and private sectors who invest in the process and drive it forward.

• Backing the right champions is the most important part of outside support to PPD. • It is easier for dialogue to survive weakness of champions in the private sector than the public sector.

• If champions are too strong, the agenda can become too narrowly focused, or dialogue can come to depend too heavily on individuals.

5.3.4 Principle 4: Outputs Outputs can take the shape of structure and process outputs, analytical outputs or recommendations. All should contribute to agreed private sector development outcomes.

• Analytical outputs can include identification and analysis of business roadblocks, agreement on private sector development objectives, and private sector assessment of government service delivery.

• Recommendations can address policy or legal reform issues, identification of development opportunities in priority regions, zones or sectors, or definition of action plans.

• Structure and process outputs can include a formalized structure for private sector dialogue with government, periodic conferences and meetings, ongoing monitoring of public-private dialogue outputs and outcomes, and a media program to disseminate information.

5.3.5 Principle 5: Outreach and Communications Enabling communication of a shared vision and understanding through the development of a common language is essential for

building trust among stakeholders.

• Common communication requires a mutual understanding of core motivation, which depends on frequent and iterative interactions between all parties.

• Dialogue should be as open-access and broadly inclusive as feasible. This necessitates an outreach program to the reform constituency. Elements can include use of the media, seminars, workshops, and road shows.

• This also necessitates attention to building the capacity of the private sector to participate in dialogue to achieve a concerted strategy to communicate reform issues through clear and targeted messages.

• Transparency of process – in particular, an open approach towards the media – is essential for outreach, and also contributes to measurement and evaluation.

5.3.6 Principle 6: Monitoring & Evaluation Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) is an effective tool to manage the public-private dialogue process and to demonstrate its purpose and performance.

• While remaining flexible, user friendly and light, the monitoring and evaluation framework adopted by a PPD should provide stakeholders with the ability to monitor internal processes and encourage transparency and accountability.

• Definition of inputs, outputs, outcomes and impacts will be enhanced with designation of appropriate indicators with periodic review from stakeholders, which will rely on the collection of reliable data.

• Monitoring and evaluation techniques enable better overall planning, can ignite potential advocacy, and provide both internal and external motivation to promote more effective implementation.

• To this effect, PPDs should develop a baseline assessment to measure their effectiveness in order to enable the partnership to better measure how it is achieving its goals over time and delivering on its envisaged benefits.

5.3.7 Principle 7: Sub-National Public-Private Dialogue is desirable at all levels of decisionmaking, down to the most local possible level, especially as this is likely to be more practically capable of involving microentrepreneurs, SMEs and other local stakeholders.

• Local level public-private dialogue allows local issues and solutions to be identified and taken to decentralised decision makers or channelled upwards to the appropriate level of authority at which they can be solved.

• Local dialogue can contribute to effective implementation of national policies. It may be particularly effective when explicitly aligned with dialogue taking place at a national or regional level.

• Local level dialogues can especially benefit from use of participatory tools, capacity building initiatives, and the use of local and neutral facilitators.

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Section Five 5.3.8 Principle 8: Sector-Specific Sector-specific or issue-specific public-private dialogues should be encouraged because they provide more focus, greater incentive to collaborate, and more opportunity for action.

• To tackle the risk of missing the big picture, sectorspecific dialogues should be linked to a broader, cross-cutting dialogue process.

• The choice of sectors to involve in dialogue can be controversial, especially where institutions are weak. This can be mitigated by a transparent process.

• Dialogue works best with the sectors most willing to invest time and resources – though this requires safeguards against unfairly favouring alreadystrong sectors.

• Rent-seeking activity is more of a risk in sectorspecific dialogue.

• This can be mitigated by greater transparency, explicit enunciation of intended outcomes, and an inclusive approach that creates open access for all stakeholders with an interest in the sector’s or cluster’s value chain.

5.3.9 Principle 9: International Role Broad and inclusive public-private dialogue can effectively represent and promote national and regional interests of both public and private actors in international negotiations and international dialogue processes.

• Complex international challenges require broad, ad hoc alliances between state and non-state actors. These should be transparent, inclusive, and open-access.

• Involving local partnerships at the international level can give a more effective voice to national and regional interests by helping public and private sectors coordinate and thus widen their room for manoeuvre.

• International partners can foster an informal process of regional and multilateral policy dialogue, setting an example for national-level initiatives.

5.3.10 Principle 10: Post-Conflict / Crisis-Recovery / Reconciliation PPD is particularly valuable in post-conflict and crisis environments – including post natural disaster – to consolidate peace and rebuild the economy through private sector development.

• Because they focus on the specific and tangible issues of entrepreneurship, economic reconstruction and investment climate improvement leading to job creation and poverty reduction, public-private dialogue initiatives are very effective at building trust among social groups and at reconciling ethnic, religious, or political opponents.

• PPD can be especially valuable in enabling the sharing of resources and building capacity particular priority in crisis environments.

• Structures and instruments for dialogue need to be adapted to each post-conflict or crisis context. They need to take into account the inherent informality

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•

of the economic actors and the potential role of customary systems in re-establishing the rule of law.

An external “honest broker”, possibly linked to international organisations in charge of peace building, may be needed to kick-start dialogue.

But mechanisms should be put in place for quick transfer of the initiative to local ownership.

5.3.11 Principle 11: Development Partners PPD initiatives can benefit from the input and support of donors (development partners) when their role is determined by the local context, demand driven, and based on partnership, and coordination.

• Development partners can encourage conditions for dialogue, and initiate, promote, support, fund, and facilitate dialogue.

• Capacity building and disseminating international best practice are two areas where development partners can play a particular role.

• The role of development partners should be as neutral as possible, maximising the local ownership and capacity, the development of trust, and the maintenance of a conducive and transparent environment.

• Development partners should consider social, economic, and political context, as well as exit strategies and sustainability issues.

• They should coordinate among themselves to avoid duplicating their efforts and maximise the availability of funds when partnerships are found to be worth supporting.

5.4

Charter of good practice

Building resilient NPSOs 5.4.1 Mandate and Institutional Alignment A formal mandate can assist in establishing credibility, ensuring continuity, and enable dialogue to be better integrated into an existing institutional framework.

PPDs must be aligned with existing institutions to maximize the institutional potential and minimise frictions. NPSOs should ensure that their national government establishes a formal PPD process with the NPSO on issues pertaining to the private sector. Legal mandates must not be too detailed as it will restrict flexibility and restrain initiatives.

Dialogue can start with an informal mission statement and later consider seeking a formal or legal mandate at a future date if it seems helpful.

Seek a Memorandum of Understanding with existing institutions By definition, the need for new dialogue mechanisms arises when existing institutions are not proving sufficient to do the job. But existing institutions may nonetheless have the capacity to make or break a new dialogue mechanism depending on how effectively they are brought on board.

Seek clarity with existing institutions about how a new dialogue mechanism can leverage their roles and create new opportunities for them. A Memorandum of Understanding between a new dialogue mechanism and existing relevant institutions can be helpful in achieving that. An existing institution may be able to house the secretariat of a new dialogue mechanism.

For example, the Tanzanian Investors Round Table has its secretariat run by the Tanzania National Business Council.

Instead of using a mandate to create momentum, consider a time-bound initiative with an artificial deadline.

One reason for wanting a formal or legal mandate is to establish initial momentum and credibility for dialogue. If this is an issue, consider that the imposition of an artificial deadline through setting time bound objectives can help to do the same thing.

For example, in Mexico’s social pacts of the 1980s, talks were held on Friday nights and participants were forbidden to leave the building until an agreement had been reached – which usually happened on Saturday mornings. In a less extreme example, a high-profile public commitment to passing “50 economic reforms in 150 days” enabled the Bulldozer Initiative in Bosnia to create a sense of urgency and momentum from the outset.

Legal requirements for public consultation may already be stipulated by law Often countries include, either in their administrative procedure law or in the government functioning law, a requirement for public consultation. These legal requirements are often ignored by regulators but are nonetheless a good starting point of a PPD initiative.

Don’t be dogmatic about legal mandates – formal and informal structures can work indistinguishably well. Mission statements can help clarify thinking about what PPD is trying to achieve.

Mission statements serve to clarify the mission of the PPD. Having all members agree on what the goals are is already a success.

Workshops can be helpful in identifying the best way forward Some dialogue processes have been initiated through enterprise-level surveys and focus groups, which serve as the basis for a workshop with relevant stakeholders discussing how PPD can be initiated and sustained, and which issues they should prioritise. This approach is especially useful when there are existing institutions – that is, functioning dialogue mechanisms or private sector representative associations – that are nonexistent or weak. The results of field research conducted during the PPD mapping exercise can be used for this purpose.

New dialogue mechanisms can reinvigorate business membership organisations and Chambers of Commerce – but only if handled diplomatically.

When these organizations are not aligned from the start with the new dialogue mechanism, they can perceive it as a threat.

Consider the potential to set a limited time span on a new dialogue mechanism, with the explicit aim of breathing new life into existing institutions and building their capacity to carry on the work – this needs careful thought and planning.

The location of the dialogue is important for institutional alignment PPD needs a host that is effectively linked to existing institutions and yet is not perceived as instinctively favouring the interests of any particular participant in dialogue. This can be in an existing organisation, agency or government department, so long as it is perceived as being able to take a wider view.

A number of existing institutions can potentially make good hosts for dialogues – while setting up a new and independent entity is also an option. The table lists some strengths and weaknesses of possible dialogue hosts.

5.4.2 Structure & participation PPD’s structure should be manageable while flexible, enable participation to be both balanced and effective, and reflect the local private sector context. The appropriate structure can be formal, informal or a mixture but overall, needs to take into account existing processes and institutions.

A structure that works well involves a secretariat and working groups There is no one-size-fits-all structure to successful PPD. In fact, institutional design depends on a number of variables, and identifying the variables and the options for adapting to them properly. There may be different organisational forms depending on the degree of organisation of the private sector, the power of the executive vs. the legislature, the structure of the private sector and of the government.

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Section Five A setting that seems to be prevalent in the most productive PPDs is characterised by a dedicated secretariat and working groups that meet often to devise recommendations for periodical plenary sessions.

The function of the secretariat is to organise meetings, coordinate research efforts and other logistics, set agendas, rally members, manage communication and outreach strategies, and is a point of contact for others who want to join.

The NPSO shall be the representative of the private sector at the national level. Below are the frameworks of dialogue at the national and regional level.

A. National Framework The proposed framework for the national level dialogue is depicted in Figure 2 below.

As the unified voice of the Private Sector at the national level, the NPSO shall collate issues from the businesses through the PSOs and the individual businesses. In most countries, the NPSO is the chamber of commerce and thus dialogues are done directly with the businesses. In some other countries, the NPSO has the chambers of commerce as its members and  thus the dialogues with the individual businesses are done through the chambers. It then advocates for the Figure 2: Framework for National PPD issues at the dialogues with the local Private Sector government/municipalities and the National Government.

B. Regional Framework Following from Figure 2, the NPSO provides inputs and updates of national level issues/dialogues to PIPSO. The PSO liaises with the NPSO at the national level, but links to the working groups and regional PSOs through membership. PIPSO also acts on advice from the Sector working groups and the RPSOs. At the regional level, PIPSO advocates for the private sector issues at the dialogue with the leaders.

The proposed framework for regional PPD is depicted in Figure 3 below.

NPSO

Public Sector

Govt

PSO

Individual Business

Individual Business

Individual Business

Local Govt/Municipalities

Figure 3: Regional PPD framework Private Sector PIPSO

Regional Level

Forum Leaders Sector Working Group

Sector Working Group

PSO

PSO

Federal Government

National Government PSO

PSO

Country Level

Public Sector

NPSO

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Local Govt/Municipalities

Building resilient NPSOs Key functions of a NPSO on PPD The purpose of the NPSO is to facilitate PPD by: ➢

➢

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Preparing and distributing an agenda of the meeting The secretariat’s task is to prepare a clear agenda for the meeting and any documentation on the issues to be discussed. It is important that the agenda be distributed in advance, so that the participants have a reasonable time for planning and preparation. The secretariat should also have a clear goal and focus for each meeting that it organises so that its credibility is not undermined.

Selecting a neutral but knowledgeable person to chair the meeting At the beginning of the meeting, the chairperson should explain the goal or purpose of the meeting, and adhere to it. This person should be able to ask precise questions and have the ability to pursue specific issues in search of causes and solutions to the problems. It is important for the chair to maintain a balanced view throughout the discussions so that the invited parties feel that they are being given an unbiased forum in which to air their views. Where the chair must step in and take sides, this should be done carefully so as to solicit at least the understanding, if not always the support, of the participants. The staff of the secretariat should be able to fulfil the role of the neutral but knowledgeable moderator.

Taking and distributing the minutes of the meetings.

Taking minutes of the meeting is the task of the secretariat. The minutes need not always be detailed, but it is very important that there be at least a summary of the main points discussed, a record of the commitments made (and the time frame within which they will be implemented), and any points of disagreement. The draft minutes should then be distributed to the participating parties for commentary.

Once comments are received (and if a party does not send comments within the agreed time frame, the secretariat may decide that “silence implies consent”!), the comments should be incorporated to the extent possible in the final version of the summary of the minutes. A last step to ensure ownership by all sides participating would be the signatures of the parties who participated.

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Considering carefully the participants of a meeting.

The general suggestions for the selection of dialogue partners both from the public and private sectors apply when organising smaller meetings as well.

The secretariat should not limit private sector participation only to those businesses or business associations that were selected as members of the steering committee. If a specific issue requires new representatives of the business community to

be invited for discussions with the government, the secretariat should be able to come up with suggestions.

Government participation Government participation should be targeted to be at the highest possible level. It is necessary to be selective about who to include from the public sector. Including representatives of too many public sectors can swamp dialogues.

A solution is to involve: • technical staff from ministries in working groupsas they will be responsible for drafting laws to implement recommendations of the dialogue; and • a high-level political participation at plenary level as they are the decision makers.

Private Sector participation These factors may need to be considered when deciding on private sector participation: • Involve people who want to be involved, not who are in it for the money and their own personal interest • Include private sector intermediaries whenever possible.

• Be especially aware of the danger of underrepresenting SMEs. • Involve women and minority groups.

• Private sector participants in PPD should ideally be widely respected, credible, dynamic, open-minded and unafraid to voice their opinions.

• The voice of the state-owned enterprises may need to be down played.

Transparent criteria for participating Criteria for membership should be written and publicly available, allowing all potential partners to express their interest in participating.

Revisit membership Membership should be reviewed frequently to ensure that members who do not show sufficient commitment can be replaced. Inactive working groups can be wound up and replaced with new formed ones, to tackle the same or different subjects.

5.4.3 Champions A common hallmark of successful PPDs is that they have strong and effective “champions” driving the process forward-but not so strong that they skew the process or make it personally dependent on individuals.

The most important qualification for champions is that they are widely perceived to have the national interests of the country at heart.

Champions from both the public and the private sector must drive the dialogue, promoting the idea, investing time and effort in it, and giving PPD credibility, expertise and publicity.

Without government will to consider reform, it is difficult to

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Section Five initiate dialogue. Without both public and private champions investing in and driving the process, it is difficult to sustain PPD and achieve reforms.

Those parts of government most generally useful to PPD, and most likely to be productive hosts for dialogue, are the divisions that have broad and continuous involvement with private sector matters (including agriculture), and which have oversight responsibility (if not authority) across many, if not all, ministries.

Government agencies with these attributes include: Office of the Prime Minister/President, Council of Ministers/Cabinet, Ministry of Finance, and sometimes Ministry of Economy (if it includes agriculture). Generally useful local government agencies include: Offices of Mayor/Governor, regional Ministry for Economic Development, and regional Ministry of Finance.

The selection of private sector representatives who engage in dialogue influences the interests that are advocated as well as the credibility of business participation. The NPSO and PIPSO must select appropriate representatives from its members, to attend the dialogues with them, at the national and regional level respectively. Representatives should be effective: able to speak convincingly, rally business support, and reach agreement with government.

Identification of champions Different champions should be identified for different issues and target audiences.

Providing support for Champions Important factors in providing effective support to champions include: • Respect for local context - Champions may have a preference of whom to engage with – some local may prefer PPD staff from their own culture whilst some may value the external views from international staff. Some may even go age-wise or gender based.

• People skills - Training is essential for PPD staff in mentorship, facilitation, change management, training trainers or information and communication skills.

• Sustaining commitment - It is vital that initial political will is carried through into practical support, including efforts to build supportive networks that will leave champions feeling less isolated.

• Capacity building - Champions can benefit from capacity building activities. Study tours conducted well and training opportunities can expose individuals to new thinking and can have even greater sustainable impact if those individuals are them empowered to become the trainers.

Making best use of champions for media reports When designing an information and communications strategy

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to promote a reform or dialogue platform, it is important to consider how to engage champions as messengers and which champions will be most effective in promoting your message.

The audience that a PPD is trying to reach should determine the choice.

On the other hand, the individual stories of entrepreneurs can have a strong impact, particularly when profiled on a regular basis, as this helps to convey the message that there is a problem that needs to be addressed. The use of individual entrepreneurs can also have a popular appeal as more citizens can relate to their experiences.

There are also some important considerations to bear in mind when selecting champions for a media campaign. High-level, influential political champions both in and outside government can be generally sensitive to media use, particularly in environments where certain sections of the media are seen less as an information and education platform and more as a trouble-maker for government.

Taking these sensitivities into consideration, the most effective messengers may be the individual entrepreneurs with a personal story to tell that most citizens can relate to, and who often lack effective mechanisms for having their voices heard by government.

Flexibility in choosing champions to respond to changing circumstances Three factors are likely to inform how one engages champions, bearing in mind the certainty that circumstances will change over time.

• It is important to identify probable champions early in the reform process. Before engaging with individual champions, it is important to be sure that he or she will be willing to take a risk even without the support and backing of a donor.

• Today’s champion can quickly transform into tomorrow’s opponent. It is important to be clear about focus and likely impact of reform from the start.

• It must be acknowledged that champions often will have a shelf life and there is a risk of the champion outliving his or her usefulness. Given that most PPDS change over time, it should be expected that champions will change accordingly. The relationship with the PPD must be continually renewed to ensure that all parties remain relevant to each other and continue to be in a win-win situation.

5.4.4 Outputs Dialogue is not an end in itself – it is a means to outputs.

Choosing the right outputs to aim for can be critical to a dialogue’s chance of success. Outputs can take the shape of: • Structure and process outputs; Structure and process outputs can include a formalised structure for dialogue with government, periodic conferences and meetings, ongoing

Building resilient NPSOs monitoring of public-private dialogue outputs and outcomes, and a media program to disseminate information.

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Analytical outputs; Analytical outputs can include identification and analysis of business roadblocks, agreement on private sector development objectives, and private sector assessment of government service delivery.

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Recommendations Recommendations can address policy or legal reform issues, identification of development opportunities in priority regions, zones or sectors, or definition of action plans.

•

meetings, in public information meetings or even by mail or e-mail. ➢

Invite reform suggestions and filter them for quality control.

To be seen by all actors as legitimate, recommendations to government that emerge from a PPD must not only be clear, wellresearched, and compellingly presented. They also must pass through a transparent filtering process.

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Track the selection process of reform proposals.

Tracking the progress of reform proposals from initial suggestions through to concrete recommendations for reform provides useful insights into the effectiveness of the suggestion filtering process. It also serves to promote transparency and build the legitimacy of final proposals by demonstrating how they came to be adopted.

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Roadblocks vs. roadmaps.

Although policy reform recommendations should be specific, that doesn’t mean they can’t be presented on more than one level. It is a good idea to create separate “product lines.”

Soft outputs These include increases in trust, understanding and cooperation between stakeholders; building of social capital. ➢

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Aim for hard, quantifiable outputs, the soft benefits will come naturally.

“Soft” benefits – increased trust and understanding – tend to arise as by-products from striving for outputs that are more easily quantifiable. Some possibilities for quantifying outputs: holding of meetings; publication of reports; recommendations made; reforms passed.

On one hand, specific reform proposals to be acted upon in the short term by the government can be produced by the PPD. On the other hand, as a way to create less direct pressure and to ensure sustainability of the effort over the long run, working groups can aim to produce more general research pieces taking a birds-eye view of the business landscape and describing the broader context for required reforms, such as economic strategy documents.

Focus the dialogue on specific policy issues, possibly starting with “low hanging fruits”.

The risk of falling far from the initial goals is high as the group tries to tackle too many sectors and too many types of reforms.

An obvious but effective strategy is to start by picking the “low-hanging fruit” – reforms that are relatively easily achievable because the need for them is generally recognized and they are unlikely to meet serious resistance.

This builds initial momentum – but care must be taken not to let this lead to unrealistic expectations of continued easy success.

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Create and process proposals.

It is helpful to elicit reform suggestions from the grassroots. Further on, these suggestions need to be expertly assessed, filtered and transformed into standard format recommendations for reform.

Use standard forms to capture reform proposals.

A standard form enables stakeholders to submit ideas in a transparent and fair way.

Reform proposals to be considered by a PPD should be captured by a standard form and submitted either directly in working group

It is therefore recommend that a PPD develop a set number of targeted proposals (called, for example, “Business Roadblocks”), together with a smaller number of high quality, longer and research-based economic policy papers (e.g. “Business Roadmaps”). The Roadblocks promise concrete outcomes and instant gratification, while the Roadmaps build credibility by putting the Roadblocks in context.

5.4.5 Outreach and communications Dialogue should be as open-access and broadly inclusive as feasible. Outreach program implemented can include media, seminars, workshops and roadshows.

Transparency of process is an essential element for outreach, and also contributes to measurement and evaluation. Communication strategies must be both for participants and the general public.

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Section Five PPD and boost confidence in the PPD process.

A simple monitoring process can be developed by the NPSO to monitor progress. Monitoring and evaluation techniques enable better overall planning, can ignite potential advocacy, and provide both internal and external motivation to promote more effective implementation.

Inviting proposals from grassroots entrepreneurs can capture their ideas and input. Awareness of the form or the PPD and its intended outcomes, can be raised through media campaign and travelling road shows. The power of a good name, a good logo, or powerful visual image should not be underestimated to communicate the potential benefits of PPD aimed at improving conditions for private sector development.

Communication tools NPSOs should refer to the guide on the Effective Communication developed by PIPSO on the various communication tools.

5.4.6 Monitoring and evaluation After the completion on the PPD, it is important that NPSOs monitor the implementation of the action plans agreed in the PPD. In monitoring the actions resulting from the PPD, it provides credibility on the PPD process and provides feed back to the businesses on whether actions are being taken to address their issues. Regular feedback on the effectiveness of the action taken to the businesses will encourage them in taking part in

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Separating monitoring from evaluation Internal monitoring goes hand-in-hand with future planning. It tracks inputs, outputs, and intermediate outcomes. Evaluation, in contrast, is a time-bound exercise which focuses more on the outcome and impact level and aims to show the degree to which the overall objective or goal of the program has been realised.

M&E have different focus.

Building resilient NPSOs Below are some best international practices on how PPDs can usefully monitor their activities and improve for the future Dialogues:

➢ Monitor inputs such as human resources and budgets

It is helpful to monitor whether inputs into the PPD process – notably financial and human – are being utilised as envisaged. That implies close tracking of the budget against financial expenditure, and regular reviews of whether staff members are performing along the lines envisaged in their TORs. Evidence of divergence between foreseen and actual results may indicate either a need to revisit spending or use of staff time in practice to bring it back into line with what was originally envisaged, or a need to revisit future budgets and TORs to bring them into line with lessons learned in practice.

➢ Track the impact of each working group’s work through a progress matrix ➢ Track steps in proposing reforms and having them implemented Each PPD works slightly differently depending on its domestic circumstances, but it is usually possible to devise a step-by-step framework showing the ideal progression towards implementing private sector development reforms.

to over-evaluate and prescribe a strict adherence to procedures as outlined above. As stated, each country has its own practices and it is important that the PPD process finds the right path towards achieving its stated goals.

5.4.7 National PPD is encouraged to be implemented at the most local possible level, involving micro entrepreneurs, SMEs and other local stakeholders. This allows local issues and solutions to be identified and taken to decentralised decision makers or channelled upwards to the appropriate level of authority at which they can be solved.

PPD should not focus exclusively on the national level; PPD at the local level can have tremendous impact on the investment climate and the enabling environment for private sector growth. It is important for business and civil society to engage in dialogue with local levels of government that often have the power to take – and implement – decisions that affect private sector development. Local PPD can also address national issues to ensure that national policies meet local needs. Holding events in only the capital city also skews participation by making it harder for small businesses based in outlying provinces to get involved. Most principles of running a PPD at the national level apply at the sub national level. But attention should be given to organisational and process issues to ensure that the PPD results in elimination of obstacles to investment and private sector growth.

➢ Use monitoring to promote accountability and transparency Internal monitoring mechanisms provide a PPD with an opportunity to promote the values of transparency and accountability. In certain political contexts, the very act of monitoring and distributing the results regularly to stakeholders can play a valuable role in setting an example to government and corporate partners.

Finally, an important element of internal monitoring is understanding what is a success in the local context.

Where low levels of trust exist, it is important to demonstrate that the dialogue itself is a successful outcome. Clarification of the government’s position on a bureaucratic process can be as important, in the short term, as the passing of critical legislation after PPD dialogue will be in the future. In this context, the writing and maintaining of accurate records that respect the solemnity of the PPD process is important.

Accurate, agreed minutes, are also an important ongoing mechanism for increasing transparency and providing a mechanism from which to launch the next round of consultations.

But while the above tools have their utility, capacity often varies greatly within the government and private sector in developing economies. It is not always practicable

Local-level dialogue can improve national-level policy National-level PPD includes a limited number of representatives from the public and private sectors. This means that a relatively small number of private sector institutions have influence on policy, and regional and local governments are often excluded or underrepresented in the dialogue. This problem can be rectified by local-level PPD on national-level issues.

Local PPD throughout a nation can provide a wide range of

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Section Five inputs to national-level policy development and ensure that national policies meet differing local needs. Local PPD also provides ideas for addressing regional disparities and assisting impoverished regions.

Local PPD is also important to obtain local buy-in to national policies. Local public officials are often the ones who implement decisions taken at regional or national levels. As such, they can make or break the success of PPD in practice. Thus, strengthening dialogue between central and local officials often is as important as strengthening dialogue between the public and the private sectors.

It is important for PPD leaders and facilitators to design mechanisms to ensure a regular flow of communications between local and national level PPD venues.

Ideally, the national government, along with its partners in dialogue at the national level (business associations, etc.) will encourage and support local level PPD. But it is important that the participants in the local PPD have developed the forum and priority issues. National level support and involvement is important to motivate local stakeholders to participate in PPD and to ensure that the national government will act on issues and recommendations identified at the local level. A bottom-up, grass roots approach is also important since local stakeholders must take “ownership” of the PPD venue and its output – if they have little commitment the PPD will fail.

Local-level dialogue can achieve important improvements in regional economic competitiveness Local PPD can focus on elimination of barriers to private sector development that are caused by local government regulations and practices. Businesses operating in the region can advise the local government on the barriers, and the two can work together to eliminate them. They can also collaborate on initiatives to increase their region’s competitiveness.

Local PPD can be at the municipality, county, or other subnational political level, or can be based on an economic region that crosses political boundaries. Since PPD is primarily focused on economic growth and private sector development, the regions should be based on economic commonalities.

For example, it might not be best to combine a primarily agricultural area with a primarily industrial area.

Strengthening local-level Chambers of Commerce can help local dialogue Developing the management, communication, presentation, negotiating and advocacy skills of local Chambers of Commerce can have a big effect on promoting local level dialogue. Ideally the chambers themselves can train their private sector members in ways to engage effectively in dialogue with government.

Local and regional approaches often work well combined with cluster approaches Most clusters are made up of a group of businesses in an industry and supporting institutions that are mostly located within the same geographic area. They are often among the main drivers of economic development in that area and need to be at the centre of PPD in that region. The supporting institutions usually include the local government(s), and in most cases the cluster’s dialogue includes PPD on obstacles caused by the local government. These obstacles are important not only because they affect a key industry – they also tend to affect all industries in the region. USAID in particular has focused on promoting dialogue in regional industry clusters, with considerable success.

5.4.8 Sector-Specific Sector-specific PPD should be encouraged because they provide more focus, greater incentive to collaborate, and more opportunity for action. Involvement of the Working Group is encouraged. Local ownership and leadership are key in sectorspecific dialogue.

SMEs and local authorities participate most effectively in dialogues on tangible, hands-on matters, such as discussions of administrative processes (registration, tax administration, customs clearances, etc). In the early stages it is important that the parties identify “quick wins” – reforms that can be implemented by the local government with immediate tangible benefits to the private sector. This builds credibility and trust, and leads to more interest in and commitment to the forum for dialogue.

Donor experience of attempting to promote competitiveness through clusters generally suggests that it is difficult to “pick winners.”

Acknowledging local differences is a key success factor, in particular in post-conflict environments In post-conflict environments, or when interests or ethnic groups are clearly divided, it may be important to address the differences, including economic conditions, culture, and languages. In regions that have some relatively wealthy subregions and some impoverished sub-regions, it is important to address the economic problems in the impoverished areas.

When ethnic groups have a history of conflict, the facilitators must be cognizant of various sensitivities.

Start by holding participatory workshops open to all interested parties The best way to start exploring the potential for cluster-based PPD is to hold a series of participatory workshops to discuss cluster strategy. These workshops should be open to all actors in the sector value chain – enterprises, trade associations, related educational and financial institutions, labour unions, and public sector agencies. They should be accompanied by a communications and outreach strategy to raise awareness.

Local-level PPD should be based on an appropriate geographical coverage

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Local ownership, in particular the existence of strong private sector champions, has usually proved to be the key determinant of success. The absence of emerging private sector champions is generally a sign that a cluster will fail to progress regardless of outside assistance.

Building resilient NPSOs Donors can be especially helpful in international benchmarking and technical training Donor inputs can be especially valuable in sector-specific dialogue include international market and policy research and benchmarking, and specialized technical training and assistance.

5.4.9 International Role Just as sub-national opportunities for dialogue should not be ignored; neither should the potential for PPD to contribute in the international arena – especially in preparation for negotiations on treaties and trade talks. It makes sense for governments and private sectors to cooperate on opportunities such as trade, tourism and exploitation of natural resources in international fora.

Changing private sector mind-set is especially important in sector-based dialogue Because many firms in sector-specific dialogue will be in direct competition with each other, extra effort often needs to be made to persuade the private sector that it makes sense for them to cooperate to resolve common problems. See the section on outreach and communications for ideas on strategy.

Improving the quality of private sector input into public sector decision-making – always an aim of PPD – is especially challenging and worthwhile in sector-specific dialogue, as a competitive mind-set that characterises clusters may translate into greater scope for rent-seeking activities.

The aim is to foster a forward-looking private sector mindset that perceives common opportunities across a cluster.

Experience backs up the common-sense inference that this is more difficult to achieve in long-established industries. Often, it is necessary to fight another mind-set. It is not uncommon that the private sector assumes a passive attitude, expecting the government not only to lead the clustering effort, but also to provide the necessary ideas, funds, and resources. This attitude works against the need to develop process ownership by all those involved. Even worse, making the whole process dependent on government imperils continuity because of the transient nature of public administrations. In contrast, a successful formula is to insure that as beneficiary of the process, the private sector assumes as well the roles of ‘author’ of the strategies and implementer (“actor”) of the corresponding actions There are several dangers in having PPD based on too few sectors Involving too few sectors makes it more difficult for PPD to have impact on cross-cutting issues, which in turn increases the risk of over-specialisation, over-reliance on previously successful models, and a lowered ability to perceive and capitalise on new opportunities.

Government-private sector partnerships at national level can prepare for international negotiations and dialogue PPD can be used to define positions that are to be defended by national government delegates or negotiators abroad. PPD can also identify the strategic challenges that will be determined by negotiations and dialogue processes outside the country, and prepare the ground by putting them on the national or regional agenda. The WTO negotiations, which recommend governments to consult with their private sector during the accession process, provide a good ground for establishing such relationships.

It is important for PPD to establish clearly why both the public and private sectors should consider challenges to be priorities.

This may involve educating partners in dialogue, for example by public awareness campaigns to enhance government sensitivity or to dramatise the issue and to demystify PPD process for private sector actors.

A clear private sector mandate boosts a government’s legitimacy and enables government negotiators to benefit from private sector technical capacity Governments that have secured the support of their domestic private sector for their negotiating stances are able to claim enhanced legitimacy for their positions in the international

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Section Five arena.

The technicalities of international negotiations can overwhelm government capacity, expertise and experience. Public sector negotiators can therefore benefit from tapping into the expertise of the private sector. Data, analysis and advice provided by the domestic private sector can be critical for governments involved in international negotiations or dialogue.

agreements on domestic sectors, and generate feedback and information from their contacts both locally and abroad.

Build alliances with NGOs, development partners and transnational BMOs Internationally-oriented PPDs can be enhanced by efforts to build broader alliances encompassing local and international NGOs, development partners, transnational business associations and public opinion.

In particular, NGOs, development partners and transnational business associations often prove a reliable source of expertise and analysis underpinning national governments’ and business communities’ positions in the international arena.

NGOs and development partners may: • play an essential advocacy role in raising awareness among public opinion, governments and international organisations; • serve as an interface between authorities and the local private sector, especially parts of the private sector that may be poorly organised, lack analytical capacity, or have little influence on government – for example, small agricultural producers; • be instrumental in formalising the dialogue between governments and the private sector on issues to be tackled at the international level, such as by educating local private sector and officials in the working of international fora.

Give specific assignments to a core group of private sector experts A core group of private sector experts with relevant fields of expertise should be given specific assignments and tasked to interact regularly with officials, both in negotiating teams and in capital cities.

Their task is to help departments develop detailed negotiating positions and strategies, model the effects of proposed

Post conflict/crisis recovery/reconciliation 5.4.10 PPD is valuable in post-conflicts and crisis environmentsincluding post natural disaster-to consolidate peace and economy rebuild through the private sector development.

5.4.11 Development Partners Development partners (donors) can be one of the biggest resources to PPDs. They serve as resources when they: • help participants to collect and analyse evidence, both from the in-country environment and from other international experience; • build capacity in policy analysis, regulatory impact analysis, and other key policy-making skills; • help improve the infrastructure that promotes dialogue, such as improved communications, knowledgeable business journalism, and international benchmarking.

Government representatives from different PICs during a panel discussion at the 2012 Women in Business Conference

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Building resilient NPSOs On the other hand, donors can also be one of the biggest obstacles to PPD. They obstruct primarily when they impose their agendas on host governments, and when they make both governments and private sector associations respond more to donor priorities than to their home constituencies. The private sector and the governments must maintain the balance on setting priority issues for the nations and the region as a whole.

Overall donors need to adopt a more venture capitalist attitude towards PPD – treat it as a high-risk but essential investment, one that will require innovation and experiment, and a healthy tolerance for failure. In the same vein, PPD investments need an exit strategy right from the start, a way of migrating from donor promotion to self-promotion.

Collecting evidence on behalf of local constituencies PPD may be hard to get going because of a lack of evidence.

Donors can play an extremely useful role by funding the collection of evidence that is seen by all parties to be independent. Business surveys are a good example of this.

•

It can serve as a guarantee to the governments that the entrepreneurs are not going to hijack the process to request nonviable benefits, such as removing all taxes, etc, or that specific entrepreneurs are not going to use the process for their own exclusive benefits.

Getting a group of donors to participate in the partnership is beneficial. But it is the participants who should set the pace – not the donors’ internal timetables.

Donors should not impose their own agendas on PPD. Donors should not force PPD agendas into limited time horizons due to foreign aid procedures and restrictions. This can be reinforced if there is a lack of coordination within donors.

Donor coordination is indeed paramount. Donors may do the most damage to PPD when they confuse participants through uncoordinated initiatives that tackle the same issues through parallel, isolated projects that soak up scarce human resources.

Donor resources are well deployed when building local capacity in data collection and analysis, regulatory impact assessment and other analytical skills – including business journalism. An important role for donors hence includes benchmarking of local policy environments against international good practice.

Facilitation and coordination Donors can help create PPD in countries where public-private trust is low by bringing in trained facilitators and building local capacity in facilitation. They can also support an existing PPD by providing coordination services, or by hosting a secretariat.

Donors input into the reform design As they are defined by working groups and processed by a PPD secretariat, reform proposals would gain enormously if they are designed according to benchmarks and principles that have received a “seal of approval” from international agencies.

While not reducing ownership of the proposals themselves, the involvement of the development partners in the design process has two main benefits: • It ensures that reform proposals do not contradict or interfere with structural, top-down efforts.

Consultations between PIPSO and the Eminent Persons Group of the Melanesian Spearhead Group

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Section Six

Section Six - Evaluation of PPD

Monitoring and evaluation of PPD processes must not be focused on results only, but also on the processes of reaching those results-or not reaching them.

The evaluation wheel has been developed to evaluate different aspects of PPDS in a visual way.

stakeholder group will require improvements in information provision to specific stakeholder groups or changes in set-up, rules and regulations to enable a more balanced participation of all stakeholder groups.

By comparing wheels over time – for instance, with intervals of a year – task managers can analyse if the PPD is developing towards or away from a balanced participation and appreciation by different stakeholder groups.

The 3 main stages of the program cycle are: • Identification stage During this stage, the plan for the project is being formulated and managers should try to reinforce the quality of the situational analysis of the PPD by using specific indicators.

The evaluation wheel is a powerful visual tool to enable discussion and more in-depth analysis of a PPD in focus group meetings with different participants in the dialogue or partnership.

Different aggregated scores of individual assessments for each relevant stakeholder group can easily be compared using the picture above.

In particular, scores that show big differences between different stakeholder groups, and those aspects that are scored low by all stakeholder groups, will need further discussion.

Aspects that show a low scoring of all stakeholder groups will likely require improvements in the design and the process of the PPD. Aspects that show differences in appreciation of different

• Formulation stage The development of indicators during the formulation stage is crucial for two main reasons.

Firstly, when objectives are still vague, planning indicators are necessary to obtain information about target groups, time frame and baseline and target values. Without this information, resource allocation and budgeting as well as operational planning remain almost impossible. Secondly, it is also necessary already at the formulation stage to define how to track progress towards the objectives during implementation.

• Implementation stage At this stage, monitoring and evaluation activities provide managers with particular information, for which indicators are used.

2012 Private Sector Dialogue held on the outskirts of the Forum Leaders Meeting in Rarotonga

37

Building resilient NPSOs

Section Seven - Creating Effective Communications Strategies 7.1 What is a Communications Strategy and why do you need one?

A Communications Strategy or also referred to as a Strategic Communications Plan is a document that expresses the goals and methods of an organisation’s outreach activities, including what your NPSO wishes to share with the public and whom it is trying to reach.

Generally presented as an internal document, Communications Strategies should serve as a guide for any media and public relations activities in which your NPSO is engaged. This guide provides steps on how to write a communications strategy and how to format your plan.

Before drafting your Communications Plan, start with a brief analysis of what your NPSO hopes to achieve. Begin with an overview of the NPSO’s programmes, communications environment, objectives and goals. Include a short situation analysis of the NPSO’s communications strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT-analysis).

Why do you need a Communications Strategy?

 To      

achieve your organisational objectives; To raise the awareness of your organisation and its operations; To engage effectively with stakeholders; To demonstrate the success of your work; To ensure that people understand the work of the organisation through feedback; To entice membership; and To build credibility and reassure donors.

• the general state of communications in your NPSO; • the ways the NPSO has communicated in the past (internally and externally) • how the audiences perceive your NPSO 7.2

How to write a Communications Strategy

7.2.1 Set an achievable goal Regardless of how big or small the NPSO is, when developing the Communications Strategy think about the goal you would like to achieve. The goal will give you an indication of the intended outcome. The goal should also be focused on measurable outcomes.

Clearly indicate what the organisation wishes to achieve on the communications front-increased media prominence, damage control, branding, etc. Describe the communications objectives in terms of media outreach, public relations, customer care, or other areas of activity.

A Strategic Plan or Corporate Plan can be used as a guiding document to help the NPSO set goals. Aligning your goals to these internal documents also means that the NPSO will effectively use resources and the communications strategies will be meaningful and well placed instead of sporadic messages that could cost the NPSO more in the long run.

Examples goals/objectives:  Developing and implementing the marketing strategies for all programs, initiatives and events;  Get more media coverage;  Develop an electronic newsletters;  Develop a website;  Develop, design more NPSO publications; and  Informed and participatory membership.

7.1.1 Review past Communications Strategies How has your NPSO been communicating in the past? How effective has that been? How does your audiences perceive this?

Before starting on a new strategy, the NPSO should conduct an audit – a rigorous and structured review or assessment to help identify the direction needed to take this time around. This way it will determine what was done in the past and what should be done differently this time around.

Set “SMART” objectives and goals Specific - relates to the intended results Measurable - measure/collect evidence Attainable - within your reach Results-orientated - participatory, outcomes clear Time limited - achieved within a time period

Past communications performance and any perceptions of the NPSO should take into consideration the following:

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Section Seven 7.2.2 Identify your audience Remember that different messages appeal to different sectors of the community.

It is important to identify the audience segments based on different needs, goals and desired outcomes. Potential members may be one audience, but that group could be segmented even further into current, recent or past members. Keep in mind the limited resources and prioritise which audiences are the most critical and who would have the most powerful impact.

Each audience has its own needs, ranging from the intellectual (e.g. issue/research comprehension) to the cultural (e.g. images considered taboo) to the practical (e.g. owning a radio, having electricity) and the greater we understand and respect these boundaries, the likelier we are to achieve our desired impact.

For instance, NPSOs could spend time and finance in creating a video – but if your audience are rural villagers, will they have the technology or electricity to play it? Will they speak and understand the language of the video? If not, can you add subtitles?

And will they be able to read those?

Targeted Audience  Businesses (all sizes);  Professionals (entrepreneurs, consultants, small co.execs, middle management, top execs.);  Current members;  Community at large (value perception – general support);  Prospective members;  Stakeholders and donors;  Elected officials; and  Government.

7.2.3 Creating key messages What is your message? Do you have one message for multiple audiences or multiple messages for multiple audiences?

Once the NPSO has identified the targeted audience, the NPSO can now create key messages for each identified audience designed to help achieve the goal. It is advised that the NPSO limit the number of key messages to no more than five because attempting to communicate more than that can lead to confusion for any audience.

Key words to use in your messages: Connected, networking, leadership, voice of the Private sector, employers union, visionary, evolving, business, economic growth.

7.2.4 Select your communication tools or vehicle There are a variety of communication tools to choose from, ranging from the traditional (telephone, postal mail, advertising), to the new technology-driven (email, Internet, social media, mobile technologies). The choice of communication tool will be driven by the goal, audience and message and most importantly in the Pacific context the technological capacity of your country and organisation.

Main forms of Communications: ➢ Television – documentaries, talkback shows, advertisements, news; ➢ Radio – talkback shows, podcasts, advertisements, news; ➢ Print – Newspapers, newsletters, magazines, brochures, advertisements; ➢ Internet – Websites, social Media, chat sites, blogs, email; and ➢ Mobile phone communications – text advertisements, subscription information – news, weather, sport.

Table 2 on Page 40 lists the various types of communications tools in the Pacific and the ways they can be used to disseminate information.

List any media contacts, public relations arrangements, social media services, etc. If the goal is to reduce coverage or scrutiny of the NPSO, identify specific methods for deflecting attention.

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Building resilient NPSOs Item Internet

Table 2: Communications Tools in the Pacific and their mode of dissemination     

Mode of dissemination Newsletters Information Updates Flyers Communicate with members

Website - allows you to store and share a lot of information about your organisation with the rest of the world who have access to internet.

        

Updates Communicate with members Blogs E-newsletter Members portal – share documents Downloadable information Share videos and pictures Press Releases Rss Feed

Social Media – popular among the younger generation who like to spend hours updating their friends on every little aspect of their life.

   

Facebook Linked In Twitter Instagram

Newspaper

   

Monthly columns on business, commodity prices Supply journalists with NPSO news Advertisements Community Announcements

Press releases

  

Email Website Sent to media for coverage in news

Newsletter - will contain any information that is useful for your members. News stories, feature your members and their business.



 

Printed and mailed to members and donors Emailed on a monthly or quarterly basis E-newsletter Uploaded to website

Magazines – depending on the content of the magazine, the readership changes.

  

Monthly Business column Advertisements News

Radio

In the Pacific, Radio tends to be the fastest and most cost efficient way to get your message out.

Rural communities have more access to radio then they do for any other medium because they are cheaper and communities like listening to music.

    

Talk back shows Advertisements Podcasts News Community Announcements

Television

Only a few countries in the pacific have their own local content and news broadcasting.

Currently still building momentum in the Pacific.

 

Talkback shows Business Programmes – Talking business – Fiji TV Advertisements News

Print

Description Emails – you can share just about anything with anyone with an email address as long as it stays within a limited cap on the size of the document.

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

 

Section Seven 7.2.5 Resources What kind of budget does the NPSO have for its activities? Will this change in the future? What communications skills and hardware does it have?

disseminate its messages: national policy dialogues, ministerial meetings, international conferences, purchased air time, and so on. What’s more, once the NPSO has aroused interest in its work, it must have the information ready to satisfy that demand.

Resources relates to the financial situation of the NPSO and its capability to fund communications activities, whether or not it employs a media or communications officer and the technology available – internet, computers, printers, fax, websites. Always look at how much of the NPSO budget can be put aside for communications.

7.2.7 Monitor and evaluate the success of your communications It is important to measure the results of any communication to determine whether the goal was achieved and to what extent. The information gathered from this measurement can give important insights that can be used to modify or improve future communication efforts.

NPSO need to critically think about what communications tools they will be selecting to disseminate their messages as various modes can be very expensive. Communications require highquality materials and methods for creating those materials; they require people with the skills to use those methods; and they require dedicated financing. NPSOs need to be realistic about what they can actually achieve, and be aware of the many “hidden” costs around certain tools – e.g. spot placements for radio and TV advertising.

A lack of resources can lead to constraints in your communications ability but if NPSOs are wise about the way they run their activities then this should not be a problem. Use the networks it has with the media and social media.

7.2.6 Timelines What is your timeline? What opportunity, events can you use?

Can you engage other organisations with similar interests to assist?

Setting realistic deadlines in communications can be tricky.

That said there are obvious deadlines if the NPSO wants to

NPSOs need to know how far along their road to success they have travelled and if there is a need to change direction to get round an obstruction. Communications strategies must also be flexible and open to changes.

Ways to measure your strategies ➢ Track changes in community perceptions; ➢ Make measurement participatory; ➢ Track results by gender; ➢ Use monitoring and evaluation results to drive resource allocation; ➢ Media monitoring – track the media coverage during the year on your NPSO. Has it increased; ➢ Monitor your website analytics – statistics; ➢ Track the feedback you receive – comments, calls, bookings, increased membership, enquires; and ➢

Conduct surveys with your membership.

Formalisation of a working relationship between PIPSO and the Pacific Islands News Association - May 2013

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Building resilient NPSOs

Section Eight - Communications Tools 8.1 A website is a must in a technologically driven world A website is a very useful tool given that most of today’s business is conducted online. A website is said to be also the most cost effective medium of marketing today.

NPSOs can also become environmentally friendly by keeping all your brochures in e-form on the internet. There are a lot of NPSO websites that are not up to date, under construction, having not paid their domain and server fees or not very user friendly. This is not a very good picture as it shows the strength of your NPSO and your capacities.

Think of the costs invested into development of high quality web presentations, less the profit your new website will generate, you will realise that your website is very profitable (not only in the long run). If your NPSO still cannot afford to maintain your website fees, then you could consider generate some income by selling advertising space on your website or create a page on facebook – social networking.

Most importantly, NPSOs that already have live websites, need to keep them updated with relevant information pertaining to you work activities. A website that has outdated information becomes a waste of resources and can have a negative impact

Table 3: Survey on the status of NPSO websites conducted on 26th April 2013 NPSO Vanuatu Cook Islands FSM Fiji Kiribati Niue PNG BCPNG Samoa Solomons Tonga Palau

Website operational Yes Yes Yes Yes Offline Offline Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No

Newsletter 2011 March No No No Offline Offline No No No 2010 May Yes No

Press releases No No No Yes Offline Offline Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No

Events July 2011 No No Sept 2012 Offline Offline Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No

Member Login No Yes No No Offline Offline Yes Yes Yes No Yes No

Updates regular No No No yes Offline Offline Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No

Adverts No No No No Offline Offline No No Yes Yes Yes No

The Effects of a website that is not updated regularly: •

Loss of interested visitors When your website is updated regularly, people become familiar with it and they tend to see you as a trustworthy NPSO and they are more likely to become your members or offer technical assistance and funding. Fresh material added regularly to your site keeps visitors coming back to see what’s new.

Routinely feature creative new content, text, graphics or images, to build the traffic of repeat visitors.

•

Google rankings drop Google gives higher rankings to web sites that are updated regularly because they want to present the best quality content to their customers. So the lesser hits your NPSO website will receive, the harder it will become to track it down on a simple google search.

•

Un-updated websites slowly die off Websites that no longer get healthy viewer hits, become less and less useful and people tend to think that they are a waste of money if they do not get the returns they are looking for. Keep your website functioning well and every couple of years, you need to update it to feature faster applications to ensure conditioned user friendliness and relevance.

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Section Eight 8.2 Social Media Marketing = word of mouth marketing Social media marketing refers to the process of gaining website traffic or attention through social media sites. Just like a website, social media pages and social networking is web based and has become very popular among the younger generation changing the way people connect, discover, and share information.

The key to successful social media marketing is to create content that attracts attention and encourages readers to share it with their social networks. Their networks in turn also share it with their friends creating unpaid advertising which is the equivalent of ‘Word of Mouth Marketing’ powered by technology. We trust what our friends tell us is good.

Social media has become a platform that is easily accessible to anyone with internet access. Increased communication for organisations fosters brand awareness and often, improved customer service. Additionally, social media serves as a

relatively inexpensive platform for NPSOs to implement marketing campaigns.

Post on your NPSO page regularly and try to keep your posts interesting, funny and informative. Facebook users/fans love pictures, as soon as they see a picture in the news feed, they want to view it, so post lots of pictures and keep your discussion posts relevant and fresh.

Definitions: Social media - is the technology that connects people.

Social networks - are the interacting sites like: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, instagram etc Social media marketing - is the way we use that technology to build relationships, drive repeat business, and to attract new customers through friends sharing with friends.

Illustration by Weston Marketing and PR (http://www.ghweston.co.uk/services/online-marketing/social-media-marketing-for-business/)

8.3 Press releases Press releases are written or recorded communications in the form of an official statement that announces an event or activity of your NPSO. This communication is sent to journalists/media for their further distribution by turning them into news items. The main aim of press releases is to attract favourable media attention.

What should go into a press release: ➢ Who? Who are key individuals that the press release is focusing on — your NPSO, anyone else involved with your work or programmes? Who does your news affect/who does it benefit? ➢ What? What is new that you are trying to inform people about? ➢ Why? Why is this important news — what does it provide that is different? ➢ Where? Where is this happening - is there a geographical the location of your NPSO, country where this news is happening? ➢ When? The time and date of when this press release/ event is taking place. ➢ How? How did this come about?

Writing an effective newsworthy press release isn’t rocket science but it does take some skill and planning to be considered newsworthy by the media. This is a key factor that most people do not realise when writing press releases is whether the media think your release is newsworthy.

Refer to Appendices on pages 90 and 91 for samples of press releases from various international organisations.

Tip: to remember these key points – “One Husband and Five Wives”

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Building resilient NPSOs

Section Nine - Building relations with the media 9.1 Creating relationships with the media Understanding the media and building relationships are key components to effective communications and marketing for your NPSO. You can invite them to a social event of your organisation.

Introduce them to your members and ensure that they are well taken care of. Before they leave the event, ask them for their business cards and let them know that they can always contact you for matters pertaining to the private sector. Once the greetings and pleasantries are over, you can now start sending them your press releases, flyers and other information.

You can also compliment them when they write good pieces and in the case that they have written an incorrect story then you should politely inform them, do not call them and hurl abuse at them because they can always write another damaging story about your organisation and they can choose not to cover any more events.

If you employ a media specialist, communications officer or media liaison, this is the person that should ensure that your NPSO maintains a healthy relationship with the Media.

9.2 Understanding the Media With any business venture that you undertake, research and homework is essential. You would not start up a business without knowing the risks and returns that you would receive.

The same should be said of your NPSO interaction with the media. Find out as much as you can about the types of media forms available, what their circulation is like and what medium is best suited to disseminate your message.

business news or features. These are the journalists that you want to target and keep on your mailing list. It will also be good to obtain contacts of media outlets in Australia and New Zealand as a lot of donor funding comes from these and this is how you update your donors of your activities.

Different types of media will require slightly different messages.

For example, on a TV or radio talk show, your responses will need to be much shorter “sound bites” than those you might give to a newspaper or magazine reporter. Each reporter looks for something slightly different. Familiarise yourself with the type of coverage various outlets give issues prior to talking to reporters.

9.3 How to handle a Media Interview By agreeing to be interviewed, you run the risk of having your words misconstrued, taken out of context or misrepresented.

This happens because the media simply do not have the space or time in their organisations to publish your whole interview so they may choose to use only certain sound bites or exerts.

Here are a few things you should understand about interviews with journalists: • Journalists need direct quotes to form their stories.

These are things they will insert into the story which infuse a human voice and add a sense of life.

• They will also require background information on the subject they want to write about. Although this information may not necessarily be used in the story, it will help the journalist(s) understand the subject matter and help them frame it better.

• Journalists try to make you as comfortable as possible during interviews, this allows them to warm you up to answer freely however always keep in the back of your mind that something you may say during the interview could lead to another story.

Be careful not to forget that they are reporters by nature and could chase you down at a later date as the source of information for another story.

• Unless you are a Prime Minister or a Celebrity, journalists like to conduct interviews as quickly as possible so try not to waste their time and be punctual to an interview.

It is also advisable that when journalist has asked you for an interview, take the time to learn what she/he writes about and who their audience is. This is very easy to do using the Internet.

Many media outlets publicise their circulation. Try to gauge how interested a journalist might be on your issue based on their coverage of similar issues.

Most media outlets have a particular journalist assigned to

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Section Nine 9.4

Media interview: the do’s and don’ts

DOs: 1.

Be available for an interview.

While business people are considered very busy people, journalists are equally busy with daily deadlines to meet before print time. Respect their time. Don’t make them call you four times before you return a call. Call or write back as soon as you can, preferably the same day. If you do not want to be interviewed then politely decline. If you choose to ignore journalists, they may resort to door stopping with a live camera and this may portray you very badly and later bring bad publicity for your organisation.

2.

DO your homework.

Sometimes the reporter will call you in advance to set up an interview. Sometimes they may call on the spot and want to talk right then, sometimes they may catch you at an event you are attending are try to interview you there - depending on the nature of the story.

If you feel confident enough to speak on the topic then this kind of interview is fine as it saves time for both parties. However it is always advisable that you do your homework and prepare yourself for the interview. You can do this by asking the journalist to send you the questions that they wish to ask you.

This will also give you an idea of how they will be framing their story and whether or not you may wish to cancel the interview.

3.

DO answer the questions asked.

Be precise without being too long or too brief. It may seem like a simple concept, but you will be surprised at how many people manage to complicate this. When you are asked a question, answer it thoroughly. Do not give a half-answer to a question the reporter asked.

Cut to the chase and be straightforward. Provide valuable information, but in an understandable, human, non-robotic way. Do allow your sentences to end. Do allow the reporter to get in a word.

Side note: If you feel the reporter has missed something really important at the interview, mention it briefly at the end.

However, a good reporter will usually ask if there’s anything else you’d like to say or add at the end of the interview.

4.

DO speak slowly and clearly enough for the reporter to keep up.

It’s not a race to finish as much sentences as you can, you need to have a good pace when answering the questions so that the journalist has time to write what you are saying down. This will lessen the possibility of being misquoted or them missing out critical information.

5.

DO tell the truth.

This means, do not exaggerate, alter or hide the truth, and certainly you should never outright lie. If you are found out at a later date, your credibility will be destroyed and the whole

45

purpose of the interview will be demolished. A good reporter can see right through someone who is hiding something or hyping themselves up with exaggerated claims.

If you do not wish to answer a particular question, simply say “no comment” but use this statement sparingly or you could be seen as a guilty person with something to hide.

Do NOTS: 1.

Do NOT assume that journalists understand technical jargon and acronyms that you use in the interview Journalists are not experts in the field you’re an expert in.

Respect that fact, and speak in terms they can understand.

Present your information clearly and simply and keep in mind that they are after quotes because they offer a human touch to the story, so speak in a quote-friendly voice that’s intelligent and natural, not stiff and academic.

2.

Do NOT tell a reporter something “off the record” unless you really trust that reporter.

A good reporter should respect their interviewee and keep anything said “off the record” actually off the record. But some reporters will use that off-limits information anyway. Be sure you know who’s interviewing you and whether or not you can trust them before you say anything you wouldn’t want the general public to know.

3.

Do NOT tell the reporter what to put into the story.

Just as Journalists wouldn’t dream of coming to your business and telling you how to run it, the same courtesy should also be accorded to them. Let them do their job and decide what goes into the story but you can assist them by supplying them with the information they’re looking for. The key to ensuring that the journalist writes a good piece is to maintain a good relationship with the him/her then you can make some suggestions.

4.

Do NOT try to control the questions That is the reporter’s job. It is your job to control the answers.

Let the reporter pursue the topic as they like.

Building resilient NPSOs

Section Ten - NPSO Business Services 10.1 Background SMEs, which lack the financial and human capacities of their bigger competitors, need to resort to external service providers to operate their businesses and make them grow. However, since markets for business services are underdeveloped in most developing countries, SMEs do not have access to a sufficient number of services that are reasonably priced and useful for their operations. One reason for the weak development of service markets targeting SMEs may be low effective demand by enterprises and their hesitation to pay for services; this attitude stems from a lack of awareness as well as from no or negative experience with existing suppliers.

In the case of NPSOs, a strict separation of BDS facilitation and provision would mean wasting substantial synergy effects.

Using the income from the provision of membership services, NPSOs can cross-subsidise advocacy efforts which are a public good.

Taking into account that the development and provision costs of many business services are considerable, it is extremely difficult for private service suppliers to work profitably in these markets. Owing to these disadvantages in servicing SMEs, most service providers in developing countries specialise in services for large-scale enterprises. Business services have also typically been restricted to the cities and are not available in the rural areas where many SMEs are located.

Most NPSOs only offer a limited range of low-level services.

Apart from advocacy, they organise business meetings and seminars, publish newsletters and leaflets on pressing issues, and give advice and information on export markets, tax and legal matters, etc.

During the last couple of years, a considerable learning process has been initiated concerning the fundamental question development partners are faced with, namely how to intervene in markets for Business Development Services (BDS). BDS practitioners now emphasise a more market-driven approach, which favours the commercial provision of BDS at costrecovering prices. Ideally, a donor intervention should be of an indirect nature: it should create or strengthen so-called facilitators which support the development of BDS markets by providing technical assistance to private service providers.

Based on the brand name and nature of NPSOs as independent private sector organisations, SMEs may prefer NPSOs to commercial providers with uncertain qualities. It may be argued that the promotion of NPSOs as providers and facilitators can be justified as part of a larger concept of BDS market development, if a more flexible and systemic approach is adopted.

The typical problems of the average NPSO in developing countries include: ➢ Lack of financial and manpower resources to upgrade and diversify the service portfolio; ➢ Lack of systematic needs assessment and market analysis; ➢ No strategic planning (ad-hoc introduction of new services); ➢ No adequate cost analysis and controlling; ➢ Lack of qualified and dedicated staff and trainers; ➢ Lack of top-management support; and ➢ No systematic monitoring and evaluation of existing services.

Especially in cases where donor funds have been available, some NPSOs have rushed into multiple areas of service provision, e.g., running SME training centres, over stretching their actual capacities.

10.2 NPSO and Business Development Services Do NPSOs fit into this new picture, given their often dual character as both providers and facilitators of BDS? Does mixing the roles lead to inefficiencies and a crowding-out of private providers? It can be argued that NPSOs have competitive advantages in the provision of certain BDS and those NPSOs and commercial service providers complement rather than compete with each other. i. Due to the knowledge-based character and relevant network effects of most BDSs, providers with many business contacts and interrelated activities may be more efficient than less interactive, specialised suppliers. ii. NPSOs offer a portfolio of low-cost, low-frequency and short-duration services, leaving BDS, which require more intensive and long-term interactions with commercial providers. It is not uncommon for NPSOs to use external suppliers or out source more complex activities. Thus, the actual level of competition between NPSOs and commercial providers is very low.

Considering the low awareness and willingness to pay for business services in most developing countries, such a rapid expansion beyond NPSO core functions has not been financially sustainable in many cases.

Thus, a more gradual expansion of services – one that considers the existing resources and capabilities− seems advisable.

10.3 Options for Business Development Services NPSOs around the world have developed a large number of different membership services. These services comprise a wide range of activities. Business services are delivered directly to member companies, which pay for them with their annual contributions and/or individual fees. Conventionally, financial services and advocacy measures are not considered business services.

While the range of possible services is much greater than outlined here, and not each of the services suggested above is

46

Section Ten suited to every situation. Different socioeconomic environments and different stages of organisational development lead to different problems and require different services. NPSOs will perform best if they adapt their service portfolio to meet the specific needs of their members, thus helping them to improve their competitiveness and productivity.

Nonetheless, membership services can be classified into: 1. Trade and market development: This group of services is concerned with matching prospective buyers and sellers. NPSOs have an important advantage when arranging these collective activities because they can utilise their network of domestic and international contacts. They can also build on their “brand name capital” as recognised and independent actors. NPSOs are involved in these activities as both event providers and facilitators. a.

Trade Missions Hosting incoming and organising outgoing trade missions is an important task of NPSOs. There are a number of common problems that need to be addressed. Many of them refer to both types of missions; however, the responsibility for a NPSO is bigger for outgoing missions.

Many mistakes are also made by the travelling entrepreneurs after outgoing mission’s comeback: ➢ No-follow up with contacts; ➢ Delivery of products not according to sample and other agreed conditions (time, etc).

Damage is then not only done to the reputation of the relevant enterprise, but also to the responsible NPSO and the image of the country. The answer to the above problems is obvious: timely planning, good preparation and close follow-up.

As a measure of good practice, the NPSO should advise participants to develop a business plan based on the results of the outgoing missions and provide training/advice for that if necessary. It is a good custom to have one member of the NPSO staff travel with an outgoing mission. The cost of the staff member would be borne by the fee the participants have to pay. b.

Fairs and Exhibitions Fairs and exhibitions are held all over the world, at any time, for different target groups (e.g. consumers, entrepreneurs, subcontractors, etc), for different products (general and specialised fairs), as a side event to a more important function (e.g. together with the general assembly of a NPSO), in different places (special fair ground, in a department store etc), with many or few participants.

The term exhibition is used, when items are exhibited only, but not sold at the place of exhibition; however, the use of the term is often not narrow, thus in many exhibitions you can also buy.

A handicraft association may have a small exhibition area for products of members at their office to support their marketing.

This does only make sense, if the location is attractive for

47

potential customers and if the association provides active referral service to link customers and producers. The term fair is used whenever products are exhibited and at the same time offered for sale.

Fairs are valuable for enterprises because ➢ they provide a chance to promote/achieve sales; ➢ they can open new markets; ➢ they often provide an overview of competitors’ products; ➢ they allow direct observation of customer reactions.

NPSO support services for fairs/exhibitions can take various forms: ➢ Information of members/nonmembers about upcoming fairs/exhibitions, which are worth a visit or participation (information on: relevant dates, time for application, cost, record of similar fairs in the past, etc); ➢ Arranging group visits of entrepreneurs to attractive fairs (at home and abroad), including the organisation of tickets, hotels and Business to Business contacts.

The total discounts for hotels and tickets may allow a NPSO staff to participate in the visit and get exposure; NPSO fees for the services should be sufficient to cover the cost of the service provided by the NPSO. ➢ Arranging group participation of enterprises in a fair (discounts, image building for NPSOs) abroad; ➢ Possibly, assistance to enterprises to apply for government subsidies for participation in fairs abroad (participation in local fairs is usually not subsidised).

Some NPSOs also have good experience in conducting fairs themselves. The Kiribati Chamber of Commerce has hosted a few trade fairs itself as a service to its members’. NPSOs will usually decide to out source many of the activities that are included in organising the fair (e.g. marketing the fair, provision of booths, etc). Networking with other NPSOs for conducting fairs is also advisable. It is recommended to start small and grow with experience. The NPSO may also decide to establish fair services under the roof of a separate entity to minimise the financial risks.

Building resilient NPSOs

Problems associated with Trade Missions could be:  Planning of NPSO started too late: insufficient participants, insufficient information about outgoing entrepreneurs received and sent, hosting side could not arrange sufficient contacts;  Participants are not sufficiently prepared for a visit to the foreign country; know too little about the market there (buyers/importers, business etiquette/customs, distribution system, prices, requirements for imports, duties, etc.);  Participants have not enough samples/promotion brochures, are not sure, when exactly they can deliver, what precise qualities, under which conditions and for what price (considering discounts etc.);  Participants have insufficient skills in presenting their products and in interviewing importers/buyers, so that they cannot prepare a good marketing plan; and  The NPSO may have selected the wrong participants or not done enough to prepare the participants (training and info service).

3.

Advice and consultancy Similar to group training, consultancy and advice measures are intended to upgrade the know-how of enterprises. But since they cover very specific business problems and projects, they are offered to individual firms. The need for consultancy often arises out of short-term economic pressures and trends, such as WTO accession, new industry standards, a reformulation of tax laws, etc. NPSOs mostly specialise in low-cost, low-frequency and short-term services, which complement the activities of private providers. In this sense, they are the “one-stop shop” for SMEs’ questions that can be used as a kind of insurance against infrequently occurring problems.

PIPSO/ SPC-IACT gap analysis training - SME Export Development Project - Tonga, September 2013

2. Training Another group of services relates to the upgrading of the knowhow and skills of business owners as well as their staff. Most entrepreneurs in developing countries establish and expand their business on the basis of their informal market know-how and ad-hoc decisions. In the same way, apprentices and staff members are normally trained on the job. Despite remarkable achievements, SMEs need to enhance their knowledge base in more formal ways for long term success in global markets.

NPSOs − especially industry-specific associations − are in a position to pool and deliver training and know-how. Their competitive advantage lies in the field of vocational training and the provision of specific business-related skills. NPSOs may also develop training curricula and standards for their members.

FCEF and PIPSO Business Update training for businesses in Savusavu, Fiji, July 2013

4.

Information and networking These services concern the creation of relations between people and the facilitation of a continuous information flow among them. Press releases, the NPSOs’ website, meetings, conferences and committees are the forum where networking activities and communication takes place. NPSOs are ideal places for networking since they act as hubs between Government, other institutions, member and nonmember companies as well as international contacts. NPSOs are therefore in a unique position to collect, analyse and channel news and contacts to their membership.

5. Office facilities and infrastructure services The institutional and physical infrastructure in many developing countries is still underdeveloped. SMEs in particular have problems with accessing information and telecommunications infrastructure, transport facilities, storage facilities and secretarial services. Especially when many members need the same kind of infrastructure support and there is no adequate private sector provider, NPSOs may step in and deliver the service. In this case, NPSOs profit from the pooling of resources. This form of service is ideal for the larger more established NPSOs. 6.

Delegated government functions: In many bigger more developed countries, the provision of certain services for SMEs is the task of special government agencies. Donors should assist NPSOs in emphasising that these services can be delivered more efficiently by private sector organisations, which are controlled by their members. Examples

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Section Ten of possible functions to be delegated to NPSOs include registering businesses, organising and supervising vocational training, issuing certificates of origin, running courts of commercial arbitration, and industry regulation functions. In doing so, the delegation of functions can also be seen as a step toward a privatisation of public services.

Before such delegation can take place, there must be the minimum level of mutual trust and confidence between the government and NPSOs. In order to deal with government functions, the concerned NPSO has to possess the necessary organisational strength and capacity. Because of their full coverage of the businesses of a certain region (similar to public bodies) and their multi-sectoral characteristics, PSOs are usually more suited to take over delegated functions from the government than business associations. The disadvantages of such a public-private partnership may be stronger government influence and the danger that PSOs may become inflexible, bureaucratic bodies.

NPSOs possess several ways of delivering these tangible services to members as well as nonmembers. There are some services, which can and have to be provided directly by internal staff members because they are closely related to the core competencies of the organisation. In case the projected activity is only partially related to the NPSO’s existing capacities, the NPSO should adopt a more facilitating role: ➢ It can choose to out source the work to other, more experienced suppliers, e.g. private consultants, training institutions, banks (referral/agency services); ➢ In case there is no market for the service yet − it can only stimulate the use of business services among their members (demand creation services; signposting).

Depending on the individual circumstances, a NPSO may naturally choose to use different delivery mechanisms for its various services both at the same time and on a case-by-case basis.

10.4 Measuring the Success of BDS The following points highlight major success factors for a BMO to become an attractive service provider for its members. It is maybe not a complete list and points are not prioritised, but the list enables a quick check if a BMO has taken care of the most relevant aspects for a successful delivery of business services: ➢ BMO board and staff show high commitment for service delivery; ➢ Business services are need-based and competitive in the market; look for your market niche; ➢ Clear target to make the business services financially sustainable. However, cross-subsidisation of individual services, that are valuable for important BMO target groups (e.g. SMEs, Start Ups etc) or important topics (e.g. regarding advocacy), should be allowed; ➢ Develop close relations and partnerships with other stakeholders (members, other BMOs, government, private sector providers, universities, etc.) for joint service delivery and/or sharing of experience; ➢ A detailed business plan for each service should exist and be regularly monitored; ➢ A clear distinction between ‘free’ and paid BMO services should be decided upon and communicated. ➢ Develop innovative business services and various forms of income generation for services (fees, sponsorships, government subsidies, etc); ➢ Make use of donor assistance only temporarily until sustainability of services has been achieved. Donor support should not outperform other private sector service providers; ➢ Monitor and evaluate the satisfaction level of clients regularly.

MSG Investment Seminar, August 2013

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Building resilient NPSOs Appendix 1 - NPSO Assessment Criteria The following is an assessment system in which is recommended that NPSOs seek to meet the minimum standards: Criteria

Minimum Requirement

Membership

The ideal NPSO would cover 100% of businesses in a country. This enables NPSO to develop and act on majority positions

Points 100% membership =

10 full points

80 - 99% membership = 8 points 50 - 79% membership = 6 points 30 - 49% membership = 4 points 10 – 29% membership = 2 points

Leadership Governance

&

There is a clearly developed purpose and mission that is shared by Board members and staff alike. The organisational structure is defined, and the Board of directors and staff are clear about their roles and responsibilities.

100% compliant = 10 full points 80 - 99% compliant = 8 points 50 - 79% compliant = 6 points 30 - 49% compliant = 4 points 10 – 29% compliant = 2 points

NPSO would also have in place the necessary Strategic Plans, Guidelines and Policies to be able to guide its work and delivering on members’ requests.

Resources

Finance: the NPSO conforms to all internal revenue sources and accounting regulations and demonstrates financial stability.

100% compliant = 10 full points

Human resources & staff: the NPSO meets all regulations governing employers and acts as a catalyst in the professional development of staff.

30 - 49% compliant = 4 points

80 - 99% compliant = 8 points 50 - 79% compliant = 6 points 10 – 29% compliant = 2 points

Staff recognize their responsibilities and implements the decision of the board Advocacy

NPSO is the recognised representative of the country’s private sector and actively participates in public policy decision-making affecting economic and business issues.

100% compliant = 10 full points 80 - 99% compliant = 8 points 50 - 79% compliant = 6 points 30 - 49% compliant = 4 points 10 – 29% compliant = 2 points

Services

The NPSO should have a proactive system in place that is able to prioritise between issues and service delivery to its members.

A formal system in place to plan, document and exercise short and long term goals. Methods to monitor and evaluate its status on goals used throughout the year.

NPSO has the ability to effectively communicate with membership and can efficiently implement its program of action.

NPSO has identified target markets within its membership and has devised clear plans to communicate with them.

50

100% compliant = 10 full points 80 - 99% compliant = 8 points 50 - 79% compliant = 6 points 30 - 49% compliant = 4 points 10 – 29% compliant = 2 points

Appendix Appendix 2 - Checklists for NPSOs NPSO PROFILE Name of Organisation Year of Foundation Who are the initiators Registered under which law Any written Constitution Any written By-laws Any special Government privileges Government Appointed representative

ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE Other Private Sector Organisations in your membership Affiliations with other Organisations What are the geographical areas/sectors covered Is the membership dissected by industry or geographically NPSO Organisational Chart Standing Committees Chair of each Standing Committee Who is responsible for the dayto-day activities Written Job-descriptions Are there general meetings

� annually

Are there regular elections (how often) Which officers are elected Who is entitled to vote

51

� monthly

� ad-hoc

Building resilient NPSOs

Who can be elected How many members participate in the elections Term of office Re-election possible? (term limits) Are there any Job descriptions for the elected officers

LEADERSHIP Chairman/President is a respected business person Have any of the office bearers previously held Parliamentary officeS Honorary or Paid office bearers

� Honorary

� Paid

Average time spent for NPSO Chairman’s vision of the development of the NPSO Interest in SME Development Is there a strategic plan Is there a written mission and vision of the organization What are the primary objectives Is there a business/work plan Are the activities in line with the mission statement Is there a systematic follow-up and revision of plans Is there a specific SME promotion strategy

STAFF Number of paid staff

� full time:

� part-time:

Qualification

� senior:

� support:

52

Appendix

Tasks assigned to staff Is an organisational chart available How is staff turnover Systematic personnel development plans Salary and Benefits CEO experienced and welltrained Internal Meetings (How often)

Board: Staff:

Are there proper operational policies in place

OFFICE STRUCTURE Permanent Office Rooms/Office Space available Office equipment: *Workstations/Computers *Local Area network *Internet *Website *Conference Room Other Properties

MEMBERSHIP Number of paying members Membership development (5-year trend)

� UP

� UNCHANGED

Mandatory or voluntary membership

� Mandatory:

Membership Categories

53

� DOWN

� Voluntary:

Building resilient NPSOs

Membership Fees

� Admission Fees:

� Annual Fees:

� Other Fees: Are fees differentiated by Membership category % non-paying members Concentration on specific sectors Concentration on certain regions/areas % SME Membership % of coverage of target companies Membership recruitment/retention strategy Membership Administration Officer Membership Database Is the database updated regularly

SERVICES

Trade and Market Development Trade fairs and exhibitions

How often: � Free

No. of users:

� Paid

Business Delegations

How often: � Free

No. of users:

� Paid

Matchmaking Services

How often: � Free

No. of users:

� Paid

Other (please specify)

TRAINING Seminar and Workshops

How often: � Free

No. of users:

� Paid

Management Training

How often: � Free

No. of users:

� Paid

Technical Training

How often: � Free

No. of users:

� Paid

54

Section Appendix Eleven

Other (please specify)

ADVICE AND CONSULTANCY Help desk for entrepreneurs

Topics: � Free

No. of users:

� Paid

Consultancy

Topics: � Free

No. of users:

� Paid

Exchange visits and business tours

How often: � Free

Certification and Standard setting

Which: � Free

No. of users:

No. of users:

� Paid

� Paid

Other (please specify)

INFORMATION AND NETWORKING Newsletters

How often: � Free

No. of users:

� Paid

Annual Report

Updated: � Free

No. of users:

� Paid

Membership Directory

Updated: � Free

No. of users:

� Paid

Business Meetings

How often: � Free

No. of users:

� Paid

Conferences

How often: � Free

No. of users:

� Paid

Website

How often: � Free

No. of users:

� Paid

Other (please specify)

OFFICE FACILITIES AND INFRUSTRUCE SERVICES Office Services

Which: � Free

No. of users:

� Paid

IT and Internet access services

Which: � Free

No. of users:

� Paid

Industrial Estate

Which: � Free

No. of users:

� Paid

Testing lab

Which: � Free

No. of users:

� Paid

55

Building resilient NPSOs

Other (please specify)

DELEGATED GOVERNMENT FUNCTIONS Business registration

Which: � Free

No. of users:

� Paid

Certificates of Origin

Which: � Free

No. of users:

� Paid

Arbitration services

Which: � Free

No. of users:

� Paid

Other (please specify) Are services generating income Same fees for members and nonmembers Sufficient cost-accounting procedures Staff assigned for individual services Are services marketed actively Preceding demand analysis practiced Follow-up evaluation practiced

FINANCIAL SITUATION Is there a trained accountant Are there sound accounting procedures in place Frequency of budget follow-up

� Monthly

Cash or accrual accounting

� Cash

� Quarterly � Accrual

% of Income covered by: Membership fees

%

Service fees

%

Voluntary Grants

%

Government Subsidies

%

Donor Subsidies

%

56

� Annually

Section Appendix Eleven

Other

%

% of expenditure: Staff payments

%

Administrative overheads

%

Service delivery

%

Other

%

Overall financial situation

� Bad

� Average

� Good

ADVOCACY AND EXTERNATIONAL RELATIONS NPSO founded at Government instigation Does Government appoint delegates to NPSO Cooperation with Government

� Bad

� Average

Is the NPSO supervised by any public body Advocacy efforts: Joint advisory Boards/Committees Regular consultations Correspondence Conferences and Seminars Informal Contacts Use of Media Others Contacts with other NPSOs Contacts with other Private Sector Bodies Cooperation with donors Financial assistance by donors

57

� Good

Building resilient NPSOs Appendix 3 - Niue Chamber of Commerce Business Survey– Sample Survey Intro Hello, my name is__________________________________ and I am calling from the Niue Chamber of Commerce.

(Note – if you do not know the person on the telephone, then check that they are the owner, director or manager who has day-to-day involvement in the business) We need your help in answering a few questions so that we can get a better picture of the issues facing the private sector on Niue. This will help us work with Niue Government and the private sector to try to address any barriers to growth or business profitability. This is a telephone interview and it will take between 5 to 10 minutes of your time. All responses will be kept completely confidential. Is NOW a convenient time to talk?

BUSINESS: ____________________________________ INTERVIEWEE: ________________________________

Firstly, in regards to the Niue Economy: Current A. Do you think that general business conditions on Niue have improved, deteriorated or not changed over the past year? ____Improved ____Remained the same ____Deteriorated ___Don’t Know B. Do you think that the infrastructure for doing business (i.e. telecommunications, power, freight) has improved, deteriorated or not changed over the past year? ____Improved ____Remained the same ____Deteriorated ___Don’t Know Future C. Do you think that general business conditions on Niue will improve, deteriorate or not change over the next year? ____Improved ____Remained the same ____Deteriorated ___Don’t Know What do you believe is the most significant issue facing the Niue economy over the next year? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________

With regards to your business: Current A. How has your business activity (i.e. volume/hours spend in business, not revenue) changed from a year ago? ____Increased ____Remained the same ____Decreased ____Don’t Know B. How has your business’s profitability changed from a year ago? ____Increased ____Remained the same ____Decreased

____Don’t Know

C. How have your staff numbers changed from a year ago? ____Increased ____Remained the same

____Don’t Know

____Decreased

Future A. Over the next year, how do you expect your business activity (i.e. volume/hours spend in business, not revenue) to change? ____Increase ____Remain the same ____Decrease ____Don’t Know B. Over the next year, do you expect your profitability to increase, decrease or stay roughly the same? ___Increase ___Remain the same ___Decrease ___Don’t Know C. Over the next year, do you expect your staff numbers to increase, decrease or stay roughly the same? ___Increase ___Remain the same ___Decrease ___Don’t Know Overall, over the next year, do you expect that your own business situation will improve, deteriorate or not change? ___Improve ___Remained the same ___Deteriorate ___Don’t Know

58

Section Appendix Eleven

What would you say is currently the main barrier or obstacle to the success of your business? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Are any of the following issues affecting the success of your business?

Lack of Demand

Shortage of Staff/Labour

Cash Flow

Access to Finance

Cost of Supplies Competition

Population Size

Tax & Duty Structure

Availability of suitable premises Regulations

To assist us in calculating the size of the private sector in Niue, can you please tell us, A. How many owners work in the business and how many staff?

Part-time: Owners _______________ Staff _______________

Full Time: Owners _______________ Staff _______________

Do any of the Owners also work as a Government Employee: ___Yes ___No Number of Women Owners or Managers: B. What bracket your business turnover falls into?

0-$20,000

$20,001 - $40,000

$40,001 ++

No Comment C. Do you consider that you are a tourism related business? ___Yes ___No INTERVIEWER TO LOOK UP CODE – www.businessdescription.co.nz

Agriculture, forestry and fishing Manufacturing Construction

Retail trade

Education and Training Financial and Insurance Services Administration and Support Services Public Administration and Safety Information Media and Telecommunications Arts and Recreation Services

Mining

Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services

Wholesale trade

Accommodation and Food Services

Transport, Postal and Warehousing

Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services

Professional, Scientific and Technical Services

Health Care and Social Assistance

Other services

Is there any way that Niue Chamber of Commerce can help your business? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________

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Building resilient NPSOs Appendix 4 - Organisation Policies and Guidelines – Sample INTRODUCTION This manual has been designed to assist in the efficient operations of the XX National Private Sector Organisation (XX). The manual sets out the accounting principles under which the financial statements are prepared, the standard practices and specific procedures relating to the accounting functions and custody and control of the assets of the Organisation, Human Resources and Information Technology Policies and Procedures.

Standard policies are statements of principle, whilst procedures are specific actions that members of the Organisation are required to follow.

These policies and procedures are subject to modification and further development based on changing practices and XX’s performance.

The manual is intended to serve as a guideline for Employees, CEO and the Executive Committee in related situations.

The organisation’s information must also be protected from risks that jeopardize its availability, integrity and confidentiality. To reduce the organisation’s exposure to such risks, all employees must be aware of their roles and responsibilities in using information and information technology resources including: the protection of XX’s information assets the use of XX’s information technology resources Unless otherwise indicated, the term information should be construed broadly to mean both electronic and paper-based information that is used or created in the course of serving donors and implementing the projects or managing XX business. It also refers to the information technology and systems used to create process, transmit and store the information itself.

Definitions The following definitions shall apply for terms used in the policy: XX / Organisation Executive Committee CEO Employees Contract

XX National Private Sector Organisation Executive Committee of XX Chief Executive Officer of XX Staff of XX Contract of Employment

Objectives The Goals of XX XX has been entrusted with funds to fulfil its mission of being the national private sector organisation to represent the interest of private sector enterprises at national, regional and international level. All XX Executive Committee members and employees, under the guidance of the CEO, are obligated to ensure XX funds are used for approved purposes, and are expected to exercise their duties and responsibilities with integrity, following ethical business practices.

Rules from specific donors on revenue and expenditures must be adhered to at all times, as detailed in Section 1.9.

Updates It is recognised that in a constantly changing environment, many of the procedures of the Organisation will change regularly. For this reason, this manual should be seen as a dynamic document, subject to revision.

Sections of this manual will be updated from time to time. All sections of the manual shall be reviewed on a quarterly basis to ensure relevancy and completeness.

Changes in the policies shall be approved by the Executive Committee. Updates will be issued by the CEO with instructions on which sections of the manual to remove and where new pages should be inserted.

1.0 FINANCE 1.1

ACCOUNTING POLICIES

1.1.1 Basis of Accounting The financial statements should be prepared on the basis of historical cost and unless otherwise stated in the annual accounts and approved by the Executive Committee, should not take into account current valuations of noncurrent assets.

60

Section Appendix Eleven The financial statements should be prepared in accordance with the accounting standards that are generally accepted in XX. 1.1.2 Property, Plant and Equipment The property, plant and equipment acquired should be stated at cost. Property, plant and equipment, other than freehold land, should be depreciated over their estimated useful lives using the straight line method at the following rates: a) Motor vehicles 20% b) Furniture and fittings 25% c) Office equipment 25% d) Computers 33% New assets should be depreciated from the month in which they are commissioned.

Profits and losses on disposal of property, plant and equipment should be taken into account in determining the results for the year.

1.1.3 Foreign Currency Conversions All foreign currency transactions during the year should be recorded in the books using the rate of exchange prevailing at the date of the transaction.

At balance date amounts receivable and payable in foreign currency should be translated at the exchange rate prevailing at that date.

All exchange gains and losses should be brought to account in determining results for the year, unless otherwise determined by Accounting Standards.

1.1.4 Receivables Impairment of losses should be raised for any doubtful debts based on a review of all outstanding amounts.

Bad debts should be written off during the period in which they are identified.

Any impairment of losses and write-off should be approved by the Executive Committee.

1.1.5 Employee Entitlements The amounts expected to be paid to employees for their pro rata entitlements to annual leave and other benefits should be accrued at current wage rates.

1.1.6 Income In general, income is recognised when the right to receive payment is established.

1.1.7 Grants Grants are recognised when received or when expenditure, complying with the conditions of the grant, has been incurred and there is certainty that payment will be received from the donor.

1.1.8 Leased Assets Operating leases should not be capitalised and rental payments should be charged against operating profit in the period in which they are incurred.

1.1.9 Income Tax The Organisation’s income is exempt from income tax in accordance with Income Tax Act Chapter 52.

1.1.10 Reporting Currency All figures are recorded in Australian currency.

1.1.11 Chart of accounts All transactions shall be posted to the approved accounting system using the chart of accounts listed in Appendix 3A. Chart of accounts may be amended from time to time if the need arises and shall be at the discretion of the CEO or the Executive Committee.

1.2

PETTY CASH

1.2.1 Establishment of the Petty Cash Account Petty Cash is a facility that is intended to assist in the minor expenditure of the day to day operations of the Organisation.

Petty Cash Float shall be $100.00. The Float may be changed at the discretion of the Executive Committee.

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Building resilient NPSOs 1.2.2 Authorisation All disbursements from Petty Cash shall be approved by the CEO. 1.2.3 Custodianship Petty cash funds shall be maintained on an imprest basis and at the pool limit at all times. Petty cash may be issued to a staff for disbursement on the following conditions: a) The staff responsible for the imprest is personally answerable for the safe keeping of the amount advanced and to keep any balance of the petty cash under lock and key. b) The staff must account for all expenditure out of the Imprest. c) The staff is to keep a petty cash book in suitable form to support all payments out of the petty cash with vouchers approved by the CEO and supported by original supporting documents. d) The staff gives consent to the CEO or nominee, inspecting and counting the petty cash under his control at any time. e) The staff responsible for petty cash shall perform a cash count once a day to reconcile the total of cash drawn and the cash available in the till with the total cash float. This shall be evidenced accordingly.

When petty cash is drawn for the first time, the amount shall be debited to a petty cash account. In the event of the retirement of petty cash, the same account will be credited.

Surprise counts and reconciliation of funds shall be made periodically by the CEO or nominee.

1.2.4 Payments Payments are to be made only upon the receipt of Petty Cash Vouchers properly authorised by CEO. The person requesting the funds is fully accountable for such funds and must provide the necessary original supporting documents to substantiate the claim.

The Petty Cash Vouchers should show the following particulars: a) Name of payee b) Date c) Particulars of payment d) Approval for expenditure e) Signature of payee f) Classification under “GL” codes Once payment has been made the Petty Cash Voucher and supporting documents should be stamped “paid” to prevent re-use.

1.2.5 Reimbursement and Accounting Petty cash shall be reimbursed on a weekly basis or when required.

The staff responsible shall: a.

Check all the Petty Cash Vouchers and supporting documents for reimbursement. b.

The Petty Cash Vouchers supporting documents should be cancelled by writing the reimbursement cheque number on the same. c.

The Petty Cash Book should show a summary of the total reimbursement and the balance of cash which together should equal the float amount. d. The Petty Cash Book together with the Petty Cash Vouchers and supporting documents should be passed to the CEO or nominee for authorisation for reimbursement.

The reimbursement payment shall follow the Payment procedure in section 1.6 of this manual.

1.2.6 Hand-over of Imprest Any hand-over of the Petty Cash Imprest should be authorised by the CEO. Should the Imprest be required to be handed over to another staff, a handover summary in the Petty Cash Book should be prepared giving details of cash and vouchers handed over.

Imprest Holders are held responsible for the full amounts of the imprest until the vouchers they have submitted have been checked and accepted as proper charges to expenditure.

1.3

RECEIPTING OF CASH AND CHEQUES

1.3.1 Introduction The purpose of the receipting procedure is to ensure that all monies (cash and cheques) are accounted for and posted into the correct general ledger accounts.

62

Section Appendix Eleven 1.3.2 Procedures A pre-numbered receipt should be issued by the person nominated by the CEO for all cash and cheques received.

All cash and cheques received should be banked daily and intact. There shall be no substitute of cash and cash should not be utilised for any payments.

Any losses in petty cash or any other cash shall be investigated and repaid by the staff that is responsible for safe custody except where such loss has arisen from an event beyond the staff ’s control.

1.4

CASH SECURITY AND CONTROL

1.4.1 Safe Custody of Cash All cash, cheques, receipts, bank deposit books and other documents of value shall be kept in a cabinet under lock and key. Keys of safes and cabinets shall be carefully safeguarded by the person responsible for their custody.

A Register of Keys should be maintained by a person nominated by the CEO and shall record the following: - List of keys and its purpose - Name of the person responsible for the key Duplicate keys of safes and cabinets will be held by the CEO. The loss of any keys to safes, cabinets and doors and the loss of any cash and cheques shall be immediately reported to the CEO. The person responsible for the loss will be required to pay for the cost of replacement. No safe key or key to any other cash repository will be duplicated without the prior written permission of the CEO. All keys should be returned to XX at the request of the Executive Committee or when the Employee leaves the employment.

1.4.2 Bank Accounts Any bank account to be opened in the Organisation’s name is to be authorised by the Executive Committee.

The CEO will then issue the necessary instructions in the opening and conduct of all XX accounts.

1.4.3 Bank Statements All bank statements should be properly filed in sequential order.

1.4.4 Cheque Signatories Cheques drawn against any XX bank account must be signed by the authorised officers of the Organisation in accordance with the authority limits set out in section 1.8.2.

The cheque signatories should sight all appropriate supporting documents for each payment and ensure that the appropriate cheques and cancellation of original supporting documents have been carried out.

1.4.5 Cheque Books Cheque books must only be ordered in writing by an authorised signatories (refer to section 1.8.2).All unused cheque books should be stored in a secure place.

1.4.6 Cancelling a Cheque If for some reason a cheque has to be cancelled, the word “CANCELLED” should be clearly stamped on the front of the cheque, initialled, affixed to the counterfoil and retained in the cheque book.

1.4.7 Issuing Cheques On receipt of the cheque book from the Bank, all cheque leaves must be crossed and marked “NOT NEGOTIABLE”.

Every cheque drawn against a bank account must be accompanied by original supporting documents.

1.4.8 Missing Cheques Cheques lost in the mail or by the payee may be replaced by the issue of a second cheque (the replacement cheque). Before a replacement cheque is issued, a “Stop Payment Notice” must be lodged and confirmation received from the bank first.

A voucher should be prepared stating that the payment “replaces cheque [number] of [date]”. The circumstances under which a replacement cheque is required should also be stated.

The number of the cheque which is being replaced is to be cancelled in the unpresented cheque list and the appropriate journal

63

Building resilient NPSOs entry passed.

1.4.9 Bank Reconciliation All the Organisation’s bank accounts should be prepared and reconciled to the original Bank Statements at the end of every month.

The bank reconciliation must be completed within 5 working days of the end of the month. The bank reconciliation must be filed in the Bank Reconciliation File.

The reconciliation must show any difference between the bank statement balances against the General Ledger balance in the Cash at Bank Account.

All reconciling items should be detailed on the reconciliation, including a list of unpresented cheques and outstanding deposits.

The bank reconciliation should be reviewed independently by the CEO or a senior staff and certified as correct. Outstanding items should be followed up and cleared in a timely manner.

Unusual entries in the bank statement and the cash books are to be brought to the attention of the CEO. The CEO shall investigate such entries and dealt with appropriately.

1.4.10 Unpresented Cheques Cheques that appear as outstanding on the bank reconciliation for more than a month should be followed up with the respective payees. An effort should be made to ensure cheques are presented.

Cheques that appear as outstanding on the bank reconciliation for more than six months should be cancelled and credited to the original account and debiting the bank account.

1.4.11 Discrepancies All discrepancies must be reported to the CEO and President and the Executive Committee immediately, who should then ensure that proper investigations are carried out and appropriate action taken.

1.5 PURCHASING 1.5.1 Introduction The main method of purchasing goods and services is by means of Purchase Order.

1.5.2 Purchase Orders All Purchase Order should be numbered sequentially. The CEO or nominee shall approve all Purchase Orders.

There will be 2 copies of the Purchase Order: i) Original – issued to the supplier of the goods ii) Copy – for file 1.5.3 Suppliers Quotation The CEO must ensure that the best prices and conditions are obtained for any expenditure.

Quotations from at least three different suppliers should be obtained for all Purchase Orders in excess of $200 apart from Capital Purchases (refer to section 1.7).

Competitive quotations are not necessarily required for Non-Capital Purchases less than $200. However, the CEO should ensure that such pricing is tested in the market from time to time to ensure that XX is receiving the appropriate value for money.

1.5.4 Cancellation of Purchase Order Prior to cancellation of the order, it must be ensured that all supplier conditions have been adhered to and all legal obligations have been considered to ensure that no penalties apply where unwarranted or that costs relating to cancellation are minimised. Supplier should be notified in writing of the cancellation.

1.6 PAYMENTS 1.6.1 Introduction Payments should be made only on the basis of original supporting documents and be properly authorised for payments. All invoices for payment must be reconciled to the creditors’ statement where applicable.

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Section Appendix Eleven Payments should not be split to avoid authority limits.

1.6.2 Verification of Payments All the payments made by the Organisation shall be verified using the following payment stamp on each original supporting document.

Prepared by:

………………………………………………………………..

Checked by:

………………………………………………………………..

Approved and authorised: …………………………………………………

Project code and GL#: 1.6.3 Payments ………………………………………………………..

All payments should follow the following procedures Cheque#............................... Date:……………………………………

Designated staff

a) Ensure goods and services are received. b) Match the accuracy of the Purchase Order (where applicable) to the invoice. c) Check the arithmetical accuracy of the invoice. d) Make appropriate enquiries for any discrepancies and ensure differences are resolved in a timely basis.

e) Reconcile invoices to statement. f) Initial “Checked by” on the payment stamp as evidence of preparation and checking in (a) to (e) above. g) Forward the stamped original supporting documents to the CEO for approval and authorisation. CEO should initial the “Approved and authorised” on the payment stamp (for CEO expenses, the approval should be by an Executive Committee member). h) Raise cheque for the payment. i) All authorised and cancelled supporting documents should be presented to the cheque signatories. j) Despatch the cheque to the supplier.

1.7

FIXED ASSETS

1.7.1 Introduction / Approval All capital items purchased should be part of the budgeted Capital Expenditure allocation and approved by the Executive Committee for any particular year.

Prior approval of the Executive Committee must be obtained for all items not budgeted. The following procedures apply to capital items with a value of more than $500 above.

1.7.2 Items to be Capitalised The item purchased shall be capitalised if the value is more than $500.

1.7.3 Competitive Quotations Quotations obtained from at least three different suppliers on the specification and prices of the required capital acquisition or service should be obtained prior to the purchase of an asset.

1.7.4 Request for Approval of Purchase For items more than $200 a proposal should be made to the CEO based on the quotations received on the recommended supplier including all the relevant details supporting the recommendation. This recommendation is to be approved by the Executive Committee.

1.7.5 Fixed Asset Register A Fixed Asset Register will be maintained and shall record the following: - Date of acquisition - Identification code – each item of fixed asset will be assigned an identification number - Asset category - Asset description - Location - Depreciation rate - Cost - Additions - Disposals

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Building resilient NPSOs - Depreciation for the period - Accumulated depreciation at the end of respective period - Written down value Capital items below $500 should be accounted for in a separate list.

1.7.6 Physical Verification The CEO shall be responsible for ensuring that a physical verification of all fixed assets is conducted yearly and reconciled to the Fixed Asset Register.

Any discrepancies should be brought to the attention of the CEO and immediately investigated. The CEO shall have the discretion to surcharge any employee for any missing asset under his/her control.

Write offs in excess of $500 (cost of asset) should be approved by the Executive Committee.

1.7.7 Disposal of Fixed Asset Any disposal of assets should follow a transparent process whether by evaluation of trade-in quotes or tender process etc.

Fixed assets shall be disposed in accordance with budget guidelines approved by the Executive Committee. Where a proposed disposal is not covered by the guidelines, Executive Committee approval shall be sought for asset disposals. All proposals for disposal should be accompanied by a proper analysis and evaluation.

Where it is possible to arrange a trade-in of an existing asset, the trade-in price will be assessed by the CEO as to whether it is the most advantageous price.

The decision to trade-in will be made bearing in mind: Possible delays in disposal by other means; Difficulties in finding another purchaser; Any special purchase price on new assets offered by the supplier.

1.7.8 Loss of Assets Any loss of assets including mobile phones shall be investigated. Any losses shall be repaid by the staff that is responsible for safe custody except where such loss has arisen from an event beyond the staff ’s control.

1.8

BANK ACCOUNTS

1.8.1 Establishment of Bank Accounts The establishment of bank accounts shall be approved by the Executive Committee. The income and expenditure of XX shall be accounted for using two principal accounts: i).

Operating Accounts - covering all income and administrative expenditure of XX ii).

Fixed-Deposit Accounts - to be used to administer the funds held in reserve.

1.8.2 Authorised Signatories and Authority Limits There shall be two authorised signatures on the Organisation’s cheque accounts on all payments. All cheques are to be signed by the signatories approved by the Executive Committee.

1.9

BUDGET AND DONOR REQUIREMENTS

1.9.1 Budget The CEO will oversee the development of the annual operating budget and programme budgets and present them to the Executive Committee for approval. The annual operating budget should be presented to the Executive Committee before the commencement of the relevant year.

The programme budget should be presented to the Executive Committee as soon as practicable but before the commencement of the programme.

It is then the CEO’s responsibility to ensure that funds are spent in a manner consistent with the annual budget approved by the Executive Committee. Any deviation from the approved expenditure must be approved by the Executive Committee prior to expenditure.

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Section Appendix Eleven All individuals who have been delegated authority to spend funds on behalf of XX must take responsibility for doing so in accordance with the approved budget, and within donor, funding agency and other such stipulated requirements and restrictions.

1.9.2 Donor Requirements In compliance with the Constitution, all funds received from Donor or Development Partners shall be held and used in trust in accordance with specific programs and purposes agreed.

XX shall: a) Use donors’ finance in compliance with the agreed terms of the project document; b) Charge a minimum administration fee or whatever higher costs that may be incurred for the project to be determined by the Executive Committee in consultation with the donor; c) Report as required in order to keep the donor informed of all its actions and partnerships; d) Every year provide to each donor both descriptive and financial reports on the project for which the fund was received; and, e) Enable visiting members of each donor organisation(s) on assignment, access to project location and related information. f) Conduct a review examining all aspects of the relationship within the terms of the Agreement between XX and each donor. This review should be carried out immediately after the conclusion of the Agreement period. The review report should be submitted to the Executive Committee.

1.10 AUDITOR In compliance with the Organisation’s Constitution, the General Council shall, on the Executive Committee’s recommendation, appoint a suitably qualified, international firm of accountants to undertake the audit of XX’s annual accounts.

The audit shall be conducted in accordance with International Standards on Auditing.

The CEO shall ensure that the Auditor is supplied with the information and facility required for the proper discharge of its audit duties and shall respond promptly to any queries that may be raised.

The CEO shall circulate the full report of the Auditor including comments on the financial operations of XX and accounts, together with such comments as the CEO may wish to offer to the Executive Committee.

The above policies should also be applied where separate audits are required for donor funds.

The Auditor should submit XX’s audited accounts no later than 31 March of the following year.

1.11 SEGREGATION OF DUTIES As much as possible duties must be properly segregated to ensure internal control accountability and minimise the risk of fraud and noncompliance of policies and procedures.

The CEO shall have the discretion to allocate duties to staff members.

2.0

HUMAN RESOURCES

2.1

Conditions of Employment

2.1.1 Engagement of CEO and Employees The CEO is appointed by the XX Executive Committee of Directors as provided for in the XX Constitution. The CEO in consultation with the Executive Committee of XX has the discretion to appoint Employees below his/her level.

Any secondment of staff to XX shall be approved by the Executive Committee. Approval of casual and temporary Employees will be within the guidelines approved by the Executive Committee.

In selecting staff for appointment to XX the dominant considerations would be a) the required qualification, b) competence, c) personal integrity, and d) relevant experience.

2.1.2

Appointment Procedure and Contract Positions All vacant positions within XX must be advertised All necessary Reference checks must be carried out prior to the offer being made All appointments shall be agreed by contracts of employment.

Contract may be renewable on the basis of individual performance against key performance indicators and the viability and

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Building resilient NPSOs

sustainability of the position and XX A temporary employment may not exceed a period of more than three (3) Months and is subject to such terms and conditions set out by the Executive Committee Appointment of new staff is provisional until confirmed. Appointment is subject to a satisfactory medical examination and police report.

2.1.3 Probation All newly engaged permanent staff shall be on probation for a period of 3 months after which the appointment may be confirmed or terminated.

XX shall have the sole right to determine the continuation of employment.

At the end of the probation period, the CEO shall prepare a performance appraisal report and provide his/her recommendation to the Executive Committee on, a) confirm the appointment; or b) extends the probation period; or c) terminate the appointment.

2.1.4 Hours of Work Normal Working Days: Monday to Friday; 8:00am – 4:00pm. Lunch break is for an hour to be taken between 12.00 noon and 2.00pm.

The office reception/telephone is to be manned during the lunch period. Staff may be required to work beyond normal working hours as are necessary and reasonable to carry out their duties and responsibilities effectively and will not be entitled to overtime compensation, except at the discretion of the CEO (Refer to Appendix 4B for Overtime form).

Prior approval should be obtained from the CEO. Overtime compensation will be to the credit of the staff and will not be paid out to the staff but at the CEO’s discretion may be taken as Time off in Lieu. Time off in Lieu should only be given in exceptional circumstances.

2.2

EMPLOYEE DUTIES & ACCOUNTABILITIES

2.2.1 Employee Duties All Employees shall carry out any and all duties as directed from time to time by XX and shall comply with any statutory obligations applicable to the position. Specific duties shall include those set out in the Employee’s job description.

The Employee shall use his/her best endeavours to promote the interests of XX. 2.2.2 Outside or Alternative Employment/Consultancy XX believes it is in the Employee’s best interests, as well as those of XX, for the Employee to devote his/her full energies to his/her career with XX. If the Employee is contemplating undertaking any outside employment/consultancy he/she should discuss his/her plans with the CEO and Executive Committee before committing to any outside employment/consultancy.

Any arrangements on fees shall be at the discretion of the Executive Committee.

2.2.3 Participation on Executive Committees and Committees Should the Executive Committee authorize the Employee’s participation on the Executive Committee of an organization or committee unrelated to XX, all time taken to attend the meetings during working hours must be taken off annual leave, unless other specific arrangements have been approved by the Executive Committee.

2.2.4 Acceptance of Gifts and Traditional Presentations Gifts and traditional presentations received by Employees in the course of their duties will be given to XX and entered into the gifts register. The CEO or the Executive Committee will give directions as to the disposition of all gifts and traditional presentations.

2.2.5 Dress Professional staff are expected to maintain appropriate standards of dress at all time.

2.3 HARASSMENT AND DISCRIMINATION XX is committed to providing a workplace that is free from harassment and discrimination, and one in which all individuals are treated with respect. Disciplinary action will be initiated against anyone found to be guilty of workplace harassment and discrimination.

2.3.1 Definition Workplace harassment and discrimination is any objectionable and unsolicited offensive conduct directed at a person and that is known, or is reasonably ought to be known to be unwelcome. The workplace also extends harassment to that which occurs at meetings, conferences or when travelling for business or work functions outside working hours. Workplace harassment and discrimination can

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Section Appendix Eleven be based on, but not limited to the following: age, gender, sexual preference, marital status, disability, physical weight, pregnancy, parental status, family status, race, colour, nationality, place of origin, religion, political belief or activity.

Harassment can include, but is not limited to, the following examples: • Unwelcome remarks, jokes, innuendoes or taunts causing embarrassment or offence • Displaying objectionable materials, graffiti or pictures • Insulting gestures, jokes, or disparaging written materials • Unwelcome sexual advances, propositions or inquiries and/or comments about a person’s sex life • Inappropriate touching • Threats, bullying, coercion or assault • Verbal assault • Malicious gestures or actions • Stalking • Requests for any form of sexual activity which contains a promise of preferential treatment in employment, threat of detrimental treatment of employment; or threat about present or future employment status.

2.3.2 What You Should Do Staff who believe or feel that they have been or are being harassed or discriminated against, are encouraged to make it known to offenders that their behaviour is offensive and unacceptable. If this does not stop or if the staff member is unable to inform the offender, the staff member should lodge a complaint with the immediate supervisor the staff member may feel comfortable approaching. A grievance may be raised, in accordance with the grievance procedures.

2.3.3 Confidentiality All complaints will be received in the strictest confidence and will be investigated swiftly and impartially.

2.4

CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION AND CONFLICT OF INTEREST

2.4.1 Confidentiality Employees are under an ethical and contractual obligation to preserve confidentiality of both XX’s affairs and information.

All computer software, methodologies, documentation, materials, papers, any other items developed during the course of employment, security card and keys which are rightfully the property of XX, including any copies thereof which may have been reproduced, are to be returned to XX on termination of employment or whenever requested by XX. If Employees are allocated a portable computer for use with his/her work, he/she is required to take responsibility for the physical security of the equipment as well as the information stored therein. XX’s policies need to be adhered to at all times.

2.4.2 “Confidential Information” Confidential information includes but is not limited to the following: • information which is specifically designated as confidential by XX, or stakeholders of XX; • information which by its nature may be reasonably understood to be confidential; • all products, ideas and concepts concerning the technology of XX or stakeholders; • all financial information or other business information about XX or stakeholders and any of their divisions, customers, suppliers, products or strategies; • terms of contracts or arrangements between XX or a stakeholder and any other party (including without limitation, Employees, contractors, agents, customers, suppliers, directors and trustees); • research and development information, financial details and information, business plans, marketing plans and strategies, and any other information about XX or stakeholders, their business, products and services or plans; and All records of Confidential Information in any medium (whether written, computer readable or otherwise) including accounts, documents, drawings and private notes about XX or stakeholders and all copies and extracts of them made or acquired by the Employee in the course of his/her employment shall be: a. the property of XX; b. used for the purpose of XX; c. returned to XX without demand on termination of the Employee’s employment for any reason whatsoever. The Employee acknowledges that for this purpose he/she will be required to delete all Confidential Information from any computer, flash drive, floppy disks, compact disc, hard disk, DVD disc, tapes or other re-usable material in his/her possession or under his/her control or to hand over to XX or XX’s representative any computer, flash drive, floppy disks, compact disc, hard disk, DVD disc, tapes or other re-usable material in his/her possession. In the alternative he/she will be required to destroy all other documents and tangible items in his/her possession or under his/her control, which contain or refer to any Confidential Information.

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Building resilient NPSOs All Employees shall not, either during or after the period of appointment, except in the proper course of the Employee’s duties or as permitted by XX, or as requested by law, use or divulge to any person any confidential information.

2.4.3 Disclosure and Conflict Of Interest Employees shall not enter into and/or have interests in any contract/arrangement, which is in any way in conflict with XX or creates any possibility of a conflict of interest. It shall be at the sole discretion of the Executive Committee to determine if a conflict exists.

2.4.4 Actions Not To Bring Disrepute Employees shall act in accordance with XX values and shall not in any way conduct their affairs in a manner that brings disrepute to XX in any manner.

Employees acknowledge that, they are obliged to conduct their affairs in a manner which avoids the possibility of bankruptcy or other insolvency proceedings or civil or criminal proceedings which may call into question their fitness to perform their functions as Employees of XX. In the event Employees consider themselves at risk of such proceedings, they shall immediately disclose in writing to XX all relevant circumstances of such proceedings, to allow the Executive Committee to determine (at the Executive Committee’s sole discretion) whether steps need to be taken to preserve the interests of XX. 2.5

REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS

2.5.1 Method of Payment of Salaries Salaries shall be payable fortnightly and shall be paid into a bank account approved by the Employee.

2.5.2 Salary Review The salary of all Employees below the CEO may be reviewed by the CEO and recommendations to be made to the Executive Committee. The salary and performance of the CEO shall be review by the Executive Committee.

XX may consider the payment of annual increments and/or bonuses on the anniversary of the Employee’s appointment to XX or on an annual calendar basis. Any increment and/or bonuses shall be at the Executive Committee’s sole discretion.

2.5.3 Superannuation Contribution XX shall contribute the employer’s contribution of 10% or other agreed sum into the XX National Provident Fund account.

2.5.4 Salary and Other Advances No salary and/or other advances may be granted to Employees.

2.5.5 Overpayment In the event of an overpayment of salaries to the Employee, XX may recover the amount of overpayment provided the Employee is given written notification of: (a) The intention to recover an overpayment. (b) The amount to be recovered. (c) Full explanation of the reasons for the overpayment.

2.6 TRAVEL All staff and Executive Committee members of XX traveling on XX work will travel economy class using the shortest and/or most economical route in time, price and other cost.

Executive Members’ shall be liable to incur costs of travel to attend XX Executive Meetings. Any variation should be at the discretion of the Executive Committee.

2.7 UNAUTHORISED EXPENDITURE An Employee may be surcharged for the cost of unauthorised expenditure or losses.

2.8 LEAVE 2.8.1 Annual Leave All Employees shall be granted 15 working days leave per year after completing 12 months of service with XX, unless otherwise agreed by the Executive Committee. Prior approval of the CEO must be obtained for all annual leave. (Refer to Appendix 4C for Leave Form). Employees should endeavour to give at least 20 working days notice before the intended date of leave, except in the case of emergency or unforeseen circumstances.

All Employees must utilise their annual leave entitlement each year unless otherwise agreed with the CEO or in the case of the CEO’s

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Section Appendix Eleven leave entitlement, the Executive Committee.

Unutilised annual leave cannot be encashed or paid out without the prior approval of the Executive Committee.

2.8.2 Paid Holidays All gazetted public holidays shall be granted as paid public holidays.

2.8.3 Sick Leave If the Employee is unable to come to work he/she should contact his/her Immediate Supervisor by 9.00am so arrangements can be made for the absence.

All Employees who have completed 3 months of continuous service shall be entitled to ten (10) working days of outpatient sick leave on full salary per annum and will only be granted if the sickness is not occasioned by the officer’s own neglect or misconduct. (Refer to Appendix 4C for Leave Form). A valid medical certificate must be produced for sick leave claimed in excess of 1 working day. In a given year any leave exceeding three (3) working days must be supported by a medical certificate whether such leave is taken for one (1) working day or more. Where XX believes there is an established pattern of sick leave claimed by the Employee, such leave shall be disallowed and treated as annual leave or leave without pay.

Unutilised sick leave cannot be accumulated or paid out. Any further extension of sick leave with or without salary shall be at the discretion of the CEO or the Executive Committee.

2.8.4 Maternity Leave Female Employees shall be granted Maternity Leave in accordance with Employment Regulations under Chapter 84 of the Laws of XX. 2.8.5 Leave Without Pay Leave without pay will be granted only with the CEO’s permission or in the case of CEO, by the Executive Committee. Each case will be treated on a case by case basis. (Refer to Appendix 3 for Leave Form).

2.8.6 Bereavement Leave Bereavement leave of up to 3 working days in any calendar year shall be allowed to an Employee who has completed 3 months continuous service in the event of death of either his/her spouse, partner, children, father, mother, sister, brother, parents-in-law and grandparents. This leave shall be in addition to any other leave which the Employee is entitled to under the leave policies. (Refer to Appendix 3 for Leave Form).

2.9

TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT

2.9.1 Resignation All Employees below the CEO must give at least one (1) month notice in writing to the CEO or such a term as specified in the Employment Contract. An Employee who resigns without giving such notice will forfeit up to one (1) month’s base salary and other cash benefits which may be due or such terms as specified in the Employment Contract.

The Employee will be paid for all annual leave on a pro-rata basis and any other monies due to him/her in the final pay. The Employee must also settle all outstanding monies due by him/her before payment of the final pay.

2.9.2 Termination By XX XX may terminate employment: i. By giving the Employee not less than one (1) month’s notice in writing of the date upon which the agreement will be terminated or such terms as specified in the Employment Contract. ii. At any time by giving the Employee one (1) month’s equivalent of base salary and cash benefits in lieu of the notice or such terms as specified in the Employment Contract. The provision and/or use of fringe benefits will cease from the date of such payment. iii. In the event of the Employee being certified by a registered medical officer as medically unfit for service, by giving the Employee one month’s notice in writing of the date upon which the contract will be terminated.

The Employee will be paid for all annual leave on a pro-rata basis and any other monies due to him/her in the final pay. The Employee must also settle all outstanding monies due by him/her before payment of the final pay.

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Building resilient NPSOs 2.9.3 Return of Property On termination of employment by the Employee or XX, the Employee shall deliver to the Executive Committee or its authorised representative all property, physical or intellectual documents, records (electronic or paper based) in the possession or control of the Employee and relating in any way to the business or affairs of the Executive Committee. Refer to Appendix 4D for Staff Resignation/ Termination Form.

2.9.4 Final Payment Prior to the final payment by XX, the Employee will be required to confirm in writing that he/she has delivered to the Executive Committee or its authorised representative all property, physical or intellectual documents, records (electronic or paper based) in the possession or control of the Employee and relating in any way to the business or affairs of the Executive Committee.

The Employee must also settle all outstanding monies due by him/her before payment of the final pay.

2.10

DISCIPLINARY AND GRIEVANCE PROCEDURES

2.10.1 Disciplinary Procedures If an Employee is reported for committing a breach of XX’s procedures or instructions or non-compliance of any accepted practice or process or lawful instruction by a Superior or an illegal act, XX may, depending on the seriousness and the nature of the report, either: (i) In writing, immediately suspend the Employee from carrying out his/her normal duties with XX pending the result of a full investigation which the Executive Committee shall carry out in due course, provided that the notice of suspension shall indicate the nature of the breach; or (ii) Require the Employee to explain in writing the relevant facts surrounding his/her reported actions.

XX shall, in carrying out its investigations, communicate in writing its decision whether to reinstate the Employee, terminate the Employee’s employment, or take other disciplinary action, to the Employee within thirty (30) working days or such extended time as is necessary.

Where the Employee is required to explain in writing in accordance with the above, the Employee shall reply thereto within seven (7) working days and shall discuss the reply and any other matter relating to the report with his/her Superior.

Any decision to impose any disciplinary measures shall be communicated by XX directly to the Employee.

If the Employee has been suspended, he/she shall be paid half of his/her normal salary and other benefits during the period of suspension provided that in exceptional cases, such as fraudulent conversions and taking actions that are in contradiction with XX’s interests, the Employee shall be suspended without pay.

In the event of reinstatement, the Employee will be reimbursed any salary or benefits forgone during the period of suspension or part thereof as a disciplinary measure.

2.10.2 Grievance and Appeals Procedure Employees, if aggrieved by any decision of XX or by any other decision, acts or matters directly relating to his/her employment, may lay a complaint with the CEO and in the case of the CEO with the Executive Committee.

Such complaints shall be attended to within five (5) working days or such extended time as is necessary by the immediate Superior concerned, who shall discuss the substance of the complaint and any other relevant facts with the Employee and communicate a decision on the matter directly to the Employee.

All appeals shall be directed to the President of the Executive Committee and the Executive Committee shall consider the appeal at its earliest convenient meeting provided that a decision shall be made and communicated to the Employee within sixty (60) working days or such extended time as is necessary after the appeal.

The decision of the Executive Committee shall be final and conclusive.

2.11 Performance Appraisal Employee appraisal involves the review of each staff member’s performance by supervisors, peers and stakeholders. The purpose of these appraisals is to assist the staff member in his/her on-going professional development and also provide guidance towards a career path within XX. The appraisals shall be conducted at intervals of not more than 12 months. However, it is expected that regular monitoring of performance and feedback to the Employee will be provided throughout the period. The appropriate form shall be used in consultation

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Section Appendix Eleven with the staff and the appraisal comments shall be discussed with the staff and signed by the staff and his/her immediate supervisor.

If a staff member is of the view that the appraisal is unfair he/she may make a case to the Executive Committee or the sub-committee appointed by the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee or the appointed sub-committee will review the case and make a decision.

The Executive Committee’s or sub-committee’s decision will be final.

3.0

INFORMATION AND TECHNOLOGY

3.1

Information Ownership and Privacy

3.1.1 Ownership Ultimately, all information used or created by XX (through its staff) either belongs to, or is the responsibility of XX and access to information is to be granted on a clear, business need-to-know basis.

Any documents, messages or correspondence that are created using XX’s resources, whether they are electronic or paper-based, personal or business related: • Belong to either XX or its donors/implementing body, • Are records that may be required for valid business reasons and • Are legal documents that are subject to subpoena.

3.1.2 Protection of Information and Technology Assets 3.1.2.1 Protection of assets All XX personnel are expected to take reasonable precautions to protect against the unauthorised access or illegal use, disclosure, modification, duplication and/or destruction of any information or technology resource under their control.

3.1.2.2 Loss of assets Any loss of computer equipment, accessories and other assets shall be investigated. Any losses shall be repaid by the staff that is responsible for safe custody except where such loss has arisen from an event beyond the staff ’s control.

3.1.2.3 Software Licensing and Copyrights XX personnel must comply with all applicable legal statutes with regard to using information and network resources. This includes: • Honouring all applicable copyrights in both electronic and paper based information. Copyrights may apply even if there is no apparent copyright notice on the information.

• Complying with all applicable software license agreements and contracts (i.e. Microsoft, MYOB).

3.2

CLEAR DESK AND SCREEN POLICY

3.2.1 Purpose The purpose of this policy is to: 1. prevent unauthorised access to confidential files, papers and data to meet the requirements of XX’s confidentiality and information security policies and contractual obligations; 2. minimise the risk of damage to or loss of files and information that could result from a major incident (e.g. fire or flood), in accordance with XX’s business continuity objectives; and 3. ensure a secure, safe and tidy working environment for all.

3.2.2 Policy All staff are required to take the following steps before leaving their designated work area each day to ensure that it is kept clear of all confidential information (including material contained in display and storage devices, such as computers and mobile phones): • Remove confidential information from in-trays and from work area before leaving it and file in secure storage.

• Lock drawers and store keys in a secure place, away from view.

• Lock the computer using Control-Alt-Delete when leaving your work are unattended to ensure that information is not visible.

• Clear confidential information from flipcharts and other presentation equipment, such as white boards.

• Wastebaskets or recycle bins are fine for ordinary rubbish but not for confidential documents - use the provided secure destruction bins for sensitive information.

• Desktop and Laptop equipment must be secured with a password protected screen saver which automatically activates if not in use after 5 minutes.

• Secure the laptop with anti-theft cable lock at all times.

• Smaller devices such as PDAs, Blackberries, and external storage media (e.g. USB devices) should never be left lying around unattended.

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Building resilient NPSOs • • •

Passwords should be committed to memory and never written down anywhere.

When travelling outside of the office or in public spaces within the office (including lifts and lobby areas), ensure that all confidential information is concealed in a folder or compendium and don’t discuss donors/implementing body or XX matters.

If a staff is sure an item is non-confidential (such as books and generic reference materials), keep it stored neatly on open shelves or bookcases

3.3 INFORMATION SYSTEMS SURVEILLANCE POLICY XX’s computers and other information technology equipment and systems (including all inputs and outputs) is monitored on an ongoing basis. Some surveillance is carried out on an intermittent basis, other surveillance is continuous.

3.3.1 Policy At any time surveillance may include monitoring of: • Web browsing - web browsing using XX’s facilities, including the URL (web address) accessed, date, time, duration of access, pages viewed and or downloaded.

• Email - any email (including attachments) sent or received on XX facilities. Emails (including attachments) sent or received may be blocked at the discretion of CEO where he/she believe that they are too large/excessive, that they may damage or interfere with the operation of our computer network or that they would be regarded as menacing, harassing or offensive.

• Documents, databases and other material and data - all documents, databases or other material created, accessed or amended using XX facilities may be monitored and recorded.

• Computers or other devices - XX may also make a copy or “image” or all information on any of the XX’s computer equipment, including any laptop or desktop computer or other portable electronic device allocated to or used by any staff member. This process may retrieve documents and other material which have been deleted.

• Telephone calls - all telephone calls made from within XX are logged. Details of numbers called, date, time, duration, cost and source extension are recorded. These details may be accessed in relation to any extension.

3.4

3.5

TELEPHONE, VOICE MAIL AND FAX POLICY • Staff may not use XX’s telephones for excessive personal use including any calls made to non-business related services.

• Staff may not use XX’s telephones for International calls, except for authorised business purposes.

• Never fax confidential information to an unattended fax machine - always confirm that the recipient is at the other end to receive the fax.

• Always check the destination fax number before starting fax transmission - it is easy to type in the wrong number.

• Staff must always be careful when leaving the messages on answering machines and voice mail.

INTERNET SECURITY Don’t post personal opinion or confidential information to chat rooms, bulletin Executive Committees or forums.

Don’t use XX’s Internet facilities except for authorised business purposes.

Don’t browse websites that offer sexual material or defame race, gender, religion or other protected groups.

Don’t use XX’s Internet access to download excessive amounts of files or to solicit money for personal gain or in the operation of a personal business.

• You must never use the Internet to gain unauthorised access to other computer systems of XX or other companies.

• • • •

3.6

PASSWORD POLICY

3.6.1 • • • •

Policy in Using Passwords Keep your password secret - reveal it to no one.

Commit your passwords to memory. Do not write your password down as this can allow others to locate it.

Change it regularly - at least every 90 days or as prompted by the system.

Do not use your corporate passwords for any of your personal needs such as home email, personal online banking etc.

3.6.2 Policy in Choosing Passwords • Avoid obvious words, dates or numbers, especially those that have personal associations such as birthdays, family names, registration details etc.

• Use a mix of letters, numbers and special characters at all times.

• Do not use words that can be found in a dictionary of any language.

• Use first letters from a phrase to help you remember (For example “My four children are wonderful @ home when sleeping” would be: M4caw@hws).

• Make your password at least eight characters in length.

• Don’t make the password so long or complicated that you will have trouble remembering it

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Section Appendix Eleven 3.7 DISASTER RECOVERY PLAN Policy • All staff are required to perform a manual back-up on weekly basis • Ensure that back up is performed for Accounting Systems, e-mail and all local drive data and information.

CHART OF ACCOUNTS Account Number and Account Name 10000 13100 13101 13102 13103 13110 13111 13112 13113 13114 13115 13150 13151 13152 13153 13154 13155 13200 13201 13202 13300 13301 13302 13303 13304 14000 14100 14101 14200 14201 14300 14301 14400 14401 20000 25000 25101 25102 25103 25104 25105 25106 25107 25108 25200 25201 25202 25203 25300 30000 36100 36101 36102 36200 36201 36202 36205 40000 41100 41101 41102 41103 41104 41200 41201 41202 41203

ASSETS CURRENT ASSETS CASH AT BANK Undeposited Funds General Fund XX01 PLP 03 PIFS 06 AUSAID SPC 01 JAP 01 ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLES Membership Fee Receivable Grant Receivable Secretariat Fee Due Accountable Advance Receivable Other Receivables PREPAYMENTS Insurance Prepaid Prepaid Expenses OTHER ASSETS Petty Cash Term Deposit Other Current Assets Refundable Deposits FIXED ASSETS Office Equipment Accumulated Depreciation Office Furniture Fittings Accumulated Depreciation Motor Vehicle Accumulated Depreciation Land And Building Accumulated Depreciation LIABILITIES CURRENT LIABILITIES Membership Fee Paid in Advance Grant Refundable FNPF FIRCA Grant in Advance Service Fee in Advance Accounts Payable Other Payables ACCRUALS Credit Card Charges Salary Accruals Leave Accruals NON CURRENT LIABILITIES RETAINED EARNINGS AND RESERVES RETAINED EARNINGS Opening Retained Earnings Current Year Profit/ Loss RESERVES Retained Earnings Other Reserves Historical Balance OPERATING INCOME PACIFIC LEADERSHIP PROGRAM-PLP PLP01 PLP02 PLP03 PLP04 PIFS PIFS01 PIFS02 PIFS03

41204 PIFS04 41205 PIFS05 41206 PIFS06 41207 PIFS07 41208 PIFS08 41209 PIFS09 41210 PIFS10 41300 XX 01 41301 Membership Fee 41302 Subscription Fee 41303 Workshop Registration Fee 41304 Conference Fee 41305 XX Administration Fee 41306 Workshop Sponsorship 41307 Conference Sponsorship 41308 Other Income 41400 JAPANESE GOVERNMENT- JAP 41401 JAP01 41402 JAP02 41403 JAP03 41404 JAP04 41500 SPC 41501 SPC01 41502 SPC02 41600 AUSAID 41601 AUSAID01 41602 AUSAID02 41700 NZAID 41701 NZAID01 41702 NZAID02 41800 Other Income 41801 Interest on Term Deposit 41802 InKind With Cash Inflow 41803 Refund on Expenses 41804 Surplus on Accountable Advance 41805 InKind Without Cash Inflow 41806 Gain on Sale of Fixed Asset 41807 Foreign Exchange Gain 50000 ACCOUNTABLE ADVANCE 60000 EXPENSES 62100 OPERATING EXPENSES 62101 Rent 62102 Telephone 62103 Internet 62104 Road Allowance 62105 Taxi Fare 62106 Air Fares Local 62107 Air Fares Overseas 62108 Conference Hall Hire 62109 Equipment Hire 62110 Consultancy Fee 62111 Catering Charges 62112 Conference/Workshop Stationery 62113 Conference/Workshop Printing 62114 Conference/WKShop Publications 62115 DSA Workshop 62116 DSA Conference 62117 Accountable Advance Clearing 62118 Token/Gift 62119 Advertising 62120 Fax Charges 62121 Motor Vehicle Allowance 62122 Depreciation- Office Equipment 62123 Depreciation- Office Furniture 62124 Depreciation- Motor Vehicle 62125 Depreciation Land and Building

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Appendix 4A 62126 62127 62128 62200 62201 62202 62203 62204 62205 62206 62207 62208 62209 62210 62211 62212 62213 62214 62215 62216 62217 62218 62219 62220 62221 62222 62223 62224 62225 62226 62227 62228 62229 62230 62231 62232 62233 62234 62235 62236 62237 62238 62239 62240 62241 62242 62243 62244 62245 62246 62247 62248 62249 62250 62251 62252 62253 62269 62270 62300 62301 62302 62303 62304

80000

Loss on Sale of Fixed Asset Accommodation Conference/ Workshop Fee ADMINISTRATION EXPENSES Conference/ Workshop Fee Accommodation FNPF- XX Contribution XX Petty Cash Grant Surplus Returned Account DiskPay Fee Mail Postage Courier Charges Service Fee Training Cost Bank Fee TT Fee/ Bank Chq Fee Visa Application Fee Consultancy Fee Stationery Supplies Printing Cost Publications DSA- AGM DSA- Sub Committee Meeting Air Fares Local Air Fares Overseas Taxi Fare Road Allowance Domain Fee Insurance IT Support Service Fee Repair Maintenance Costs Office Supplies-Glass/Jugs etc Office Refreshment- Tea/Coffee Membership Fee Subscription Fee Audit Fee Staff Recruitment Expense Advertising Cost Interest Expense Credit Card Charges Telephone Charges Internet Charges Fax Charges Motor Vehicle Allowance Legal Fee General Administration Cost Entertainment Allowance Rates And Taxes Foreign Exchange Loss Public Relations Bad Debts Written Off Restructuring Cost Motor Vehicle Expense Service Repairs to Equipment Doubtful Debts Provision for Doubtful Debts DSA- Admin Miscellaneous Expenses VAT Credits PAYROLL EXPENSES Staff Salaries FNPF- Staff Contribution FIRCA- PAYE Dept Temporary Staff Wages

Other Income

Building resilient NPSOs

OVERTIME FORM Appendix 4B XX NATIONAL PRIVATE SECTOR ORGANISATION OVERTIME FORM Employee Name: _____________________________________________ Position: _____________________________________________ Day/Date of Overtime: _____________________________________________ Total Time to be taken: _____________________________________________ Reason for Overtime: (explain) _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ Signed by Employee: _____________________________________________ Checked and Verified by: _____________________________________________ Authorised by CEO: _____________________________________________ Date: _____________________________________________

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Section Appendix Eleven

LEAVE FORM Appendix 4C XX NATIONAL PRIVATE SECTOR ORGANISATION LEAVE FORM Employee Name: __________________________________________ Position: __________________________________________ I WOULD LIKE TO APPLY FOR Outstanding

Leave ance

Commencing

Ending

Bal-

Number of

Remaining

W o r k Leave Days Balance

Annual Leave Sick Leave Hospitalisation Leave Maternity Leave Special Leave Leave Without Pay Bereavement Leave

Reason for Leave: _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ Current and Future Work Commitments: _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ Signed by Employee: ________________________

Date:________________

Authorised by CEO: __________________________

Date:________________

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Building resilient NPSOs XX NATIONAL PRIVATE SECTOR ORGANISATION STAFF RESIGNATION/TERMINATION FORM Appendix 4D STAFF RESIGNATION/TERMINATION FORM Name: __________________________ _____________

Start Date: ________________ Last Date:

Position: ________________________ A.

Staff member to provide/return the following Please Initial Box

Responsibility

Resignation Letter CEO Work List to include status of each job and person handed over

CEO

Send resignation notice by email to projects contacts & advise contact person Cancellation of telephone access

F&A Officer

Office Keys (if any)

F&A Officer

Return of all XX materials/assets issued upon entry/during employment with XX � Lap Top � Flashnet � External Drive

F&A Officer

� Business Cards

F&A Officer

� Keys , � Mobile, � Diary, � Others

F&A Officer

� Payment of any Money owed to XX

F&A Officer

� Travel Advance � Others

F&A Officer

F&A Officer

F&A Officer

B. Staff member to sign: • Return of all XX materials/asset letters C. • • •

XX to give the staff member Record of service letter Cheque for final pay/annual leave payment P4-1 Slip

D. Comments (if any) _________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ E.

CEO’s Approval: _________________

Date:______________________

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Section Appendix Eleven Appendix 5 - Sample Constitution – Cook Islands Chamber of Commerce THE CONSTITUTION & RULES COOK ISLANDS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE INC. 1 NAME 1.1 The name of the Society shall be Cook Islands Chamber of Commerce (hereinafter referred to as “the Chamber”).

1.2 The Chamber shall be an association of business and professional persons, and corporations associated for the purpose of carrying out the objects and duties hereinafter set forth.

2 REGISTERED OFFICES 2.1 The registered office of the Chamber shall be at such place or places, as the Chamber shall from time to time determine.

3 OBJECTS 3.1 The objects of the Chamber shall be: • The promotion, protection, encouragement and advancement of trade, commerce, industry and the professions throughout the Cook Islands.

• The promotion and protection of the general welfare of the Cook Islands.

• To promote or oppose legislative, administrative and other measures affecting directly or indirectly such trade, commerce, industry and general welfare and to secure proper administration of such measures.

• To procure the removal or redress of all hindrances and grievances affecting directly or indirectly such trade, commerce, industry, and general welfare.

• To collect and circulate statistics and other information relating to industry and commerce.

• To develop the general public interest in the Chamber by diffusing information on all matters pertaining to the Chamber’s activities and by publishing and circulating notices, papers and circulars as may be deemed necessary for this purpose.

• To take steps from time to time as the Chamber may consider necessary to give publicity to the Cook Islands.

• To co-operate and/or affiliate with any society, Club or Association, having similar objects either wholly or in part and to join, co-operate with, or subscribe to the funds of any Society, Club or Association for the purpose of better attaining or otherwise furthering the objects and interests of the Chamber or the members thereof.

• Settlement by arbitration of disputes or differences, which may arise upon commercial and industrial questions.

• Generally to do such acts and things whatsoever as may be considered for the benefit of the community, or of members of the Chamber.

4 MEMBERSHIP 4.1 Membership of the Chamber shall be open to any person, partnership, firm, company, society, corporate body or a statutory body or any other organisation whether incorporated or unincorporated body engaged in commerce, trade, industry or any profession in the Cook Islands if: • approved for membership by the Executive Committee • invited to become an ordinary member by the Executive Committee and has accepted such an invitation • invited to become an honorary member pursuant to provisions of Clause 5 of this Constitution and has accepted the invitation 4.2 Any reference in this Constitution to a member shall be deemed to include a representative appointed by a member where the context so permits.

4.3

A candidate for membership shall make application in writing signed by the applicant and two members of the Chamber as nominators and delivered to the Executive Director. All candidates shall attach a copy of evidence confirming the formation of its organization.

4.4

Where the candidate is a corporate body the name of the person who is authorized to represent and vote on behalf of such candidate, together with their alternate(s) in the event of such persons absence, shall also be stated and such person shall remain so authorized until the Chamber is given notice in writing by the member of the termination of his/her authority and the appointment of a person in his/her place.

4.5

Applications for membership shall be brought before the Chamber at its next Executive Meeting and the candidate thereupon is elected to membership on obtaining a majority vote of those Executive Committee Members present.

4.6

Any member desiring to resign shall notify such desire to the Executive Director in writing and the same shall be considered

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Building resilient NPSOs at the first meeting of the Chamber thereafter.

4.7

In addition to cessation of membership by non-payment of fees pursuant to Clause (6.3) a member may be removed from the register of members by a majority decision of the Executive Committee for unbecoming behaviour or acting in a manner contrary to the interests of the Chamber. Following the decision of the Executive Committee the Executive Director shall send a letter notifying that the member has been removed from the register of members.

4.8

There shall be kept at the Registered Office of the Chamber or at such place or places as the Executive Committee may from time to time direct a Register of the members of the Chamber.

5 CLASSES OF MEMBERSHIP 5.1 The members of the Chamber shall be the following classes and any person who in the opinion of the Executive Committee has the qualifications set out below against any of those classes shall be eligible to be admitted to membership of that class.

5.2

Ordinary Member

5.2.1

A body or person (whether a corporation or an unincorporated body) who has paid the full annual fee as approved and determined at the Annual General Meeting.

5.2.2

Any differential fees will be payable as prescribed by the Executive Committee in accordance with Clause (6.1) below.

5.3 5.3.1

Associate Member Any corporation or society or body shall be eligible to apply for Associate Membership in accordance with Clause (4.3), if its activities are carried out in manner similar to that of an industry, trade or business.

5.3.2

Associate Members shall not have a vote at any meeting.

5.3.3 5.4 5.4.

The Executive Committee may from time to time determine in respect of Associate membership the amount of the annual subscription payable and may determine the date as and from which any new rate shall come into force.

Honorary Member The Executive Committee may from time to time recommend at the Annual General Meeting any person to be an Honorary Member of the Chamber. Honorary Members shall not be liable for payment of any annual subscription; shall not hold any office in the Chamber and shall have no vote at any meeting.

5.4

In all other respects Honorary Members shall have the rights and privileges as other members.

6 SUBSCRIPTIONS 6 The annual subscription payable by Ordinary Members shall be recommended by the Executive Committee to the Annual General Meeting and shall be fixed at that meeting. If the subscription is not fixed at the Annual General Meeting, it shall be the same as the previous year.

6.2

Notwithstanding anything herein contained, the Executive Committee shall have the power to remit, suspend or postpone payment of the annual subscription or part thereof payable by any member.

6.3

The annual subscription shall cover the period of 01 January to 31 December each year and shall be payable in advance. In the case of any member whose subscription is in arrears and unpaid for more than three months, the Executive Director shall cause to be sent to the last address of the member, a notice requiring payment within one month and failing such payment the member shall ipso facto cease to be a member and shall be so advised in writing by the Executive Director. Such member may be reinstated by resolution of the majority vote of the Executive Committee members following payment of all arrears.

7 7.1

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE The Executive Committee shall consist of up to ten representatives of Ordinary Members who shall hold office from the date of election until the end of the next ensuing Annual General Meeting of the Chamber.

7.2

The Executive Committee shall consist of a President, Immediate Past President, Vice President, Treasurer and six Executive Members.

7.3

In addition, the Executive Director appointed in accordance with Clause (10) shall be an ex-officio member of the Executive Committee.

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Section Appendix Eleven 7.4

The Executive Committee shall have the power to co-opt any member including representatives of Industry Councils or affiliated associations from time to time.

7.5

The President shall not serve as President for a period greater than the period extending between four consecutive Annual General Meetings.

7.6

The Immediate Past President shall vacate his/her position as an officer of the Executive Committee upon the cessation from office of the President, who shall immediately assume the office of Immediate Past President.

7.7

The Executive Committee may meet at any time for the despatch of business and shall make such rules regulating the conduct of its meetings and transacting the Chamber’s business, as it deems advisable with the power to appoint subcommittees for any purpose.

7.8

No business shall be conducted at any Executive Committee meeting unless any one of the President, Vice President or Executive Director together with three other Executive Members is present.

Any member of the Executive Committee absenting him/herself without leave from three consecutive meetings shall automatically thereby vacate his/her seat.

7.9

8 POWERS OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 8.1 The management and control of the affairs of the Chamber shall be vested in the Executive Committee which (in addition to any other powers expressly conferred upon it by this Constitution) may carry into effect all or any of the objects of the Chamber and may exercise all powers of the Chamber and do all such acts and things as may be exercised or done by the Committee and as are not by this Constitution expressly directed or required to be exercised or done by the Members in general meeting.

8.2

It shall be permissible for any member of the Executive Committee or the Chairman of any association, trade section or group to object to the Executive Committee coming to a final decision on any question if such decision is, in his/her opinion, calculated to affect injuriously the interests of any association, trade section or group.

8.3

In such case the question shall be referred to the member or Chairman of such association, trade section or group concerned for report to be submitted within three weeks to the Executive Committee; which there upon shall finally deal with the matter at its next Executive Committee meeting.

8.4

The Executive Committee is hereby empowered to act as mediator or arbitrator in any dispute amongst its members provided the parties concerned are agreeable and express an undertaking that the decision of the Council shall be binding on all concerned.

9 VACANCY IN OFFICE 9.1 In the event of a vacancy occurring in the office of President or Vice-President, the vacancy is to be filled at the next Meeting of the Chamber. Seven days notice of the purpose of such a meeting shall be given to all financial members of the Chamber.

10 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 10.1 The Executive Director shall be appointed by the Executive Committee. The duties of the Executive Director shall be: • Enter into correspondence on behalf of the Chamber.

• Keep proper minutes of all Meetings of the Chamber and the Executive Committee (which shall be confirmed at the meeting of the Chamber or Executive Committee, as relevant, next following the meeting to which such minutes refer).

• Perform such duties as outlined in the “Job Description” for the Executive Director • Make provision for the safe custody of the seal of the Chamber and of its books, records, documents and personal property.

11 AUDITOR 11.1 The accounts of the Chamber shall be audited each year, by an auditor appointed at the Annual General Meeting of the Chamber. If the position of auditor shall become vacant during the year, the Executive Committee shall appoint another person as auditor.

12 SOLICITOR 12.1 A solicitor to the Chamber may be appointed by the Executive Committee to act as the legal adviser to the Chamber. The Chamber may in its discretion refer to the solicitor all matters upon which a legal opinion is required for the Chamber and may instruct him/her to act for the Chamber on any matter it considers expedient so to do.

81

Building resilient NPSOs 13 FINANCIAL YEAR 13.1 The financial year of the Chamber shall end on 30 June thereafter. The financial year shall be from 01 July until 30 June next following.

14 MEETINGS 14.1 The Annual General Meeting of the Chamber shall be held not later than three calendar months after the end of the financial year at such time and place as may be fixed by the Chamber.

14.2

At least fourteen days written notice of such Annual General Meeting and the agenda, shall be given to the Members by the Executive Director, by circular posted or sent by electronic mail to every Member, addressed to such Member at his or its last known address. In addition, an advertisement will be placed in a local newspaper at least 14 days prior to the Annual General Meeting.

14.3 14.3.1

The business to be transacted at the Annual General Meeting shall include: The Executive Committee shall produce an audited statement of the income, an expenditure and a balance sheet, containing a summary of the assets and liabilities of the Chamber made up to the end of the previous financial year for the consideration of the Annual General Meeting.

14.3.2

Every such statement shall be supplemented by a Report from the President as to the state and condition of the Chamber.

14.3.3 The Officers of the Executive Committee for the ensuing year shall be elected at the Annual General Meeting and the Auditor for the ensuing year shall also be appointed.

14.3.4

Such other matters notified in the agenda circulated to Members.

14.4

Ordinary Meetings of the Chamber shall be held on a regular scheduled basis as determined by the Executive Committee.

At least seven days written notice of such Ordinary Meeting and the agenda, shall be given to the Members by the Executive Director, by circular posted or sent by electronic mail to every Member, addressed to such Member at his or its last known address.

14.5

Special Meetings of the Chamber may be convened by order of the President or the Vice-President or by six members of the Chamber. At least two days written notice of such Special Meeting and the agenda, shall be given to the Members by the Executive Director, by circular posted or sent by electronic mail to every Member, addressed to such Member at his or its last known address

14.6

All Meetings shall be chaired by the President and in his/her absence the Vice-President. In the event of the President and Vice-President both being absent, a Chairman shall be elected from among those present.

15 QUORUM 15.1 No business shall be transacted at any Chamber meeting unless ten of the members shall be present thereat.

15.2

If within half an hour from the time appointed for the meeting the required number of members is not present, the meeting, if a special meeting shall lapse without prejudice to the calling of another meeting for the same purpose; if any ordinary or Annual General Meeting it shall stand adjourned for one week at the same time and at such place as the Chairman shall appoint when those attending the adjourned meeting shall form a quorum.

16 ADJOURNMENTS 16.1 The Chairman of any meeting may with the consent of the meeting order an adjournment from time to time.

17 VOTING 17.1 Every question submitted to any meeting of the Chamber shall be decided in the first instance on the voices but if requested by three or more members, by a show of hands, provided however, if requested by five or more members the vote shall be by secret ballot.

17.2

The Chairman shall be entitled to exercise both a deliberative and a casting vote.

17.3

At any meeting as aforesaid, a declaration by the Chairman of the meeting, that a resolution has been carried or lost, together with an entry in the Minute Book or book, of proceeding shall be evidence of the fact, of the number or proportion of votes recorded in favour or against such resolution.

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Section Appendix Eleven 17.4

No member whose subscription is in arrears for more than three months shall be allowed to vote or take part in any meeting of the Chamber.

17.5

Voting by proxy shall be permitted only if the proxy is in writing and lodged with the Executive Director prior to the meeting.

17.6

By notice placed in the hands of the Executive Director prior to the meeting a member or representative of a corporate member may appoint a substitute to act in the place of such member or representative of a corporate member at any particular meeting of the Chamber.

18 18.1

IRREGULARITIES OF MEETINGS If any irregularity shall occur in the convening or holding of any meeting or in any election or other proceedings at such meeting and the same shall not be noticed and objected to at the time, all proceedings of such meetings shall be of the same force and validity as if no such irregularity had occurred, but if any irregularity shall be noticed and objected to the meeting shall decide thereon and such decision shall be final and conclusive.

19 COMMON SEAL 19.1 The Executive Committee shall be entrusted to provide a Common Seal for the Chamber which shall remain in the custody of the Executive Director and to make and execute all such instruments and assurances as may be necessary provided that the seal of the Chamber shall not be fixed to any instrument except in pursuance of a resolution of the Chamber and shall witness the affixing of the Common Seal in the presence of the President and the Executive Director for the time being.

20 ALTERATION OF RULES 20.1 The rules of the Chamber may be amended, rescinded or added to with the consent of two-thirds of the members present at a Special Meeting of the Chamber specially called for the purpose or at an Annual General Meeting.

20.2

The Executive Director shall register any alterations rescissions or additions in the rules of the Chamber as required by the statutory provisions for the time being in force.

21 RULES AND INTERPRETATION 21.1 Every member shall be bound by and submit to the rules of the Chamber.

21.2

The Chamber is the sole authority for the interpretation of these rules made in pursuance thereof and the decision of the Chamber upon any question of interpretation or upon any matter affecting the Chamber and not provided for by these rules or by the said by-laws shall be binding upon the members.

21.3

Any members aggrieved by such decision may require the decision to be submitted for review at a General Meeting to be held within two months of such decision.

22 DISSOLUTION 22.1 The Chamber may be dissolved on a resolution passed by two-third of the members present at a Special Meeting called for that purpose.

23 DISTRIBUTION OF ASSETS 23.1 In the event of the Chamber resolving to dissolve the surplus assets after payment of the Chamber’s liabilities, shall be distributed equally to all members or distributed to such charitable organizations within the Cook Islands as may be determined by the members at the Special Meeting which resolves to dissolve the Chamber.

83

Building resilient NPSOs Appendix 6: PIPSO Board Charter – Sample 1. 0 Introduction and Purpose 1.1 In carrying out its responsibilities and powers as set out in this Charter, the PIPSO Board will at all times recognize its overriding responsibility to act honestly, fairly, diligently and in accordance with the law in serving the interests of PIPSO’s stakeholders, including its employees It will work to promote and maintain an environment within PIPSO that establishes these principles as basic guidelines for all of its employees and representatives at all times.

1.2 The purpose of the Board Charter is to promote high standards of corporate governance and to clarify the role and responsibilities of the Board.

The Board has statutory functions powers and responsibility in accordance with Article XVI of the Constitution for the affairs and activities of PIPSO which in practice is achieved through delegation to the Chief Executive Officer and others who are charged with the day-to-day leadership and management of PIPSO 1.3 The primary objective of the Board of Directors (“Board”) of PIPSO is to build long-term stakeholder value with due regard to other stakeholder interests. It does this by setting strategic direction and context, such as PIPSO’s mission, vision and values, and focusing on issues critical for its successful execution such as staffing, performance and risk management.

The Board is also responsible for overseeing PIPSO’s corporate governance framework.

2.0 Vision Statement A region of opportunities for all people to grow and prosper.

2.1 The PIPSO Members The Regular Members of PIPSO shall be the National Private Sector Organisations (NPSOs) for the Pacific Island Countries (PICs).

Other regional stakeholders may seek Associate or Affiliate Membership in accordance with Article VII of the Constitution and Section 5.1 of the By-Laws.

3.0 The Board The Board shall comprise of up to seven (7) Directors including the Chair and Vice-Chair, as well as two Alternate Directors, all of whom are appointed by the Council in accordance with Article XV of the Constitution and Section 5.1 of the By-Laws.

The Board shall have the power to co-opt to the Board no more than two ex-officio members at any time in accordance with the By-Laws. The Board resolution co-opting such members must specify the reasons for the appointment. The maximum term for the appointment shall be twelve (12) months but can be extended at the discretion of the Board.

3.1 Functions of the Board The functions, powers and responsibilities of the Board, in accordance with Article XVI of the Constitution, shall be to: • Recommend policies and strategic plans for adoption by the Council; • Develop, adopt and monitor implementation of the approved strategic plans through annual work programs; • Approve and monitor the annual operational, governance and program budgets; • Recommend for approval by the Council an appropriate fee structure for each financial year; • Monitor the work undertaken by PIPSO; • Approve the annual report to be submitted to the Council; • Approve and monitor the terms and conditions of employment of the staff; • Approve and monitor operating rules, procedures and regulations governing the financial and administrative matters of PIPSO; • Consider any other matters referred to it by Management; • Adopt, periodically review and amend the By-Laws in accordance with the provisions set out in these articles and the ByLaws; and, • Submit any other matters for consideration by the Council.

• Between each Annual Council meeting, the Board through the office of the Chairman or the Acting Chairman and in consultation with the CEO; • Monitors the work of the Secretariat and evaluates the implementation of strategic plans and work plans, policies and progress towards specified performance targets; • Exercises leadership, enterprise, integrity, and judgment in directing PIPSO; • Identifies and assess key risk areas of PIPSO and ensure measures are taken to mitigate those risks; • Ensures that effective internal controls systems are in place to safeguard PIPSO’s assets;

84

Section Appendix Eleven • • • • • •

Determines and evaluate terms of reference and procedures of Board Committees; Ensures compliance with laws and regulations of the host country; Considers and approves the annual financial statements and the annual report presented at each Council meeting; Evaluates performance and reviews compensation of the CEO and staff of the Secretariat; Ensures adoption of good governance practices; and, Ensures effective communication with all Members and development partners.

3.2 The Role and Responsibilities of the Board Within the powers conferred upon the Board by the Constitution, By-Laws and this Charter, the Board has determined its main role and responsibilities as adding significant value by: i. Setting and upholding PIPSO values including principles of ethical business practice, professional ethical workforce standards, ensuring compliance with applicable laws and regulations of the host country, adherence to high standards of moral behaviour and commanding trust and respect at all times; ii. Appointment of the CEO, evaluating the performance of the CEO against contracted key performance indicators, extending or terminating the appointment in accordance with the terms of the employment contract. iii. Protecting and enhancing the rights and interests of Members of PIPSO and other key stakeholders by providing strong strategic leadership; iv. Bringing independent and informed judgment to bear on material decisions of PIPSO including material PIPSO policies; v. Approving major capital expenditure and annual PIPSO operational budgets; vi. Protecting and growing the assets and resources of PIPSO by ensuring Membership contributions and donor, partner organisation and sponsorship funding are appropriately utilised in accordance with the terms set and to the ultimate benefit of all Members, through effective governance of PIPSO in accordance with governance best practices, internal control systems and monitoring effectiveness of the PIPSO’s overall risk management and control framework; vii. Monitoring the Secretariat’s implementation of the Board’s strategies as defined in the PIPSO Strategic/Business Plan and the Secretariat’s Annual Work Plan, through a structured approach to be developed in agreement with the CEO to Board reporting, risk management and auditing. viii. Approve half-yearly accounts, full year accounts and Annual Report and major financial arrangements ix. Review major risks PIPSO is likely to be exposed to and consider and approve risk management strategies. x. At the Annual Council meetings of PIPSO Members, the Board recommends for approval: • PIPSO’s vision and values; • Strategy and policy of the Secretariat to achieve those objectives; • Policies and strategic and annual plans; • Appropriate Member fee structures for the next financial year; and, • Appointment of external auditors.

3.3 Disclosure of Information It is the Board’s policy to accurately disclose information, in a timely manner, to its NPSO Members and its development partners.

3.4 General Powers of the Board The role, function and powers of the Board, its Members and Committees are determined by the Constitution, By-Laws and this Charter, international governance practices and policies determined by the Board from time to time. The Board may delegate in writing any of these functions and powers to the CEO for any period of time to be determined by the Board in consultation with the CEO. The Board may however revoke any of these delegations at any time after informing the CEO of the reasons for the revocation.

3.5 Composition of the Board of Directors All Directors of the Board will be individuals of integrity and collectively will bring a blend of knowledge, skills, objectivity and experience to the Board to enable it to carry out its functions effectively. Once appointed to the Board, the Directors will at all times represent the best interests of PIPSO and its collective membership and not the specific interests of the NPSOs that nominated them.

All Board Directors will have: • Entrepreneurial talent and professional work experience to enhance the performance of PIPSO; • Able to articulate and ask the hard questions; • High ethical and moral standards; and, • Total commitment to enhancing private sector development in the region through working partnerships with PIC Governments, NPSOs, Pacific regional organisations and development partners.

3.6 Induction of New Board Members A thorough understanding and acceptance of the Board Charter is considered to be an integral part of the conditions of appointment of all Directors. The induction will include the provision and understanding of PIPSO’s Constitution, By-Laws, Operational Policies, Strategic Work Plan, Budgets and relations with development partners.

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Building resilient NPSOs 3.7 The Rights and Duties of Individual Board Members Every Board Member has the right to request for timely accurate information to ensure they are fully informed and therefore able to contribute to wise decision making. Every Board Member has an obligation to attend Board meetings, be available for comment between Board meetings and to read and fully understand all Board papers circulated.

Board Members have a legal obligation to act in good faith and in the best interest of PIPSO, to act with due care in discharging their duties as a Board Member, to declare and avoid conflicts of interest with PIPSO. 3.8 Terms and Tenure of Board Members At alternate Annual General Meetings, all Board Members shall stand down, but no Member standing down shall be excluded from re-election. The vacancies thus created shall be filled in accordance with Article XVII of the Constitution and Section 5.3 of the ByLaws.

An elected Member of the Board shall hold office for an initial term of two years and may be re-elected to the Board for a further two consecutive terms.

In addition to the conditions set out in the By-Laws, a Board Member shall be deemed to have vacated his/ her seat if that Member: • fails to attend three consecutive Board Meetings or fails to contribute to Board business transacted via email or teleconference for two consecutive months; • applies for a position within the Secretariat; • becomes a full-time employee of his/her NPSO or of an organisation whose performance and management is to be overseen by the Secretariat; and, For other reasons that the Board, through a majority decision, decides on.

3.9 Frequency of Meetings and the Annual Work Plan The Board shall meet at least twice annually and at such additional ad hoc times as may be required. One Board meeting shall be scheduled immediately prior to and after the Annual General Meeting.

During Board meetings, the PIPSO’s Register of Interests that covers the interests of Board Members in terms of their Executive engagements, Directorships and/or investment entities, will be updated as necessary and the Board will consider: • Reports from management including a strategic overview of annual work plan implementation, identifying major issues and opportunities for the PIPSO; • A summary of recommendations for Board approval; • Financial statements with explanatory notes where there is any variation from budget and commentary about forecast financial performance; • The financial statements shall include a statement of income and expenditure, a cash flow, and a balance sheet; • Operational reports on PIPSO-facilitated training, publications, website development, research, staff performance; • Any special reports e.g. private sector development issues, trade and investment discussion and negotiations; • Reports on resource mobilisation; and, • Relationships with development partners.

3.10 Participation, Quorum, Written Resolutions Board Members will use their best endeavours to attend Board meetings and prepare thoroughly. Board Members are expected to participate fully, frankly and constructively in Board discussions and to bring the benefit of their particular knowledge, experience, skills, and abilities to bear in discharging their duties as Board Members.

3.11 Agenda, Meeting Papers, and Minutes With the assistance of CEO, the Chair must ensure that a Draft Agenda is prepared at least two weeks prior to the meeting that raises all relevant issues requiring attention.

The Board shall consider from time to time whether the format and content of standard Board reports and submissions remain appropriate and make such changes to Board reports or submissions as would improve the Board’s efficiency.

3.12 Governance Role of CEO The CEO shall not be a voting Member of the Board but shall attend Board meetings.

3.13 Board Delegations In order to meet all legal and regulatory requirements and to effectively discharge its duties the Board may delegate some of its functions to Board Committees. From time to time, the Board may delegate specific assignments to Board Members or other parties to better guide the Board in important matters requiring significant expertise. They would examine proposals and, where appropriate, make recommendations to the full Board. Committees or individual Board Directors do not take action or make decisions on behalf of the Board unless specifically mandated by prior Board authority to do so.

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Section Appendix Eleven The responsibility for the operation and administration of PIPSO, including management of human resources, and implementation of the risk management strategy set by the Board, is delegated by the Board to the Chief Executive Officer, his Senior Management Team and various Board committees. The Board ensures that the Chief Executive Officer and Senior Management are appropriately qualified and experienced.

Delegation however does not discharge the Board from its duties and responsibilities. While delegating authorities, the Board should bear in mind its fiduciary duties and responsibilities under this Charter.

4.0 The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) The CEO is appointed by the Board on recommendation of a Committee of the Board appointed to interview applicants for the position. The duration and terms of the CEO’s appointment and his/her compensation are determined by the Board.

The CEO is the head of the PIPSO Secretariat. The CEO provides executive leadership and is accountable to the Board for the implementation of the strategies, objectives and decisions of the Board within the framework of delegated authorities, values and policies of the PIPSO. The CEO is accountable to the Board amongst other things for: • Developing and recommending to the Board the long term strategy and vision of PIPSO; • Developing and recommending to the Board the Annual Work Plan and budgets that support PIPSO’s long term strategy; • Ensuring that PIPSO has an effective team of staff and resources to fulfill the requirements of the Annual Work Plan; • Appointment of the full time Secretariat staff and contracting of consulting personnel required for PIPSO work either short term or long term. At all times the CEO will ensure PIPSO’s HR policies are complied with in the exercise of these specific responsibilities; • Monitoring and evaluating the performance of the secretariat staff and all personnel contracted by PIPSO to undertake contract and/or consultancy work for PIPSO; and • Ensuring that effective internal controls and governance measures are deployed.

The Board will agree with the CEO specific targets for the CEO to ensure PIPSO strategic goals are met. The Board sets the levels of delegation to the CEO. The CEO is expected to act within specific authorities delegated to him or her by the Board and to comply with the appropriate approved PIPSO policies.

The CEO serves as the chief spokesperson for PIPSO in consultation with the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Board.

4.1 Secretariat Role and Responsibilities The Board has delegated to the Secretariat through the CEO responsibility for the following: • Strategy – developing strategy with staff for recommendation to the Board, and implementing the Strategic Plan, making recommendations on significant new strategy initiatives; • Financial performance – developing a detailed annual budget and managing day-to-day operations within budget; • Risk management – maintaining effective risk management frameworks and providing the Board with timely and relevant information on the risks faced by PIPSO and how they are managed; • Staff selection and Management – making recommendations for appointment of key staff and determining terms of appointment and evaluating their performance; and, • Corporate responsibility - managing the day-to-day operations of the Secretariat in accordance with standards of social, ethical and environment practices and adherence to financial, administrative and employment policies set by the Board.

Other responsibilities as determined appropriate by the Board in consultation with the CEO 4.2

Communications between the Board and the Secretariat

BOARD BOARD CHAIR CEO STAFF

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Building resilient NPSOs All communications between the Board and the Secretariat shall at all times be channelled to the CEO by the Chair or the Acting Chair.

5.0 Chair and Vice-Chair The Council at its Annual General Meeting will appoint the Chair and the Vice-Chair will be appointed by the Board for a term of two years.

The Chair provides leadership at Board level, representing the Members and is responsible for ensuring integrity and effectiveness of the Board and its Committees. The Chair will lead Board meetings to ensure that appropriate discussion takes place, resulting in logical and understandable resolutions.

Specifically, the Chair is responsible for: • Maintaining regular dialogue with the CEO over operational matters and, where appropriate, consulting with other Board Members; • Ensuring that material matters in respect of the business and governance of PIPSO are tabled at Board meetings; • Participating in the nomination of Board Members to ensure that the Board has the right mix of competencies, skills, objectivity, and expertise to diligently discharge its duties and responsibilities; • Being available for the CEO between Board meetings to provide advice and counsel; • Chairing and conducting meetings of the Board and Council; and, • Maintaining relations with PIPSO Members and ensuring that information is clearly communicated to them through appropriate disclosure.

The Board appoints a Vice-Chair to assist in the execution of the Chair’s duties and any other functions the Board may wish to delegate to the Vice-Chair.

In the absence of the Chair, the Vice-Chair shall act as Chair at meetings of the Board and Council.

6.0 Board Committees and Relationship with the Board The Board has the power to appoint Board Committees and to delegate powers to such Committees. Board Committees are formed only when it is efficient or necessary to facilitate effective decision-making and when particular projects require specific expertise and in-depth analysis.

The Board shall establish Committees of the Board and shall agree on the terms of reference and procedures of the Board Committees.

The Board shall ensure the Chair and Members of the Committee have the necessary skills and knowledge to perform their functions.

Normally Board Committees do not have authority to make decisions. The Committees make recommendations to the full Board for its approval or decision.

The Board recognises and accepts that the ultimate accountability for matters delegated by it remains with the Board. Authorities delegated by the Board accordingly entail a simultaneous requirement of reporting to the Board and an obligation on the Board to monitor and evaluate the activities of Committees and individuals with delegated authority.

7.0 Provision of Professional Services by Board Members If Board Members provide business or professional services of an ongoing nature to PIPSO, a conflict of interest (actual or potential) may be created.

Under special circumstances, the Board might choose to engage the services of a Board Member who has the expertise in a particular field but the terms of engagement must be competitive, and clearly recorded.

8.0 Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest Board Members are expected to act ethically at all times and to manage any possibility of conflict of interest transparently.

When conflicts do arise, Members will declare the conflict at the meeting, the conflict shall be recorded in the minutes and the Member shall abstain from discussion and voting, or the Chair may request the Member to exit from the Boardroom for the discussion on the item concerned depending on the extent of potential material benefit.

For clarification purposes, a Board Member will have a “material personal interest” in a matter that involves any of the following persons or entities receiving remuneration for the supply of goods or services, their appointment to supply goods or services for remuneration, or their terms and conditions of service for remuneration • the Board Member; or • members of the Board Member’s immediate family; or,

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Section Appendix Eleven • a person or entity closely connected with the Board Member, including an organisation which: • employs the Member; or, • nominated the Board Member for election to the Board.

9.0 Members’ Remuneration and Reimbursement of Expenses Currently no fees are paid to Board Members for their services to PIPSO. Travel and accommodation expenses are paid in accordance with the financial and accounting policies established by the Board. Any unusual expenses will be reimbursed only if prior approval has been given by the Chair.

10.0 Ethical Standards Ethical values are driven by the Board and the CEO. The Board shall honour PIPSO’s Code of Ethics.

Any gifts or donations (over a prescribed value of FJ$100) to staff are to be declared immediately to the CEO and in the case of the CEO to the Chair, and in the case of the Chair to the Board.

11.0 Good Employer Board policy and practice encompasses fair and equitable treatment of all employees with regard to demographics, gender, disability, and professional development.

The Board members are also to ensure that the Secretariat staff and those employed on contract for consultancy or contract work by PIPSO are treated with dignity and respect at all times.

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Building resilient NPSOs Appendix 7: Press Release Sample 1

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Section Appendix Eleven Appendix 8: Press Release Sample 2

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