National Capacity Building Workshop On Edprs Held

The Ministry of Public Service and Labour (MIFOTRA) in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MINECOFIN), the Human Resources and Institutional Capacity Development Agency (HIDA), with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) organized a one day national consultative workshop on “ Capacity Building Challenges in the Implementation of the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS).” The workshop took place on Tuesday, 5 September 2006 at 8.00 am at Hotel Intercontinental .

The Rt. Hon. Prime Minister, Bernard Makuza, officially opened the workshop. Participants at the workshop included cabinet ministers, diplomats, heads of international organizations, senior officials from public institutions, representatives from the private sector and civil society.

The workshop was aimed at raising awareness and creating the necessary readiness for all stakeholders (the public sector, private sector and civil society) in the implementation of EDPRS for the forthcoming national surveys (nation-wide skills audit; labour market survey and mapping of capacity building interventions) to secure their full participation and ownership. In addition, the workshop as an opportunity to underscore the importance of capacity building as a necessary ingredient in the development process, drawing lessons of experience from the implementation of PRSP 1. Finally the consultative workshop was an opportunity to bring on board policy makers and development partners to appreciate the importance Government attaches to capacity building, and, target appropriate investments to closing identified capacity gaps in specific sector development framework.

In his speech, the Rt. Hon Prime Minister, stressed the need for a reflection on the approaches to capacity building, lessons learned and strategizing for a better capacity building approach in the implementation of EDPRS. “We need to come up with a proper definition of capacity building and critically identify the roles of each stakeholder,” he said.

The UNDP Resident Representative, Mr. John Kakonge urged Rwanda to emulate Singapore and Malaysia in building capacities. Kakonge cautioned participants that capacity building is not a one off process, but rather a long and continuous process, blended with a lot of challenges.

The Minister of Public Service and Labour, Hon. Nshuti, reiterated that capacity building challenges have been a major hinderance to attaining the targets of the Vision 2020. He reported that Government is developing strategies to address these challenges and that one of them is the National Skills Audit across all sectors of the economy.

Key presentations at workshop were delivered by the Secretary General, MIFOTRA on the importance of the National Skills Audit and Labour Market Survey ; Mr. Ernest Rwamucyo, Director General, MINECOFIN presented on the capacity constraints as a major challenge in the implementation of PRSP 1 ; and the Director of HIDA, Mr. Charles Karake, presented on the strategic framework for capacity building interventions in Rwanda – the multi sector approach.

The workshop Principal Advisor, Mr. Joseph Mugore, who was a guest speaker, from UNDP regional office in South Africa , gave a very informative lecture on “Best Practices and Lessons Learned in Capacity Building .” He used his wealth of experience and expertise to illustrate various examples from Africa to underscore capacity building practices, interventions and what lessons were learned.

In line with developing a comprehensive and holistic approach to capacity interventions across all sectors and drawing lessons learnt in the course of implementing PRSP 1, participants recommended among others the following: that there is need for a common understanding and clear definition of what capacity building entails; there is need to conduct a mapping exercise to determine ongoing and planned capacity building interventions across sectors and identify key players and their role within the EDPRS objectives; there is need to carry out a comprehensive skills audit to determine the skills required, skills available and determine the skills gaps; and that there is need to align the labour market demand with the skills supply.

The workshop was closed by Hon. Monique Nsanzabaganwa, Minister of State in Charge of Economic Planning who urged participants to translate their recommendations into implementable actions.