Mission

The division of Governance and Social Economic Development is determined to build capacity and enhance knowledge and skills of those involved in sustainable development initiatives.  It provides solutions and guidelines on the best practices of good governance, administration, rural development, poverty reduction and disaster management.  It ensures delivery of quality sustainable development that is gender sensitive and environmentally friendly.

 Aim

 The division aims at enhancing capacities of clients involved in sustainable development.  It is particularly designed to link citizens and governance at local, regional and national levels through training, consultancy and research in decentralization and proper methods of sustaining development projects.

 Objectives

 The division intends to: 

• Offer short and long-term training programmes
• Conduct training needs assessment
•  Organize and conduct seminars/conferences on topical issues
•  Develop training materials on its courses
•  Conduct research on issues surrounding development
•  Carry out consultancies on relevant issues.

Local Government

Aim                          

The aim of this course is to offer knowledge and skills to all people involved in local government procedures and operations so that the system can easily address the local needs.

 Objective 

At the end of the course the participants will be able to:

• Define the importance of Local government as a means of addressing the local needs.
• Apply necessary knowledge and skills in the procedures and operations of local government.

Target Group:

Parliamentarians, District Administrators, District Rural Development Officers, Local Authorities, Chiefs, Members of Civil Society/NGO’s

 COURSE CONTENT:                 

• Legislation  

ü      Local Government Act 1997 ( as amended )

ü      Local Government Elections Act 1998. 

• Concept Of Local Government

ü      Historical Background: Local Government In Lesotho

ü      Decentralization

ü      Deconcentration

ü      Devolution 

• Purpose of Decentralization In Lesotho

ü      Widening public access to the structures of government

ü      Bringing services closer to the people.

ü      Promoting people’s participation in decision – making, planning and implementation of development programmes.

ü      Promoting equitable development in all parts of the country.

• Structures Of Local Government

ü      Ministry of Local Government

ü      District Administration

ü      District Councils

ü      Municipal Councils

ü      Community Councils

ü      Village Councils

ü      Role of chiefs 

• Powers And Responsibilities Of The Counselors.

ü      Functions Of Councils

ü      Relationships Between Central And Local Government

ü      Regulation and legal supervision of local government political and administrative decisions.

ü      Financing of local government

ü      Appellate powers

ü      Power to audit, inspect and monitor and to intervene in illegal councils operations.

 Methodology: Lectures, discussions, group work, case studies, excursions.

 Assessment: Follow-up (meetings)

 Duration:  2 Weeks

 Reference:

1.      Local Government Act 1997 (as amended ) and all other concerned legislation

2.      Mawhood, P (1983), Local government in the third world, John Wiley & Sons, New York   

 Induction Course on Local Government

AIM

The aim of this course is to equip local government officers with management skills as well as the knowledge of the role played by local government authorities in terms of their functions so that they can perform their duties effectively and efficiently.

 Objectives

At the end of the course participants will be able to:

• Define the role of the local government authorities
• Execute their duties properly
• Write proper reports, letters and forms according to their functions
• Make budgets and financial reports
• Communicate with councilors as well as community members.

 Target Group:

District Administrators, Chief Executive Officers, and Management team of local government, Central Government staff of line Ministries, District level Public service staff, District level Local Government staff, Sub-District level staff, Chiefs.

 Course Content

ü      The structures of Local Government

ü      The role and functions of Councilors and chiefs

ü      Report writing

ü      Budgeting/Revenue Sources

ü      Communication Skills (Oral, Written, Minutes etc)

ü      Local Government Act 1997 as amended.

ü      Decision-making

ü      Community Mobilization

ü      Interpersonal Relations

ü      Organizing Successful Meetings

ü      Relationship between central government and local government

ü      Conflict management

 Methodology:          Lecture, discussions, role playing, case studies, group work 

Assessment:           One day follow up meeting. 

Duration: 1 Week 

References:    

1.      Brain Smith; (1993), Choices in the Design of Decentralization University of Dundee

2.      Government of Lesotho (2004) Establishment of Local Government Programme “A report on the proposed functions for Local Authorities over the Period 2004-9.

3.      Lesotho Goernment Gazette (1997) Local Government Act 1996. Vol. XIII No. 41.   3^rd July, 1997.

4.      Lesotho Government Gazette (2004( Local Government (Amendment) Act 2004.   Vol XL ix No. 53.  17^th May, 2004.

5.      Ministry of Local Governement (2003) Sensitization Strategy, August, 2003.

6.      Mutahaba Gelase; (1989), Reforming Public Administration for Development   Kumarian Press Connecticut USA   

 Rural Development & Project Management

AIM    

The aim of this course is to equip the participants with the knowledge, skills and

strategies for sustainable rural development projects.

OBJECTIVE            

At the end of the course the participants will be able to:

• Develop practical workable projects to empower rural people with the knowledge and skills of how to take responsibilities for their own project design and implementation.
• Display appropriate leadership skills in dealing with rural communities and other stakeholders.

Target Groups

District Rural Development Officers, Community workers, leaders and planners, Local government Officers, and Agriculture Extension Officers

COURSE CONTENT

• Concept Of Rural Development

ü      Definition

ü      Objectives of rural development

ü      Sustainable rural development

• Factors Influencing Rural Development

ü      Social

ü      Economic

ü      Political

ü      Technological

ü      Sociological

ü      Environmental

 §         Basic Problem Areas

ü      Agriculture

ü      Health

ü      Infrastructure

ü      Environment

ü      Education (literacy)

§         Actors/Institutions Involved In Rural Development

ü      Central Government

ü      Community organizations (Non-governmental Organizations)

ü      Local Government Authorities

ü      Donor Community

ü      Religious Institutions

 §         Gender And Rural Development

ü      Concept of gender in rural development

ü      Gender and HIV/AIDS

§         Rural Poverty

ü      Conceptualizing rural poverty in the context of Lesotho

ü      Rural poverty and its characteristics

ü      Causes and effects of rural poverty

ü      National strategies to reduce rural poverty

ü      Policy instruments to reduce rural poverty

 §         Rural Development Planning

ü      National Planning Process

ü      District planning institutions/structures

ü      District development planning

ü      Community council planning

ü      Coordination of community and district planning 

• Basic Project Management

ü      Project identification

ü      Project planning

ü      Project implementation

ü      Project evaluation

·        Cooperatives And Rural Development

ü      Historical background of formal and informal cooperatives in Lesotho

ü      Functions of cooperative movements

ü      Leadership

ü      Team building

ü      Communication and Interpersonal Skills

ü      Problem Solving

ü      Financial and Records keeping

ü      Report writing

Methodology: Lectures, discussions, group discussions, field visit, case studies.

 Assessment: Action plans, follow-ups and test

 Duration: 6 Weeks

 Reference:     

 1.      Chambers R. (1983). Rural Development.  London.

2.      Harris John:   (1982) Rural Development, London.

3.      National Vision 2020 (2004) “Empowering for Sustainable Prosperity”, Maseru.

4.      Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper Lesotho (2003) – 16 December, 2003.

 Good Governance

AIM

The aim of this course is to equip all national development stakeholders with necessary skills that would instill a culture of promoting and sustaining good governance.

 OBJECTIVES

At the end of the course the participants will be able to:

• Define good governance in terms of their institutional operations
• Draw a difference between national governance and local governance
• Apply skills necessary to promote and maintain practices of good governance.
• Adopt leadership styles to maintain good governance.

Target Group

Parliamentarians, Community leaders, Civil Society (NGO’s), Corporate bodies, Local Government Structures, District Administrators, Decision Makers, and Human Resource Managers

COURSE CONTENT

• Characteristics Of Good Governance

ü      Democracy

ü      Transparency

ü      Accountancy

ü      Popular Participation

ü      Human rights

ü      Collective responsibility

ü      Parliamentary system

ü      Gender equality

• Corruption Management

ü      Conceptualizing corruption

ü      National policy on corruption

ü      Causes and effects of corruption

ü      Common management corruption practices

ü      Corruption prevention measures

ü      Analysis of evolution government mechanisms in Lesotho

ü      Case studies of successful and failed governments in Africa 

• Team Building

ü      Difference between a group and a team

ü      Promotion of individual strength and discouragement of weaknesses.

ü      Setting of common vision and mission

ü      Setting of common goals with clear cut individual roles

ü      Encouraging informal interaction among members.

ü      Rewarding evenly for equal performance

ü      Addressing individual problems with impartiality 

• Leadership

ü      Pro-activity vs. reactivity

ü      Selective memory

ü      Setting of and guiding towards goals

ü      Balancing of human element and result achievement

ü      Assigning achievable targets

ü      Provision of access to materials

ü      Empowering employees

• Conflict Management

ü      Timely identification of conflict

ü      Planning interventions

ü      Causes of effects of conflict

ü      Conflict management techniques 

• Central And Local Governance

ü      The role of Central government visa vs. local government

ü      Consultation and information sharing  

• Communication Skills

ü      Communication structures at the localities

ü      Effective public speaking

ü      Report Writing

ü      Interpersonal skills 

Methodology:          Lectures, discussions, group work, case studies

 Assessment:  Action plans, follow-ups (Meetings)

 Duration: 3 Weeks

 Reference:              

Agere Sam, (1990) Promoting Good Governance Commonwealth Secretariat

 Poverty Reduction

AIM

The aim of this course is to facilitate sharing of experiences on factors contributing to poverty in Lesotho and how best they can be addressed in line with PRSP and Vision 2020.

 OBJECTIVES

At the end of the course the participants will be able to:

• Define poverty as perceived by both rural and urban population
• Identify causes of poverty and suggest possible measures to address the effects of poverty.
• Apply the strategies to reduce poverty
• Mobilize communities to participate in development activities

 Target Group

District Administrators, District Disaster Management Officers, District Rural Development Officers, Local Government leaders, Community Leaders, Local Government Officers, and Civil Society (NGO’s).

 COURSE CONTENT

• Poverty Reduction

ü      Rural poverty in the context of Lesotho

ü      Characteristics of poverty

ü      Causes and effects of poverty

ü      Lesotho strategies to address poverty 

• Poverty And HIV/Aids

ü      Food Security and HIV/AIDS

ü      HIV/AIDS and Agricultural production

ü      Household resources and HIV/AIDS

ü      HIV/AIDS and Mortality rate. 

§         Poverty And Gender

ü      Relationship between Gender and poverty reduction activities

ü      Impact of gender roles on poverty reduction activities. 

• Mobilization Of Community

ü      Capacitating community based organizations – team building

ü      Empowering community leadership

ü      Influencing community participation in poverty reduction initiatives.

ü      Partnership coordination of private sectors, NGO’s etc. 

• Environmental Care

ü      Good farming practices

ü      Soil conservation strategies

ü      Grazing practices

ü      Protection of vegetation

ü      Education on general environmental issues.

ü      Income Generating Projects

ü      Project planning and implementation

ü      Project sustenance  

• Poverty Problem Areas

ü      Agriculture – food production

ü      Health

ü      Environment

ü      Infrastructure

ü      Education  

Methodology: Lectures, Discussions, Group activities, Case study etc 

Assessment: Case Studies and tests 

Duration:  2weeks 

References:              

1.      PRSP document,

2.      Vision 2020 document

3.      Coombs, P.    (1980)  Meeting the Basic needs for rural poor

4.      Van De Geer and Wallis (1982) Government and Development in Rural Lesotho 

Disaster Management & Mitigation

AIM

The course is tailored for training participants from public and private sectors,

disciplined forces, community workers and members of civil society in

strategies for handling disasters that occur in communities.

OBJECTIVES         

At the end of the course participants will be   able to:

• Properly use principles and common terms used in disaster management.
• Demonstrate how to minimize the impact of the disasters among the communities.
• Explain how disaster affects people of different ages and sexes.
• Identify the displayed warning hazards and respond in time.
• Develop disaster management and mitigation plan for districts and sub district levels.

Target Group:

Disciplined Forces, Non-Governmental Organizations, Community Leaders, Councilors and Public and Private Officers                   

COURSE CONTENT: 

• Concepts Of Disaster Management

ü      Management vs. mitigation

ü      Hazard, risk, danger, vulnerability

ü      Indicators – traditional and conventional

ü      Drought

ü      Development, preparedness, response, recovery, impact, relief. 

§         Legislation

ü      Disaster Management Act

ü      Emergency powers

ü      Attorney General’s Office

ü      The movement of people

ü      Lesotho Defence Force and Lesotho Mounted Police Service. 

• Disaster Management Plan and Manual

ü      Reduction of people’s vulnerability

ü      Increasing people’s resilience to the effects of disasters.

ü      Dealing with disasters more effectively and expeditiously.

ü      Disaster reporting structure   

§         Capacity Building

ü      Disaster Management training

ü      Disaster Management plan

ü      Special skills and drills

ü      Institutional awareness

ü      Public awareness

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