By Abraham Donkor
The Local Government Service (LGS), and the Institute of Local Government Studies(ILGS) have launched a Scheme of Service Training Programme for Professional Staff of the Local Government Service in Accra. The training is to improve the technical competencies, skills and attitudes of Local Government Service Staff nationwide. This has become necessary because local government has changed from administering instructions to providing and managing high quality local public services that cost less to the public purse.
In his welcome address, the Director of the Institute of Local Government Studies, ILGS, Dr. Nicholas Awortwi said the Scheme of Service training was conceived somewhere in 2013. It was piloted for a few career beginners in the local government service but did not go beyond a few training days. In 2019, the leadership of ILGS and the Head of Local Government Service decided to reinvent the service training not because they thought it was trendy to do so, but were convinced of the necessity to improve the professionalism of the service. Consequently, over the past 2years, the ILGS with the support of the Office of the Head of LG service, the IMCC and the Office of the District Assembly Common Fund have developed 98 training courses to be delivered to different professional classes of the service. Dr Awortwi highlighted some benefits of the training programme. “Consequently, over the past 2years, the ILGS with the support of the Office of the Head of LG service, the IMCC and the Office of the District Assembly Common Fund have developed 98 training courses to be delivered to different professional classes of the service. The Enhanced Scheme of Service is different from any other training that ILGS organizes. This training will adopt problem-based learning and partnership for learning and practice approaches. That means we will bring the challenges in the delivery of local government services in the districts to the classroom for analyses and provide plausible solutions back to the offices for implementation”.
The Head of Local Government Service, Dr. Nana Ato Arthur noted that the enhanced Scheme of Service Training is designed to improve administrative and operational capacities of staff at all levels of the Service. It is also aimed at equipping and sharpening the professional knowledge, skills and attitudes of staff for improved job performance and organizational effectiveness. Dr Arthur was optimistic that the training programme will be the game changer in local level service delivery as it would significantly impact professionalism, productivity of staff, improve management performance and effectiveness in the delivery of the responsibilities of local governments in Ghana.”
The programmes are targeting career beginners, middle-level professionals, senior management staff and senior professional executives.
The programme modules have been designed and simplified to ensure that staff are not only able to perform their current job effectively but also master new tasks and solve emerging problems as they assume higher responsibilities in the workplace. Beneficiaries of the programme are expected to among others have the requisite competencies in what is required of them in order to perform their jobs effectively and efficiently; the ability to plan, organise, lead and control the given tasks in the workplace.
It is also worth mentioning that these occupational qualifications will be augmented by other skill-based training and refresher courses including workshops, on-the-job training, mentioning, coaching and supervision at the workplace. The use of established peer-learning platforms, hosted by the ILGS Learning Management System will also be accessible to staff”.
Dr. Nana Ato Arthur identified funding as a setback to the success of the programme,urging the various assemblies to incorporate them into their budgets.” The major challenge I foresee with the implementation of this novel programme is the availability of sustained funding to support its implementation.
Given that participation in this programme is mandatory and forms the basis for progression from one grade to another, staff will be disadvantaged if attendance to the programme is left solely to them or their respective Assemblies. This can spell doom for the programme if individual staff do not have the needed financing to enroll on the one hand, while on the other hand, lack of leadership of some RCCs and Assemblies may use financing as a victimization tool.
The Minister for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, Dan Botwe whose speech was read for him by Deputy Minister Osei Bonsu Amoah commended the two institutions for instituting such a programme to suit the changing trends in local governance. Mr Botwe made a strong case for the Institute to also introduce structured training interventions for the political actors in the local government system (i.e. District Chief Executives, Presiding Members and Assembly Members). He highlighted some interventions the Ministry has undertaken to enhance the functions of the Institute of Local Government studies. In this regard, ILGS is being retooled and revamped to be able to provide structured training to all categories of local government functionaries and staff. In October, 2021, the Ministry allocated funds in its budget and procured three (3) vehicles to augment the Institute’s vehicle fleet. The objective is to ensure efficient performance of the Institute’s stated mandates.
The Ministry will continue to work with the Institute and other partners to complete the on-going infrastructural expansion at Accra and Tamale Campuses of the Institute.
These infrastructural investments will facilitate the delivery of the planned training and academic programmes within the local government sector”.
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