Skills: New body ‘will spur the private sector’

The ongoing restructuring of the Public Sector Capacity Building Secretariat (PSCBS) will not only extend the institution’s services to the private sector but also bring about efficiency, officials have said. A fortnight ago, Cabinet expanded the mandate and scope of PSCBS, with the establishment of the National Capacity Building Secretariat (NCBS), the name under which the parastatal will now operate. “It will help efficiently coordinate capacity building activities at national level in both the public and private sector,” said Stella Ford Mugabo, the executive secretary of PSCBS. She added: “What is remaining for the NCBS to be operational as a legal entity is the publication of the Prime Minister’s Order in the Official Gazette.” The new institution will boost both the public and private sectors’ activities to achieve the targets outlined in the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS). In 2009, the PSCBS was established by the Prime Minister’s Order with a mandate to coordinate capacity development in the public sector. However, according to Mugabo, government realised that skills in the private sector needed to be attended to as well. “Despite many achievements registered by PSCBS in the public sector, government noted some limitations and challenges in the institutional arrangement. For any economy to thrive all sectors have to be strengthened,” said PSCBS the executive secretary. She said it was significant to review the current institutional arrangement of PSCBS and give it an expanded mandate to include the private sector under NCBS framework. NCBS, which has a steering committee chaired by the Permanent Secretary in Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and acts as a directorate board, will be affiliated to the ministry responsible for planning. Mugabo said PSCBS’s steering committee has been broadened to include representatives of the private sector. The management of NCBS is entrusted with an Executive Secretary who is supported by a pool of specialists, experts, professionals and support staff. “The successful implementation of EDPRS II will depend on the ability and capacity of the public and private sector to deliver on their development agenda,” she said.