A two-day workshop on capacity development was held in Islamabad for staff from all the PSOs and the ADTA team. The workshop was conducted by Richard Slater, an international consultant and academic with extensive experience of public sector management and capacity development. In recent years, Mr Slater has worked in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, giving him especial insight into governance in the South Asian context.

The workshop on capacity development was held in view of TA1's primary focus on capacity development. In order to be able to carry out their assigned roles effectively (e.g. assisting in TIP formulation), the PSO staff need to have an excellent understanding of what capacity development entails.

In the workshop, Richard Slater led the PSO staff and ADTA team through the full scope of capacity development - at the individual, organizational and institutional levels. He explained the concept of experiential training, and highlighted numerous examples of international practices. The workshop was conducted in a participatory, interactive manner which ensured that - despite being held in Ramadan - participants were able to learn a great deal from it.

Richard Slater spent a total of six days in Islamabad. In addition to conducting the capacity development workshop, he reviewed and gave useful inputs on ten of the Terms of Reference prepared for Technical Investment Proposals (TIPs) approved in the TA1 Annual Work Plan 2003-4 (Part 1). These included the budgeting and accounting TIPs, some of the biggest (in terms of funds) in the AWP.

Mr Slater was hired under the ADTA grant. He will be returning to Pakistan in December to continue the training on capacity development and provide other inputs for DSP implementation.