ADB, Punjab to improve local govts

LAHORE: A one-day consultative workshop was organised with relevant stakeholders to share findings of Training Need Assessment (TNA) of local government officials besides devising strategies to strengthen design of the Punjab Local Government Academy to transform it into a leading training institution for effective service delivery at grassroots level.

The workshop was organised under the aegis of the Punjab Intermediate Cities Improvement Investment Program (PICIIP) at a local hotel where participants, including Secretary of the Local Government and Community Development (LG&CD) Department, Special Secretary of LG&CD, Directorate General of LG&CD, Secretary of Local Government Board, Project Director of PMU PICIIP, Director of PLGA Lalamusa, team leader of PICIIP and local government officials from nine districts of province participated.

The first-ever district-wise TNA was carried out in nine districts of Attock, Jhelum, Sialkot, Sargodha, Lahore, Nankana Sahib, DG Khan, Multan and Bahawalpur by PICIIP capacity-building team. Technical trainings would focus to improve planning and regulations of solid waste management, water, sanitation, parks, horticulture, recreation, and public libraries. While non-technical trainings would focus on governance, finance, human resource management, interpersonal skills, IT skills, and community participation.

“The Punjab government with the support of ADB is investing in high quality training facilities, including IT lab, high-tech training rooms and research and development cell at PLGA. A state-of-the-art new campus of PLGA with residential facilities is being constructed in Lahore,” said Project Director of PMU PICIIP Muhammad Hamza Salik.

Secretary of Local Government Asad Rehman Gilani said that reformed PLGA would be ideally placed to fill capacity-building gaps among local government and elected representatives for improved service delivery. He said that PLGA would develop linkages with national and international institutes for staff capacity-building trainings regularly.

Participants discussed organisational design, structure, capacity building and partnership models, learning and stakeholder engagement models of PLGA so that it could become a world-class facility for government officials for effective service delivery.