1. Guiding Principles
The following principles guide and inform the work of the SSNED.

• The programme of activities should reflect the agreed priorities of Network members, as indicated in its work programme, and the benefits of membership should be accessible by all interested Network members.
• The expertise and experience that resides within small states are to be drawn upon to the maximum extent possible, in recognition of the fact that the particularities of small states (e.g., they are relatively susceptible to exogenous shocks and natural disasters, have economies that are economically open and unable easily to diversify, and suffer from ‘indivisibilities’ of overhead expenditures, because these cannot be downscaled to population size) necessarily require that they devise appropriately focused and scaled approaches in line with their challenges.
• The programme of activities is to be focused on practical issues and driven by comparative advantage.
• The mobilization of resources for this program are to be based on additionality and should not result in the diversion of existing funding to small states.

2. Core Focal Themes
The specific activities to be incorporated into the Network’s work programme are to be determined through consultation with members.  However to ensure selectivity, it is be important that the programme reflects comparative advantage and remains focused on the following core themes:

• building the capacity of public sector institutions to modernize the domestic economy and facilitate its more effective integration in the world economy;
• developing private sector capacity needed to promote international competitiveness;
• encouraging private-public partnerships to support the efficient provision of public services;
• addressing environmental and natural disaster concerns;
• strengthening outreach and knowledge building/sharing among small states.

3.  Comparative Advantage
To fulfil its mission, and given the scale at which the Network is expected to operate, it is important that the operational areas and issues where the Network enjoys comparative advantage be identified, so as to maximize the potential benefits Network can provide to small states.  More generally, the Network’s comparative advantage lies in two features:

(i) the Network is owned and run by the small states themselves, and is therefore deeply familiar with the challenges facing small states and with the individuals who have relevant expertise specifically scaled to small states, and
(ii) the Network is a linked network, not an organization, and benefits from its informality, flexibility, and minimal structure

4. Implementation Methods
In fulfillment of its mission, guided by its principles, reflecting its thematic focus, and based on comparative advantage, the Network will finance specific interventions.  While the form of implementation will be dictated ultimately by a judgment as to the best way to address a particular challenge in light of resources available, some implementation methods are likely to be particularly beneficial.  These include:

• Twinning: twinning small state institutions with low capacity with small state institutions that have mature policies and processes provides many advantages, including the building of long-term dynamic and constructive relationships, and peer-to-peer learning that is often more resource- and cost-effective than traditional technical assistance approaches.  
• Education, training, and advocacy: In many cases, activities will have principally education, training, or advocacy objectives, taking existing work and making it accessible to Network members.  Further, in keeping with the practical focus of the program, even where activities are research-based, it is expected that they will have education, training and/or advocacy/information dissemination elements to ensure that activity deliverables are communicated and applied.
• Technical assistance: Traditional technical assistance models may be applicable in some situations.  Again, however, in the spirit of the Network’s objectives, every effort will be made firstly to identify technical support from within small states, including drawing on small state regional centres of excellence, before seeking expert advice and assistance from wider afield.  In utilizing technical assistance, every care will be taken to ensure that known pitfalls (dependency, unnecessary output complexity, lack of absorptive capacity) are considered and managed.