Case study: meeting the capacity-building needs of the Government of Jamaica

Strategic financial management and planning is a vital part of any organisational structure. Within the fast-changing financial services industry, with new laws and accounting standards emerging every year, ongoing training is essential for organisations to stay at the forefront of best practice.

In 2018 the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service (MOFPS), Jamaica, engaged Crown Agents to design and deliver customised training programmes for officials across several government departments. This was a cross-curricular partnership with training courses taking place between August 2018 and February 2019, covering multiple aspects of financial management and strategy.

OUR APPROACH

Crown Agents ran bespoke training programmes based on existing courses, which were tailored to suit the needs of the respective organisation and the context of the MOFPS. These included a combination of:

• Public Financial Management: Issues and Solutions
• Integrated Financial Management Systems: Strategy and Implementation
• Best Practice Financial Management and Reporting on IPSAS® and IFRS Standards
• Strategic Financial Management and Effective Budget Execution
• Treasury Management

In total, 110 participants from 16 Government departments attended training programmes across nine course events.

All courses were designed with a high practical content and highly interactive training delivery methods with plenary presentations, group discussions, learning exercises and examination of relevant case studies. Several expert trainers were chosen to develop training materials and presentations, using their technical knowledge and wealth of international experience in the area of financial management to teach best practice approaches.

THE IMPACT

Much of the course discussion centred on the participants’ personal and departmental perspectives on the public financial management issues presented during the programmes.

As a result, one of the primary impacts of the training is likely to be an improvement in collaboration and communication between the various Government departments which attended the training courses.

During the training programme the delegates were highly engaged, and Crown Agents’ post-course evaluations recorded that:

• 100% of delegates said the stated course learning objectives were met
• 100% of delegates stated that their personal learning objectives were also met
• 100% of delegates believed that what they have learnt will have a positive impact on their workplace performance

We had a positive response from both the client and all delegates who attended the training, with feedback including:

“The course was well-delivered, informative and educational…It was a real pleasure to have experienced such a meaningful week of first-class training… The information imparted will go a long way in shaping my future performance as a more informed manager.”