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Training Needs Assessment

UMC helps undertake training needs assessments and have developed specific tools and frameworks for capacity enhancement needs for urban institutions and local governments. UMC comes with a vast experience of preparing e-learning content for adult audiences.

As a result of one of the assessments, UMC has helped launch an e-learning portal for city managers in India. The e-learning portal is being used for capacity building by knowledge sharing by officers at all levels. 

Training Needs Assessment Projects
City Managers’ Association Development, India Training Needs Assessment of City Managers in Urban Transport in Gujarat Training Needs Assessment of City Managers In Sustainable Urban Transportation Training Needs Assessment of City Managers in Urban Transport in Gujarat Training Needs Assessment for Surat Municipal Corporation 
City Managers’ Association Development, India

Client: US Asia Environmental Partnership-a program of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Location: India

Duration: September 2001 – September 2005 

Urban local bodies, anywhere in the world, are constantly grappling with problems. It’s firefighting for city managers every day. They have to face acute and varied pressures. There is a general perception that municipal authorities function poorly, and not to the satisfaction of the citizens! This may or may not be true for all cities. In the rapidly changing urban scenario, however, there are encouraging signs of leadership and innovation among urban local bodies, initiatives that are indicative of administrative and political will for improving urban management. UMC promotes sound urban development in Asia, focusing on financial management, decentralization, association building, citizen participation, community development, environmental policy, participant training, performance measurement, and strategic planning. UMC provides technical assistance activities. It provides advisory services to newly formed and established municipal associations and local government leagues; gives guidance to local governments participating in Resource Cities or other donor-funded local governments; facilitates information generation and information sharing and enables facilitation of grants, study tours, and conferences. 

Since 1997, UMC has established 13 city managers associations with funding from USAID. These CMAs are located in Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttaranchal, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa. Developing the capacity of India’s CMAs is a critical step in professionalizing the country’s urban local bodies, raising awareness of urban issues with the state and central governments, and advocating for greater decentralization and financial/administrative autonomy. UMC assisted in designing and conducting the formation workshops for these City Managers’ Associations, in drafting their memorandums of associations, and assistance for their formal registration. 

UMC also provided assistance to recruit and train the secretariat for the CMAs. UMC conducts annual workshops to build the capacity of the secretariat in financial management, grants management, service delivery, association development, strategic planning, performance measurement, staff development, environmental management, and performance measurement. UMC has also conducted several orientation programs for the CMA board members and administered grants to hire coordinators and purchase needed office equipment for each of the associations. UMC has provided training on best practices dissemination and continues to facilitate the sharing of information among CMAs and local governments throughout India; the organization published a toolkit “Institutionalizing City Managers’ Associations in India” as a guide towards sustainable city managers’ associations.

UMC continues to serve as a mentor for the CMAs in India and provides on-going guidance on association development issues. Technical assistance activities include: 

null Advisory services to newly formed and established municipal associations and local government leagues. 

null Guidance to local governments participating in Resource Cities or other donor-funded local governments. 

null Facilitates information generation and information sharing. 

null Facilitation of grants, study tours, and conferences. 

Some achievements of these associations have been: 

nullA sense of camaraderie among city managers across sectors. The creation of a strong, sustainable network of local government professionals that provide targeted, demand-driven professional development, information/research, networking, and advocacy services to municipalities. 

nullContinued Education Opportunities “Continued Education” is a concept well recognized in the corporate sector. The concept has been well received and paid off extremely well in terms of enhanced efficiency and improved skills. Unfortunately the same has very recently percolated to the government sector. CMAs organize regular workshops and hands-on training programs for their membership in diverse areas ranging from strategic planning, effective team building, financial management to hardcore technical areas. 

nullIncreased knowledge and easy access to best practices/good initiatives and technological know-how from across the country as well as from other developed nations. To date, city managers’ associations have documented and disseminated more than 200 innovative practices, which have led to the overall improvement of urban management in India. This documentation has led to a number of study tours and the facilitation of replication of these practices. CMAs also pair up ULBs to facilitate the transfer of these successful initiatives.

 

Related Resource Documents 

For more information contact us at info@umcasia.org 

Training Needs Assessment of City Managers in Urban Transport in Gujarat

Client: Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation,  Climate Works Foundation

Location: Gujarat

Duration: June 2013

Rapidly growing cities and increasing economic activities in urban areas have exacerbated issues in urban transportation. A majority of cities in India face the challenges of providing integrated urban transportation. These problems could be mostly attributed to inadequate transport infrastructure and its sub-optimal use, no integration of land use and transport planning, and few improvements in city bus service. Most such problems arise due to complex institutional arrangements, insufficient finances to create infrastructure, and inadequacies in ULBs. In view of these issues, the Government of India approved the National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP) in April 2006. The JNNURM has also been supporting transportation sector-linked investments in the areas of bus, rail, and related infrastructure. City governments’ capacity to undertake the responsibility of providing appropriate urban transport needed assessment. With this objective in mind, UMC, with financial support from ClimateWorks Foundation and Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, assessed the capacity of city governments in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh to understand, plan, operate and manage sustainable urban transportation systems.

null Challenges in urban transport in smaller cities in Gujarat were identified as follows: 

null Increasing demand for transport due to increasing urban area.

null Increasing car & two-wheeler ownership.

null Auto oriented transport solutions such as road widening and flyovers are more popular

null Inadequate investment in public transport.

null Rise in congestion, pollution, and consumption of fossil fuels.

null Current public transport options are unsafe, unreliable, and unaffordable for a large sector of the population.

null Lack of integrated planning/coordination between various agencies.

The objective of the study was to assess the gap in the capacities of senior and middle management staff in Municipal Corporations and Development Authorities to plan, operate, and manage sustainable urban transport systems. Strengthening urban local governments by capacity-building and better financial management was identified as a key strategy for urban development in the Government of India’s 11th five-year plan. The plan identified the lack

of skilled manpower as one of the key concerns in urban development and recommends capacity-building programs to address capacity gaps in urban local bodies. Phase I of JNNURM launched in 65 cities in India also clearly highlighted the need for long-term capacity-building support to the cities in the successful implementation of projects. Training Needs Assessment was the first step in the establishment of a comprehensive training and capacity development program for cities in Gujarat in the area of sustainable urban transport.

Once various departments involved in the planning and implementation of urban transport in Gujarat were identified, a gap analysis was conducted to assess how successful a particular authority/ department has been in implementing sustainable transport projects and policy reforms that are within its domain. The gap analysis was primarily conducted based on a review of existing documents, field visits, interviews with administrative and technical staff, and UMC’s understanding of sustainable transport. 

Related Resource Documents 

For more information contact us at info@umcasia.org 

Training Needs Assessment of City Managers In Sustainable Urban Transportation

 

Client: Shakti Foundation, Climate Works Foundation

Location: Gujarat & Tamil Nadu

Duration: January 2012- September 2012

 

Due to rapidly growing cities across India, underpricing of hydrocarbon fuel and increasing economic activities in urban areas has exacerbated the issues in urban transportation and roads. The high powered expert committee (HPEC) on Indian urban infrastructure states that “the highly inadequate and poor quality of the public transport system in Indian cities not only poses a major challenge to realizing the growth potential of the economy but also has an adverse impact on the health and wellbeing of the people”. In view of these issues, the Government of India approved the National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP) in April 2006. The JnNURM has also been supporting the transportation sector linked investments in the areas of bus, rail, and related infrastructure. The objective of transportation TNA is to assess the capacity of the senior and middle management staff of ULBs to understand, plan, operate and manage sustainable urban transportation systems in two of the most urbanized states of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu

UMC’s experience has led to conclude that capacity enhancement involves more than strengthening of individual skills and abilities. Trained individuals need an appropriate environment, and the proper mix of opportunities and incentives to use their acquired knowledge. The first two of transportation TNA were facilitated through a series of interviews (with CEOs, mayors, and municipal commissioners), focus group discussions with standing committee members, SWOT workshops with selected officials of the ULBs. The institutional assessment was facilitated across the ten ULBs with key interviews with officials responsible for capacity building followed by self-assessments by Heads of Department’s (HOD) of relevant departments.

UMC conducted documentary research of internal institution reports, annual reports, organization and staffing charts of the 10 ULBs.

UMC had discussions with respective state-level nodal agencies (GUDM and TNUFIDCO) as well as the Ministry of Urban Development, JnNURM cell, and IUT to gain their perspectives on the needs for training needs assessment.

UMC organized research on the City Development Plans prepared by these ULBs and the memorandum of agreement signed by these ULBs with the MOUD, Govt. of India for an insight into the extent of transportation projects being undertaken by the ULBs under JNNURM, reforms implementation timeline.

UMC, in consensus with ULBs, organized a detailed discussion with senior officials/department heads and middle management officials from these ULBs. Tools used for the needs assessment exercise: 

SWOT analysis – help the organizations to appreciate the strengths of a situation, define the weaknesses, make the most of the opportunities that present themselves, and recognize the possible threats and treat them in a planned and organized way.

Key informant interviews with the municipal commissioner, key municipal staff engaged in JNNURM activities, and administration of the ULBs. 

Interviews and discussions with selected officials of the ULBs and with officials in-charge of training within ULBs.

Preparation of detailed individual capacity questionnaire.

Systems Capacity Assessment: In a public domain project, the importance of systems cannot be overemphasized as systems create an institutionalized response and create an institutional identity with cost-effectiveness. It also provides a smooth continuation of response in times of leadership change, transfers, induction of new people in the organization which are not infrequent in urban sector institutions.

UMC benchmarked institutions, functions, and departments over various systems through an institutional capacity tool which will be self-assessed by ULBs.

 

For more information contact us at info@umcasia.org 

Training Needs Assessment of City Managers in Urban Transport in Gujarat

 

Client: Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, Climate Works Foundation

Location: Gujarat

Duration: June 2013

Rapidly growing cities and increasing economic activities in urban areas have exacerbated issues in urban transportation. A majority of cities in India face the challenges of providing integrated urban transportation. These problems could be mostly attributed to inadequate transport infrastructure and its sub-optimal use, no integration of land use and transport planning, and few improvements in city bus service. Most such problems arise due to complex institutional arrangements, insufficient finances to create infrastructure, and inadequacies in ULBs. In view of these issues, the Government of India approved the National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP) in April 2006. The JNNURM has also been supporting transportation sector-linked investments in the areas of bus, rail, and related infrastructure. City governments’ capacity to undertake the responsibility of providing appropriate urban transport needed assessment. With this objective in mind, UMC, with financial support from Climate Works Foundation and Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, assessed the capacity of city governments in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh to understand, plan, operate and manage sustainable urban transportation systems.

Challenges in urban transport in smaller cities in Gujarat were identified as follows: 

null Increasing demand for transport due to increasing urban area.
null Increasing car & two-wheeler ownership.
null Auto oriented transport solutions such as road widening and flyovers are more popular
null Inadequate investment in public transport.
null Rise in congestion, pollution, and consumption of fossil fuels.
null Current public transport options are unsafe, unreliable, and unaffordable for a large sector of the population.
null Lack of integrated planning/coordination between various agencies.

The objective of the study was to assess the gap in the capacities of senior and middle management staff in Municipal Corporations and Development Authorities to plan, operate, and manage sustainable urban transport systems. Strengthening urban local governments by capacity-building and better financial management was identified as a key strategy for urban development in the Government of India’s 11th five-year plan. The plan identified the lack

of skilled manpower as one of the key concerns in urban development and recommends capacity-building programs to address capacity gaps in urban local bodies. Phase I of JNNURM launched in 65 cities in India also clearly highlighted the need for long-term capacity-building support to the cities in the successful implementation of projects. Training Needs Assessment was the first step in the establishment of a comprehensive training and capacity development program for cities in Gujarat in the area of sustainable urban transport.

Once various departments involved in the planning and implementation of urban transport in Gujarat were identified, a gap analysis was conducted to assess how successful a particular authority/ department has been in implementing sustainable transport projects and policy reforms that are within its domain. The gap analysis was primarily conducted based on a review of existing documents, field visits, interviews with administrative and technical staff, and UMC’s understanding of sustainable transport. 

Related Resource Documents 

For more information contact us at info@umcasia.org 

Training Needs Assessment for Surat Municipal Corporation 

 

Client: National Institute for Urban Affairs

Place: Surat

Duration:  June 2013

Many city governments fall short in skilled human resources with the technical capacity to accomplish daily administrative and project-related tasks. To identify the training needs and to implement administrative reforms under JnNURM, Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) commissioned the Training Needs Assessment (TNA) to the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA). The broad objectives of the assessment were as follows: 

null To identify training needs based on present manpower available in SMC.

null To identify specific training modules relevant to the responsibilities of the officials in the corporation. 

null Enhancing professional knowledge and skills leading to performance improvement through assessment and analysis of training needs. 

null To facilitate in preparation of a need-oriented training calendar for SMC in the future. 

NIUA with technical assistance from Urban Management Centre (UMC) conducted TNA of SMC using both qualitative and quantitative methods. SWOT analysis, detailed meetings, and interviews were used to gather qualitative outcomes whereas individual questionnaires were used to find quantitative results.  Meetings were conducted with key informants; Mayor, Municipal Commissioner, and divisional heads. A separate SWOT analysis was conducted with the elected wing, engineering department, administrative and financial sector officials. 

SMC is regarded as one of the models of excellence in urban management post its transformation from being one of the filthiest cities to its present image of the cleanest city. TNA aims to create a dedicated and suitable capacity for SMC to prioritize, conceptualize, develop, and manage the JnNURM supported reforms. 

Related Resource Documents 

For more information contact us at info@umcasia.org 

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