Up to 300 civil servants including Chief Administrative Officers and Town Clerks have already benefited from training offered by the new civil service college in Jinja, according to Barbara Waligo Senkatuka, the Director Civil Service College Uganda.
Paul Batanda, a town clerk at Kakira town council in Jinja district, who is one of the beneficiaries of the training that was conducted in Kyankwanzi district, says the knowledge acquired has helped him change his working environment and the people he works with. He says he has improved on the workmanship of his department in the town council and the spirit of self-supervision.
Government opened the Civil Service College over two months ago to deliver free in service training among government civil servants at all levels, to meet the needs of Public Service Development through practical skills improvement. The college currently has offices in Jinja.
Senkatuka says currently the college has employed three specialists including two program managers, who are engaged in primary activities to kick start the programmes.
The two specialists include Enock Mutambi, in-charge of Public Service and Governance and Fredrick Anyine, who is in-charge of leadership, management and development.
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The training is done by the three specialists, with the help of tutors who are invited. Among the invitees include some in-service civil servants and some who have retired. They are called back to handle specific topics and situations during training.
At the Civil Service College premises in Jinja Municipality, there is one training room which accommodates a maximum of 100 trainees and a conference room that can accommodate up to 30 trainees. Both rooms are furnished with white boards and seats for the trainees. The college also has two more syndicate rooms which accommodate up to 15 trainees each. They are located in a good studying environment away from the noise of Jinja town.
Senkatuka says in case the trainees are many, the college organizes training at the clients’ premises, which she calls the caravan training mode.
The college has not developed a full curriculum with such as Leadership and change management which offer course units like leadership skills, management, human resource management and accountability.
The new college is to co-ordinate, develop, manage and deliver practical skills-oriented in-service training across the Uganda Public Service. The college, located along Oboja road and under the Public Service Reform Programme in the Ministry of Public Service, is part of the Shs 46 billion fund from the World Bank to Uganda.
The remaining funds are meant to buy land to construct and establish an art centre with training, conference, accommodation, library, restaurant and recreation facilities.
The college director says it trains public officers, and supports public policy research and innovations all aimed at transforming the public service for the better. The public servants will receive certificates of achievement after the training.
Although in 2010 the idea of establishing a civil service college was rejected by parliament in preference to improving the Uganda Management Institute in Kampala, the Ministry of Public Service went ahead to start an independent college in Jinja.
Senkatuka says the two institutions serve different needs which are all important. Uganda Management Institute awards degrees and diplomas of academic excellence while the civil service college will improve in-service servants’ performance while at work.
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