Three representatives of the office of the Social Economic Council (SER) Sint Maarten took part in a highly successful three day workshop with their sister organizations from Aruba, the Netherlands and hosts Curacao. The sessions were held from Monday, April 16 through Wednesday, April18. Valuable information was exchanged, experiences were discussed and best practices established. The staff of the Sint Maarten SER was represented by secretary-general Gerard Richardson, senior policy advisor Arjen Alberts as well as policy advisor Daniëlle Choennie-Babel.From the long-standing Dutch tradition of negotiations between social partners, also known as the 'poldermodel', representatives of the Dutch SER relayed valuable insights into the workings of their organization. The role of the Dutch SER in promoting social stability and harmonious cooperation between business and labor interests was covered in depth. Senior economic affairs officer Niels Achterberg and social affairs officer Sander Tjeerds gave a number of extensive presentations and case studies elaborating on the intricacies of the Dutch SER and its 60 year tradition.
From the Caribbean part of the Kingdom the Social Economic Councils of Curaçao and Aruba were in attendance. Each organization shared their objectives, tasks and work processes with the other participants. Aruba's SER spoke from their almost 25 years of experience, Curaçao drawing in part on the established practices of the former Netherlands Antilles SER, and Sint Maarten contributing their plans, experiences and challenges in building up their brand-new organization.
SER Curacao, hosting the workshop, was represented by secretary-general Josephine Provence and policy advisors Jean Dictus, Marilva Dall and Sharlyn Villarreal. From the Aruban Social Economic Council secretary-general Felix Bijlhout was accompanied by policy advisors Erika Perregil and Andrina Nicolaas. On the last day the Chairman of SER Curaçao, Mr Stanley Betrian sat down with all participants and allowed them to ask questions.
Apart from fostering fruitful working relationships between all national social economic councils of the Kingdom, the recently established Sint Maarten SER in particular benefited greatly by discussing the experience of their longer existing peers. The costs of the Sint Maarten participation in the workshop were carried by Dutch development funds from the project 'Establishment of the High Councils of State', managed by USONA.
The three-day workshop was unanimously deemed a resounding success by all participants. Already well-defined plans have been made to follow up this initiative with new workshops involving all four partners. In addition, SER Sint Maarten has planned an orientation visit to the Netherlands in May 2012, visiting the national SER as well as several regional social economic councils in different parts of the country. This visit will involve council members as well as staff members of the institution.