LAHORE: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Punjab government joined hands to improve local government service delivery in Punjab.
“The Punjab government with the support of ADB is investing in high-quality training facilities, including information lab, high-tech training rooms and research and development cell at PLGA,” said Project Director PMU PICIIP Muhammad Hamza Salik while addressing a one-day consultative workshop organised under the aegis of Punjab Intermediate Cities Improvement Investment Program (PICIIP) here on Saturday.
The workshop was attended by Punjab Local Government and Community Development (LG&CD) Secretary Asad Rehman Gilani, senior local government officials, Director Punjab Local Government Academy (PLGA) Lalamusa, Team Leader PICIIP and local government officials from nine districts of the province.
The aim of the workshop was to share findings of the Training Need Assessment (TNA) of local government officials with the stakeholders besides devising strategies to strengthen the design of Punjab Local Government Academy to transform it into a leading training institution for effective service delivery at grassroots level.
Hamza Salik further said that a state-of-the-art new campus of PLGA with residential facilities is being constructed in Lahore.
Punjab Local Government Secretary Asad Rehman Gilani said that a reformed PLGA would be ideally placed to fill capacity-building gaps among local government and elected representatives for improved service delivery. He added that PLGA would develop linkages with national and international institutes for staff capacity-building training regularly.
On this occasion, the participants discussed organisational design, structure, capacity building and partnership models, and learning and stakeholder engagement models of PLGA so that it could become a world-class facility for government officials for effective service delivery.
This was the first-ever district-wise TNA carried out in nine districts of Attock, Jhelum, Sialkot, Sargodha, Lahore, Nankana Sahib, DG Khan, Multan and Bahawalpur by the PICIIP capacity-building team.
Technical training would focus to improve planning and regulations of solid waste management, water, sanitation, parks, horticulture, recreation, and public libraries. While non-technical training would focus on governance, finance, human resource management, interpersonal skills, IT skills, and community participation.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022