It is senior management’s hope that the facilitation that will be given in these workshops will go a long way in addressing the identified teething problems. It is extremely important that you all realize from the very outset that you will be the anchors for the success of this process for your respective departments. For this reason, it is imperative that you understand in full the processes that will be discussed in this workshop. Senior management’s expectation is that you will acquire the necessary tools to enable you facilitate the proper completion of the Context Establishment and Risk Identification exercises within your respective departments. Ladies and Gentlemen: Allow me to give you a brief background on the implementation of the Risk Management Framework at the Bank of Zambia. You will recall that starting in October 2006 through April 2007, the Risk Management Department embarked on a programme of sensitizing all the members of staff and the Board of Directors on the establishment of the risk management framework at the Bank. Given that these workshops had coverage of 99% of all Bank of Zambia staff, I am more than confident that most of you were participants in those workshops. The end of this series of workshops, marked the end of Phase I of the implementation programme of the Risk Management Framework at the Bank. Following the end of the risk sensitization workshops the next stage required the implementation of the framework in the business areas.
As officers at the frontline of risk management in the Bank, you are expected to be conversant with the risk management process that is being implemented at the Bank, and there is no better platform to provide that opportunity than now! To this end, the programme of that this workshop is organized in such a way as to be highly interactive. Therefore, I urge you to feel free to ask as many questions as possible. With these few words, it is now my singular honor and privilege to declare this workshop officially open. I thank you. 2  BIS Review 71/2008