Basic educational equipment, such as projectors and flip charts, is all that is required. The emphasis should be placed on finding the most appropriate training materials to help the trainees understand and apply management concepts and tools. Unfortunately, local training institutions often do not have access to state-of-the-art management training materials.

As a manager, you can choose to organize training locally or to send candidates to other sites for training. Organizing and conducting a local training program requires complex and coordinated management but is much less expensive. You can often train many staff members locally for the cost of sending one person abroad. If you decide to conduct training locally, you and your training specialist will need to carry out the following activities.

Local Training Preparation Checklist

Developing the budget for training activities

Once you have designed and planned your program, you can prepare your detailed budget. Although your initial planning should have been done within the constraints of your overall training budget, you now need to develop a detailed budget providing for both human and material resources.

The following guidelines will help you to develop your budget.

Tools and Techniques - Budget Preparation Guidelines

Preparing the training program proposal

The need for training may be evident, but funds to pay for training programs may be difficult to obtain. If you can clearly and thoroughly present to senior management and donor agencies your ideas about how training could improve staff performance in your program, you will have a better chance of procuring funds for training.

Before you develop your proposal, it is a good idea to talk with the potential funder(s) about your idea. Personal contact is very important for obtaining funds and will enable you to find out whether:

• The funder is interested in funding training of the type you want to propose;
• You need to include any special considerations in the proposal;
• The funder requires a special format for the proposal.

Once you have set the training program goals and objectives, developed a preliminary budget, and completed the initial planning, you can prepare a proposal requesting the necessary funds. Usually proposals are several pages in length and follow an outline similar to the one below.

Program Proposal Outline

1. Background and justification
2. Training program goal
3. Training program objective
4. Description of the program (including dates, schedule, site, participants, content, materials, etc.)
5. Proposed trainers
6. Evaluation plan
7. Training follow-up activities
8. Budget
9. Local financial participation

A clear and well-organized proposal, which justifies the need for the training program and shows how the training will positively affect the results of the overall program, will be more likely to be supported by a funding agency.

Managing Program Logistics

The success of a training program depends not only on the quality of the training, but also on the logistics underlying the program. Participants need to be comfortable, adequately fed, and provided with the necessary transportation. If any of these factors is lacking, participants will have trouble concentrating on their training.

To ensure that things run smoothly, the work of the training team must be coordinated with that of the administrative and logistics staff. The decisions made by the training team have a direct impact on the administrative/logistics staff and require timely and effective communication, on-going feedback, and effective coordination. The manager who is responsible for the training program should prepare a work plan that identifies:

• All the activities that have to be undertaken;
• All the materials needed for each activity;
• The individuals responsible for each activity;
• The deadline for completing each activity.

Example of a Work Plan

Once the work plan has been developed, make sure that everyone has a copy of it. Use it before, during, and after the workshop to make sure everything is being done according to plan and on schedule. Keep in mind that things can go wrong even in a well-prepared program. As with all work plans, be flexible and ready to make adjustments when necessary.

Evaluating and Following Up the Training Program

Evaluation is an ongoing process that begins with the development of training objectives. Ideally, training programs should be evaluated at the beginning of the training program, during training, at the end of training, and again after the trainees have returned to their jobs.

At the beginning, it is useful to gather data on the trainees, both on their level of knowledge and skill and on their expectations for the training. This can be done by administering a pre-test to determine the baseline skill level of each participant and to receive information on what they expect to learn from the training. This information can then be used to evaluate whether the training has succeeded in improving knowledge and skills and whether it has addressed the needs of the trainees effectively.

During the training, trainers should gather information from the participants to assess the relevance of the materials presented and the effectiveness of the training techniques used. It may be useful to set up a participation evaluation committee with which the trainer can meet periodically.

Finally, the training should be evaluated both at the end of the course and after the trainees have returned to their jobs. At the end of the course, before participants leave, the trainer may give them a post-test. This test may be the same as the pre-test; the difference in the results of the two will reveal changes in knowledge, attitudes, and skills, which will help to evaluate the effectiveness of the training. In addition, there should always be an opportunity for the participants to evaluate the skills of the trainer and the appropriateness and effectiveness of the methodologies used.

Systematic follow-up of trainees at their work site permits the manager to evaluate the effectiveness of the training, to see how well the trainees are using their new skills in their jobs, to discover gaps that still exist in performance, and to plan for additional training or on-the-job reinforcement. In addition, when trainees know that a supervisor will be making a follow-up visit, they will be more motivated to apply the skills they have just learned.

These follow-up activities are extremely important and should be viewed as an integral part of the training program. The follow-up activities should be carefully planned in advance to ensure that sufficient resources are provided in the budget. When the situation allows, they can be carried out as part of a regular supervisory visit.

After the follow-up visit, it is a good idea to prepare a report and submit it to the staff members you visited, your superiors, regional health and government officials, and the trainers.

Tools and Techniques - Different Methods for Evaluating Training Programs

In order to assess the trainers' performance and help them better meet the needs of participants, you may wish to develop a trainer evaluation form to be completed by participants. This form might include such areas as the trainer's enthusiasm, knowledge of the subject, ability to explain the subject, ability to facilitate discussions, ability to summarize main ideas, and use of audio-visual aids. You may also wish to ask whether the training methodology and techniques were appropriate, what the participants liked most abut the trainer's style, and what suggestions they have for improvement.

Tools and Techniques - Final Training Program Evaluation

Tools and Techniques - Example of a Report Form for Follow-Up Visit

Training Program Checklist

Training for Effective Performance