• Budget process reforms and MTEFs
• Monitoring and Evaluation
• Public Expenditure Reviews
• Public Finance Diagnostics
• Public Service Reform, Capacity Building, Training
• • Human Resource Management and Development
  • Performance Management
  • Change Management
  • Training and Capacity Building
• Qualitative Research
• Quantitative surveys
• Statistical and econometric analysis

Training and Capacity Building

Capacity building is very frequently a component of public service reform projects,reflecting the desire of both recipient governments and of international donors that such projects should leave behind them sustainable change and self-sustaining new administrative arrangements.

The provision of appropriate training programmes for individuals and teams is an important aspect of capacity building, and we at OPM have substantial experience both of delivering workshops and seminars on specific topics for stakeholders and counterparts as an integral part of the project implementation process, and of designing senior management development programmes to support the longer-term strengthening of essential skills. We also make skills transfer a prominent feature of our design of public service reform projects whenever possible: as a general rule our preferred approach is to train our counterparts to carry out tasks (such as introducing new forms of performance appraisal or corporate planning, or conducting functional reviews) and to support them through the processes involved.

In addition, we have a substantial track record as providers of training services on topics such as public sector reform, public expenditure management and project cycle management to the staff of major donors such as DFID and the European Commission.

At the same time, we feel strongly that capacity building is about more than just training. Capacity refers to the ability of organisations and the people who work in them to perform their functions, set and achieve objectives, and solve the problems that confront them. Whilst capacity building may well include a significant element of training to develop skills, it may well also involve improving and strengthening the institutional and legal framework within which an organisation operates, its structure, or its internal procedures and processes. OPM therefore believes that any approach to capacity building should begin with a proper analysis of the causes of any observed weakness of performance, from which the design of an appropriate response should follow, and not assume that training to address individual skills deficits will necessarily produce a sustainable solution.

Project Examples

© 2009 Oxford Policy Management  |  Site by Torchbox

Home  |  Site map  |  About us  |  Contact  |  Back to top