Regional Training Programme for FITCA established through a Training Needs Assesment in Kenya and Uganda..PDF

A consultancy was commissioned in March 2000 to assess the needs for training at regional level in the FITCA programme, before engaging in any training activity. FITCA is a regional project for the East African countries Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Tanzania and will be joined by Rwanda and Burundi at a later stage. It has a regional Coordination Office in Nairobi at the offices of OAU/IBAR, the umbrella organisation of FITCA. The objective of the regional component is amongst others, to offer training which is beneficial to the national projects under FITCA. At the time of this consultancy only Kenya was operational as a project and Uganda was about to start with the Technical Assistant already in place. It is for this reason, that only Kenya and Uganda were visited during the consultancy. In order to design a training programme, the target group and its training needs need to be identified. This was done through interviews with stakeholders in the programme, research and training institutions, NGO's, study of project and related documents and through Training Needs Assessment Workshops which were held in Kenya and Uganda. Participants of these workshops represented the job categories which will implement FITCA project activities. In Kenya the 2-day workshop was held in Busia where the Project Management Unit (PMU) is based. Participants represented Government (Veterinarians, Zoologists, Agriculturists) and Community based Organisations, the Kenya—Finland LDP and private Veterinarians and Animal Health Assistants. In Uganda the 2-day workshop was held in Jinja, where the PMU shall be located, once the project starts. Participants represented Government (Headquarter, District level Veterinarians, Entomologists, Sleeping Sickness Control Medics, Agriculturists). Although project implementation will eventually be carried out also by the private sector, no representatives are as yet involved in project preparation. An approved methodology for the assessment of training needs was used, in which a duty and task analysis of jobs was carried out. The skills required for these activities were then identified. The next step of analysis was modified to fit the needs of FITCA. Instead of comparing these skills with the participant's own job description, as usually done, they were asked to compare the skills with their future role in FITCA and identify the knowledge gaps. For a better understanding of this role FITCA activities and the human resource profile required for implementation were elaborated. Participants were also asked to extend their assessment to their subordinates, or, in the case of non-Government participants, to their clients. The latter part of the exercise gave the required information to assume the needs of job categories and beneficiaries, such as farmers, not present at the workshops. Training needs were identified and ranked for priority for each job category. For the groups of Animal health/disease control personnel, Rural development (crops and livestock) personnel and Tsetse control personnel, the training needs in Kenya and Uganda were comparable and common needs were listed. Although as groups not comparable because they featured only on one workshop, the social and extension workers, the private entrepreneurs, SS control personnel and managers also had certain training needs in common with the other groups.