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Somali Institutional & Capacity Development Project (SICAD) |
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Strategic Area: Democratic Governance
Alignment with strategic plan: Democratic Governance
Project Name: Somali Institutional & Capacity Development Project (SICAD)
Duration: 2006-2009
Project Summary:
SICAD’s main focus is on longer term capacity building and institutional development of government agencies through setting up of the merit-based systems and mechanisms to build the capacity of the civil service but also to support the training of civil servants in a wide range of public management skills. As part of its strategy, SICAD supports the creation and development of three permanent public administration institutes for human resource development and research based in Mogadishu, Hargeisa and Garowe. Each institute will provide a full curriculum in public administration, with some regional specialization (civil service, local governance and public administration/strategic planning). These institutes will develop permanent curricula, faculty and capacity for residential training as well as “training of trainer” courses to enable a rapid multiplication and dissemination of skills throughout Somalia. Due to the conflict in Somalia, an important skills gap has appeared within the civil service which is being addressed by the project through a rapid training needs assessment and, based on its findings, the development of job-related training and (on-line) training courses through Universities and training institutes.
Expected outputs of the project are:
- Federal and State Governments’ capacities to develop and implement policies relative to institutional development and to civil service reform strengthened
- The majority of civil servants in management, administrative and clerical positions in Somalia possessing the basic competencies for their job
- Training delivery partially decentralized to the workplace within ministries and government agencies
- Capacities of key government bodies, civil service training and tertiary institutions strengthened through increased use of ICTs
- Public Access to documents on Somalia increased
- HIV/AIDS effectively mainstreamed into the civil service and public sector’s policies, programmes and activities
- Gender policies within public sector adopted and implemented.
Implementation Description and Achievements:
UNDP provided high level expertise to the Civil Service Commission and a civil service study was conducted which identified major gaps and bottlenecks in the Somali civil service. This led to the enactment of the civil service law. In addition to technical expertise, UNDP supported the Commission with detailed training / planning sessions in recruitment policies, strategic planning, computer record systems and office set up and with operational equipment for the creation of offices and recruitment of limited staff. Through on-line distance learning facilities in the major 7 Universities in Somalia, financial planning and management courses have been provided to 170 trainees. Several of the graduated trainees have found employment in civil service and business organizations and the implementation of the Public Financial Management benefits from this expertise. In addition, specific intensive management training courses have been provided to 14 director generals and 94 heads of department and 510 civil service staff in 2006/7, through the established training institutes.
As ICT plays an important role in capacity building, ICT assessments of the Government infrastructure has taken place and implementation measures have resulted in upgraded bandwidth but also a review of current ICT policies and regulatory framework. A digital library with Somali publications, books, policy papers, research materials and studies is now operational and accessible through the internet. Awareness raising and policy dialogue has also taken place for more gender and HIV AIDS sensitive civil service. Affirmative action policy has been drafted but not yet implemented.
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Somali Institutional & Capacity Development Project (SICAD)