Training and Development Needs in Multi-Year Donor Projects- a Case Study

Training and Development Needs in Multi-Year Donor Projects- A Case Study

Introduction
Training and development in organizations is one of the essential tools that help organizations and individuals alike perform better. The degree of training and development needs may vary between organizations. However, organizations should not ignore the existence of such a need, especially when managers think they have recruited the best employees. The case is no different in multi-year projects of donor agencies. This case examines one of the multi-year projects in Jordan, which is funded by the United States Agency for International Aid, USAID.
The Jordan Fiscal Reform II Project (FRPII) is a five-year project (2009-2014) which is implemented by DAI, an American company that operates globally. The project aims at reforming the fiscal policies in Jordan to help this developing country   grow its economy. The project’s primary stakeholder is the Ministry of Finance and its departments, in addition to other public sector entities that handle the drafting and implementation of fiscal policies. The project sixty five staff members consist of local and expatriate consultants, the latter being typically DAI non-Jordanian staff. Both types of consultants work either on site with the ministry and its departments, or offsite through the project’s main office. Other non-technical staff are also hired in the project to provide administrative and logistical support, in a way similar to that of other permanent organizations. The structure and hierarchy of the team is pretty well-defined, with semi-autonomous component teams working to support a specific public sector entity, and a cross-cutting team that provides support to all components, especially in centralized areas of work such as finance, event management , monitoring and evaluation, and overall project management.
The employees must fill monthly timesheets with daily hours worked, which then get billed by DAI to USAID. The...