When a policy maker is formulating a policy he or she can seriously risk that this could become sterile if the ways on how this should be implemented are not carefully thought out. However, even if these are carefully thought out one could also risk that due to external circumstances these could not be implemented.

It is not always easy to foresee future events, though a good policy maker should also be able to analyse the trends and carefully map out the directions that the events surrounding him or her are taking. This is not by any means an easy job and the results of any policy can only be carefully assessed when it is implemented. However, careful planning and thinking reduce the risk of failure and greatly increase the odds that a policy will succeed.

Policy making however should not be a onetime exercise. It should be continuous. The policy maker should be able to churn out a number of ideas and also be able to reformulate policies in the best possible manner as circumstances continuously change. The island of Gozo is a socio economic reality which is in itself continuously changing and evolving. Though it is nice to think of Gozo as a place where time stood still the reality is totally different. This may be an interesting concept in order to put an island in a specific niche for tourism purposes, however one would also run the risk of underestimating the real changes that the Gozitan society has been living in recent times and consequently not be able to face the deep challenges and difficulties that it is facing today.

One such reality is that Gozo’s best minds have to go to Malta in order to find better work opportunities. One cannot deny that incentives to employ graduates have not been given. However, in this way one has only been creating opportunities within sectors which are already operating within the Gozitan economy. Thus Gozo is constantly experienced a brain drain, since if one wants to work in Gozo one has to work within specific areas such as tourism and back office work. Surely, not the best way to stop the haemorrhage that Gozo is constantly experiencing.

I’m not saying that it is not good to create work opportunities in these areas, on the contrary. However, one also needs to think of other ways. One policy maker after the other have thought of Gozo within a certain mindframe. Certain policies have brought with them good results such as for example the creation of niche tourism areas such as scuba diving or investing in certain areas such as the crafts incubation centre. Other good policies have been the creation of back office work. However, it often seems that once a good idea is found it is used to the maximum and the thinking stops there. One must also point out that policy ideas both from policy makers and from certain sectors of Gozitan society have many a times been in reactive mode rather than proactive.

Creating an independent policy think thank which constantly formulates policies and put forwards suggestions to Government may be a good idea that could be implemented effectively in Gozo. The experiment by Government to set up a regional committee for Gozo within the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development has surely been a step in the right direction. However it is important that this Committee does not think within the Government’s framework and be critical while at the same time conducive to effective policy making. There are surely other ways that could be explored to strengthen Gozo’s economy and society to be able to face today’s realities and changes. However, there must be continuous and effective thinking in order to be able to reach this objective.

Daniel Borg
Sannat Gozo