TWENTY-FIVE public sector workers have completed training in project management, at a time when international donor agencies are demanding greater ‘bang for the buck’.

The participants, who graduated with certificates in Applied Project Management, were drawn from the Cabinet Office and other units of Government. They included technical directors, senior managers and policy analysts.

The three-month training programme was run by the development management consultancy firm, DPM International, in partnership with Boston University Corporate Education Centre.

Keynote speaker at the graduation ceremony – held at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston – Gerard Johnson, country representative for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), noted that the bank has lent more than 300 billion to Jamaica this year alone, while pushing towards a different type of project.

“Instead of investment projects which involve the building of irrigation schemes and schools, the move is towards policy-based projects, which will have more of a long-term effect on the stakeholders,” he said in a release from DPM International.

Johnson added that the IDB is also focusing more on performance-based loans, which would encourage people to more efficiently utilise the funds they receive.

He therefore encouraged graduates to be excellent project managers who are accountable and who value transparency and diligence.

Hillary Alexander, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Mining and Energy, who also spoke at the graduation, was keen to point out that the move to certify the members of the Cabinet Office and other Government units was strategic. The elements of communication and integrated planning are critical factors, she said, in modernising the public sector.

Sue-Ann Waite-Chung, modernisation programme integrator in the public sector modernisation division of the Cabinet Office and the highest individual achiever in the course, reflected on the experience and the impact the course had on participants. She noted that risk management and resource allocation were among critical processes taught by a very dedicated and experienced team of lecturers, carefully chosen by DPM International.

“The modules called upon skill sets individuals did not know they had, and required making personal sacrifices,” noted Waite-Chung.

Also highlighted was the fact that important to any project’s success is paying careful attention to the needs of the various stakeholders and effectively managing their expectations.

“As a country and particularly as a public sector, we must be committed to the realisation of the many plans for growth and development that we have crafted,” noted Sherrill O’Reggio Angus, principal director for the modernisation programme implementation unit.

To do this, she added, one must get into the habit of just getting in and getting things done, “not at some point in time, but on time”.

In addition, Angus said that project management has to be done in a manner that balances what the graduates have learnt with the demands of stakeholders and lauded DPM International for effectively striking that balance.