The Office of the Ombudsman completed a 4 days retreat from the 13th to the 16th of January 2020 at the Melanesian Hotel.

Ombudsman Bulu having discussions with staffs

The purpose of the retreat was to finalise the 2020 Ombudsman Strategic plan as well as a refocus on the objectives of the Ombudsman’s Office for the year 2020.

The Office Structure also came under review at that time and a new proposed one was developed along with the 2020 final budget allocation in accordance with the 2020 financial year budget appropriations.

Ombudsman Bulu stressed that the Office has to be effective and efficient in carrying out its mandatory functions with its limited budget. He also confirmed that there are opportunities for improvement in how the office carries out its investigations and also the effectiveness of Ombudsman’s Investigators.

The current Investigations processes of the office was also reviewed to plans for further trainings of staffs and increase in the number of awareness to be conducted. Ombudsman Bulu also stressed that it is important that people of the Republic of Vanuatu are aware of the functions of the Ombudsman and how they can assist to carry out those functions.