MINISTRY of Lands officers in the Urban, Rural and customer service divisions completed a 4-day training workshop this week in Honiara.
Senior officers took turns in presenting on their particular areas of expertise to the other officers who were less familiar with those areas. By the end of the workshop, all the tasks that Lands Officers undertake had been covered.
At the commencement of the workshop, Deputy Secretary (Administration) Margaret Qoloni Etua acknowledged the funding support from the Australian Government to make the workshop possible in the first place, and informed the officers present that this workshop is a valuable learning experience, not just for those listening but also for those officers who are presenting.
Commissioner of Lands Alan McNeil organised the program, and said the workshop had been a great success, and there are already calls to hold such a workshop once a year to refresh officer’s knowledge and skills, and also to extend the training to other divisions of the Ministry apart from just lands officers.
“It is clear that officers are learning a lot from each presentation, even senior officers were not aware of some aspects of the Ministry’s work or each detail of each procedure, so this workshop has been a great success in informing all lands officers” said the Commissioner.
Topics covered in the training included how to deal with land applications, how to assess applications for consent for transfer, bank charge and subdivisions, how to prepare letters of offer, grant instruments and lodge them for registration.
