Twenty-two middle managers from Maldives Ports Ltd have successfully completed their training in Male from 2-10 September in Module 7 of the UNCTAD port training programme.
Entitled “Administrative and Legal Management”, the fundamental objective of Module 7 is for middle managers to better comprehend the legal environment in which their port operates.
 Operations at the Port of Male' in Maldives |
According to Dr. Bénédicte Sage, Law lecturer at University College Cork (Ireland), who conducted the course, participants were able to:
“examine the sources of port law, their own Constitution and the place of international law in the Maldivian legal system.
This has helped them better understand the relevance of constituting legislation for their day-to-day tasks and for the functions of the port, which in turn has cleared up some important misunderstandings about the role of different actors within the port community, such as Customs, the army, police and coast guard, and the various ministries interacting with the port.”
The Republic of Maldives consists of about 1,200 low-lying islands in the Indian Ocean. With the population dispersed thinly across the islands, the cost of providing transportation, infrastructure, and social services is high. Improving the efficiency of the country’s ports is therefore essential to providing better social services and infrastructure and to extending economic opportunities to all 300,000 inhabitants. Along with expanding and modernizing the port facilities, this requires investing in the human resources working in the country’s ports.
 Delivery of Module 7 of the Modern Port Management course of UNCTAD Port Training Programme |
Dr. Sage was assisted by Ms. Aiminiath Nasreena, a local lawyer with a Masters Degree in International Maritime Law from the IMO Institute in Malta. Having Ms. Nasreena work alongside Dr. Sage underscores the programme’s strategy to harness local expertise and encourage local ownership.
The funding mechanism for the Port Training Programme is set up to ensure sustainability. The beneficiary port communities themselves directly fund the programme and are responsible for organizing all training logistics.
Currently, the English-speaking network (of which Maldives is a part) also receives funding from Irish Aid – Ireland’s development agency – and has built partnerships with Dublin Port Company (Ireland), The Port of Cork (Ireland) and Belfast Harbour Commissioners (Ireland).
Module 8, the final module of the programme, is set to take place next month in the Maldives and will be delivered by local experts and senior managers. Following Module 8, the participants will write and defend a final thesis before a panel of international and local experts. If successful, they will obtain UNCTAD’s Modern Port Management Certificate.
 Participants from Maldives during the delivery of Module 7 in Male' |
