2016 Staff Retreat, 27-29 January 2016, Maubara Liquiçá

2015 has been one of the achievable years for CNA where the office managed to complete and successfully implement several major procurement processes. It was not an easy year but it progressed well towards the end of the year. Prior to the starting of the new consecutive year of the routine business process for 2016, the office decided to go over a reflection of the past progress and prepare the new strategies for the coming year by having a 2 day staff retreat in Maubara. 2016 Staff retreat is the third retreat undertaken by CNA with the theme: Recognize the Importance of Spirited Teamwork (a Fun Reflection). The main objective of the retreat was to develop staff cohesion, to reflect about the past business processes and identify the priorities and their importance for the future. After an intensive year of burdensome monotonous work, the staff needs some time to gather with the different business views in a relaxing environment in order to share thoughts and ideas on how to improve business in the future. The retreat got the participation of most of the CNA’s staff from Corporate Services, Procurement section, National and International advisors/specialists. The main points of discussion during the retreat were to harmonize internal communication, the importance of team work spirit,  the progress of internal procurement training and the utilization of PAS system.  

There were new things introduced during the retreat such as the establishment of the Learning Committee and Election for Staff Association. At the end of the retreat, there were several recommendations adopted such as: conducting regular staff meetings to bring the issue on communication and find the way to solve it; the Learning Committee (LC) is supposed to review the training needs of the institution and identify potential staff for further career development; the Staff Association will become a bridge for staff issues and will support CNA’s functions;  Procurement Assistants, Officers and Specialists are supposed to contribute by updating the procurement process and progress in the PAS system and using this system as the main source of procurement reports once they have been completed.