Written by Mekong Institute

The Mekong Institute organized a two-week training course on Development Project Management from 21 May 1 June 2012 at MIs residential training center in Khon Kaen, Thailand. Twenty-nine participants from four Ministries of the Royal Government of Cambodia attended the training. This training was designed to build capacity of Cambodian government agencies, mid-level to senior government officials, to implement effectively on development project management. The training was funded by Thailand International Development and Cooperation Agency (TICA) under the 11th Project of Academic Cooperation between Thailand and Cambodia.  

The training course covered five modules; (i) Setting the Context and Expectations; (ii) Project Initiation: Project Conceptualization and Identification; (iii) Project Planning and Design; (iv) Project Implementation, Monitoring, Controlling, and Evaluation; and (v) Project Completion. These five modules were designed and delivered by using participatory approaches where participants went through three progressive stages of 1- Learn to do, the participants were provided knowledge on basic concepts and tools to be employed; 2- Do to learn, after completing deliberation on the concept and tools, the participants were given assignments to identify, design and formulate a real or hypothetical development project/program. During this implementation stage, the working group members were required to consult with the assigned trainer/mentor regularly; and 3- Share to learn, participants got opportunities to present their group work and share their experiences to co-participants and facilitators.

In addition, the participants were given the opportunity to appreciate the acquired knowledge and skills from real situation by visiting villages, farmer cooperative, producer organization and a company in Thailand which considered project management as key to their success. The results of the overall evaluation for this training program revealed that the participants were very satisfied with the course content and found the topics covered highly relevant to their work. Moreover, participants highly appreciated the facilitators and the training methods used. Participants also rated score at very good for opportunity to discuss with the host communities, village leaders, farmers cooperative and private company to learn from the success and extensive experiences of these organizations. During the two-week training course, the participants developed friendships and established network among professionals from different Ministries.