“This is the first time in three years that we have got a chance to sit together and I am glad to see many of you today.” Said Mr. Paulin Djomo, Director, Regional Service Centre Entebbe at the recent all staff townhall held at the Kofi Annan Hall of the Regional Training and Conference Centre.

During the session, the Director updated the staff on the various activities in the RSCE agenda and the vision for 2023.  He also provided an overview of the future of the Centre.

He advised that after no newly reported cases of Covid19 and the declaration of an Ebola free Uganda in January, the RSCE is now required to have 100% return of staff to the office as of 01 February 2023. In turn, the Business Continuity Plan (BCP), which had been extended due to the Ebola outbreak in 2022 is discontinued and all personnel are required to return the communication equipment that had been provided to them for purposes of continued service delivery except fort staff members performing critical functions.

Mr. Djomo acknowledged that there had been several changes in the well-being of staff in transportation needs, nursing for new mothers and internet access in the past three years and took the chance to update on initiatives the Centre would be taking to ease the transition.

In response to a question from Field Staff Union in Entebbe Chairperson, Dejan Stepanovic, on the welfare of breastfeeding mothers, the Director pointed out the introduction of a nursery on the RSCE campus that will be equipped with facilities to aid the mothers to express milk conveniently and privately.

He also clarified the new instruction on maternity and paternity leave that increased the leave period to 6 and 4 months respectively which was highly appreciated by the staff.

Mr. Djomo presented in detail the RSCE Standard Operating Procedure for Flexible Working Arrangement (FWA) which will be rolled out soon after the tool to register those arrangements is finalized by the IT colleagues. He insisted on the flexible part of the rule and also placed the responsibility and accountability on the Managers who should ensure the various options available in the SOP assist staff without impacting on the output of the Center.

Mr Djomo also spoke about the RSCE use of data analytics to inform Business Process Improvements (BPI) and commended the BPI team on the various improvements suggested. In specific, he pointed out the delinking of pension from the separation process. This has helped separating staff receive faster access to their pension as they wait for their final payment.

He also pledged to continue and support the RSCE contribution to the global initiatives as the Centre plays a key role with the Global Operational Support Architecture (GOSA) activities and in the global Chief of Mission (CMS)/Director of Mission (DMS) meetings.

Staff were also introduced to the newly elected Field Staff Union and National Staff Association leadership who pledged to work closely with management on staff related affairs.

At the conclusion of the engagement, the staff observed a minute of silence for colleagues and loved ones lost in the last three years.