Train-the-Trainer workshop held in Tanzania

Local Train-the-Trainer workshop
For the first time since the inception of the Train-the-Trainer workshop, the train-the-trainers event took place outside of the Netherlands. The rationale for hosting the workshop in one of IICD’s focal countries was influenced by a number of key factors, one of which concerned IICD’s deconcentration and institution building strategy. After organising two of these events (in 1999 and 2000) in the Netherlands, the Capacity Development Programme was confident that the organisation and implementation could be shifted to one of our national training partners (NTPs) in the South. This move was also in keeping with one of the goals that the NTPs become autonomous training institutions. Hosting an event such as this presented a good opportunity for one such partner, and opened further avenues for institutional building activities at Soft-Tech.

Another factor involved the need to provide such training within the local context. Soft-Tech Consultants Ltd, in Tanzania, is to date one of IICD’s strongest national training partners. It was felt that the other national training partners could learn a lot from just being at Soft-Tech for two weeks. Since Soft-Tech does operate in similar environments/contexts to our other national training partners, issues related to the overall operations of a training centre, budgeting and marketing takes on added value, as participants were then able to observe and learn first hand how those can be planned and implemented.

"Having a Train-the-Trainer workshop at a national training partner’s centre gave the rest of the team the confidence that the ability does exist within us to take up such events and host it at various national training partners in the coming years."
Sharmila Bhatt - Manager, Systems and Consultancy at Soft-Tech

Programme
The objectives of this Train-the-Trainers workshop were as follows:
· To gain familiarity with methodologies such as Technical Update Seminars, ICT Life Long Skills workshops and On-the-Job Training;
· To gain familiarity with one specific ICT subject - Wireless Telecommunications, Networking (LAN) and Database Driven Web Sites;
· To gain familiarity with certification procedures - in house and international
· The exchange of knowledge and information with other IICD partners, leading to greater cooperation; and
· To become familiar with project management, from formulation to realization.

The exact programme of the workshop was based on the activities that the national training partners performed in 2001. In addition, several follow-up activities are scheduled in 2002. The programme aims to impact on the acquisition of knowledge and crucial ICT-related skills in IICD’s focal countries. The programme includes the adequate delivery of the following workshops:

1. ICT Life Long Learning Skills workshops for IICD’s partners, using the methodologies of productive based teaching/learning and prototyping especially critical during project formulation phase;
2. Technical Update Seminars (TUS) for IICD’s partners and third parties, aimed at awareness creation/building on topical ICT subjects/issues that are being experienced by IICD’s project partners; and
3. On-the-Job Training (OTJ) for IICD’s project partners, aimed at addressing ICT skills and knowledge on the job (project) during the project implementation phase.

Methodology
The workshop’s methodology involved presentations, group (large and small) activities, discussion, excursions, experimentation and one main project to be undertaken by the participants. Smart Force courses, software and hardware, and other reference materials, including textbooks and the Internet were to be used to acquire the skills and information needed to undertake the project.

With the dual focus on ICT skills development and project management, the tangible outputs of the programme should enable the participants to:
· Design one capacity development intervention while simultaneously developing their own ICT skills and knowledge (technical update seminar, one the job training) to be implemented for IICD's project partners in each of the six countries (Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Ghana, Jamaica and Bolivia) during 2002.
· Employ the project management methodology to develop a work plan for the upcoming year that incorporates the expected capacity development deliverables; clarifies the roles and responsibilities of the training partner, along with expected activity budgets.

IICD’s Capacity Development Programme
The overall objective of IICD’s Capacity Development programme (CDP) is to contribute to the empowerment of organisations in the focal countries by strengthening their institutional capacities and by enhancing individual technical skills. The approach involves working with national training partners, focusing on the development of local capacities for organising and delivering training in ICT-related skills and knowledge. Another guiding principle is productive learning, in which a training activity must result in a well-defined ICT product or prototype.

Specific CDP objectives for 2002 and beyond are as follows:
· To enable IICD’s national training partners to perform fully autonomous capacity development operations as soon as possible; and
· To enable IICD’s partners to develop prototypes of appropriate ICTs while learning ICT applications.

To carry out these objectives, IICD employs the use of local training institutions - national training partners - whose role and function it is to help define and deliver critical information and communication technology (ICT) skills training to the project partners. With these end results in mind, two Train-the-Trainer programmes have been planned for 2002. Next to the Tanzanian Train-the-Trainer workshop in January, another workshop will be held later in the year for the French speaking focal countries - Mali and Burkina Faso.

More information
IICD/Capacity Development