Land Registry Officer, sponsored by Department, gains law degree

GIS Press Release (theHub) - October 13, 2020

The first Lands & Survey Department employee to receive a departmental scholarship to pursue an undergraduate law degree has successfully completed the programme.

Land Registry Officer 2 Regina Ebanks-Holness graduated from the Truman Bodden Law School in July with a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) degree awarded by the University of Liverpool.

Ms Ebanks-Holness has been with the Department for 14 years and it was there that her desire to become a senior leader was cemented. “Seeing the work of the Department impressed upon me the importance of land security, which affects every individual and family in our community, for the simple fact that you can use land as collateral to improve your economic circumstances,” she says.

Her achievement of the Bachelor of Laws is due to her hard work and determination. Coupled with that is the Lands & Survey Department’s succession planning programme.

As part of that succession planning, Lands and Survey implemented developmental plans to prepare various individuals to transition to senior leadership roles within the Department over both the medium and long term.

So far, the Department has awarded two scholarships to pursue the Bachelor of Laws, tenable at the Truman Bodden Law School. The scholarships, funded from the Department’s training budget, provide full financial assistance along with full-time study leave. The second scholarship holder is currently pursuing her third year.

Registrar of Lands Sophia Williams explained some other facets of the department’s succession plan: “Apart from the scholarships, we are about to implement a training plan for the employees. This is to ensure that they have a combination of technical/hard and soft skills to lead the Department forward in completing a comprehensive business process re-engineering, and modernising our systems and policies.

“Our goal is to allow the Department to achieve the highest levels of efficiency by earmarking certain key positions for succession planning. We assessed current and future needs based on the strategic plans, goals and objectives of the Registry. We matched our long term plans to the capabilities of the workforce, and developed a succession plan that would also manage the gaps that will arise when certain key positions become vacant. We wanted to ensure that we could increase the pool of people who were prepared to assume a more senior position and that they would be able to deal with tactical and operational issues. This includes good governance for public registries, covering both policy and legislative framework.”

Ms Williams says the Department’s staff members has been supportive of these efforts. “Once they became comfortable with the direction that the Department was taking they were ready to participate in the training/certification needed to effectively assist through the changes,” she comments. “It has positively impacted all staff when they see the investment that the CIG is willing to make in them as a person and as a leader. It keeps them engaged, motivated and willing to stay. The staff feels like they are managing their own careers.”

As for Ms Ebanks-Holness, she is looking forward to putting her academic achievement to work: “My newly achieved Bachelor of Laws degree coupled with my extensive land registry experience better places me to implement solutions for and with the Land Registry”.