USAID PCDS FMCBS—Training Report April 2021

The Kaizen Company, LLC, served as the prime implementing partner, with The Kaizen Consulting Company (Private) Limited and Crowe Hussain Choudhary & Co. as subcontractors. The Department of Agriculture Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa was the major counterpart organization. The FMCBS team conducted a training session on operational areas and construction management for the Gomal Zam Dam Command Area Development Project (GZD-CADP) in February and March 2021. The training needs assessment was completed for all key departments of the GZD-CADP, including 25 key officials, contractors, and allied departments. Based on the assessment, 34 participants from the GZD-CADP and allied departments were identified to participate in trainings on HR management, financial management, M&E, procurement/contracts management, and construction management. The training strategy was developed to split the training into two parts. The first part of the training was conducted with the Program Implementation Unit (PIU) in D.I Khan and addressed the needs of both the GZD-CADP as well as the allied department staff who are engaged in accounting, finance, procurement, administration, M&E, and construction management. The training covered fundamental concepts of USAID cost principles, GOP HR policies, general financial rules, procurement operations, executions of works, and the hiring of consulting firms or individual consultants. The second half of the training was conducted in D.I Khan to address the needs of the newly hired batch of officers from the PIU. This part of the training focused on strategic issues of finance, budgeting, procurement, USAID reporting, internal auditing, and quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC). The training program included Training of Trainer (TOT) sessions in each functional area of project management, including finance, procurement, human resources (HR), monitoring and evaluation (M&E), and auditing. The FMCBS team developed a detailed training content plan, which included presentations on cost principles, human resources, and financial management. The training plan was designed to focus on achieving Objective Two of the Task Order, which is to enhance the capacity of personnel to procure, monitor, and manage infrastructure-related services and its inherent risks. The training program was delivered in the local language and relevant case studies were discussed for practical application for participants. The training program was designed to build the training capacity of the DOA-KP and to allocate resources more efficiently. The FMCBS team provided guidance for trainers trained under the TOT program to create their own training plans to conduct future refreshers or other relevant trainings. The training program was conducted in two phases, with the first phase focusing on fundamental concepts and the second phase focusing on strategic issues. The training program was attended by 34 participants from the GZD-CADP and allied departments. The participants were engaged in accounting, finance, procurement, administration, M&E, and construction management. The training program was designed to enhance the capacity of personnel to procure, monitor, and manage infrastructure-related services and its inherent risks. The training program was delivered in the local language and relevant case studies were discussed for practical application for participants. The training program was evaluated to assess its effectiveness in achieving the objectives of the Task Order. The evaluation revealed that the training program was successful in enhancing the capacity of personnel to procure, monitor, and manage infrastructure-related services and its inherent risks. The training program was also successful in building the training capacity of the DOA-KP and allocating resources more efficiently.