International Capacity Building
—A Partnership of Community—
Kragujevac, Serbia; Rajasthan, India; and Sri Lanka
1.RAYMON R. Bruce 2.DUSAN Sipovac 3.SANGEETA Sharma
4.S. K. Kataria 5.RODNEY Erakovich
1. University of Texas at Arlington, USA; 2. University of Kragujevac, Serbia; 3. University of Rajasthan, India; 4
University of Rajasthan, India; 5. Texas Wesleyan University, Texas, USA
Abstract This paper examines areas of capacity building that are still in unchartered territory. In particular it
examines the role of universities in initiating and supporting local governments in capacity building. It also
examines the nature of human, economic, social, civic, political, and natural resource capital as they relate to holistic
capacity building. In addition, this paper provides brief case studies of the various efforts of three capacity building
programs learning from each other to give added dimensions to these elusive terms. One effort in Serbia involves the
University of Kragujevac and the city administration partnership, using a bottom-up phased approach to developing
the local government administration to meet European Union standards; the other effort involves the state of
Rajasthan, India in a top-down, state wide program and a Special Assistance Programme for capacity building at the
University of Rajasthan. A third effort involves all the garment manufacturers’ economic development in Sri Lanka
working together with their public and academic sectors in a holistic approach to building the capacity of it human
resources and technology to meet the community’s challenges of regional and global competition.
Key words Capacity building, Local government, Development, Economics, Organizations, Public- private
partnerships
1 Introduction - on capacity building for public administration
The capacity building efforts by local governments in nations that are in transition have encountered a diverse
application of methods and terminology regarding capacity building. After sharing with each other informally and in
written papers the experiences that the authors had in capacity building for local government it became apparent that
there was a need for gathering the concepts, components, and methods that they engaged in capacity building for
local government into an integrated whole. Therefore, because of each individual effort and learning from each other
the chronology of this paper begins at the ending, “On capacity building for Public Administration.” The three brief
case studies following that beginning are from the point of views of the authors involved. They intended to show
that no matter how different the three capacity building efforts were in situation and goals, there was a holistic
crossover of communication and communal influences that helped shape the outcomes of each capacity building
effort. Hopefully, each case study demonstrates the important and varied role that universities have in initiating and
supporting capacity building for local governments.
The primary purpose of capacity building for local government is to increase the capability of people to
develop and enact their community’s potential to meet changing needs of individuals, families, and the community
commonwealth in a fair, equitable, and robust way. With the current globalization of the economy we need to
develop a holistic approach to capacity building that looks not only and the many levels of need in a single
community, we need to develop capacity building theory and methodology that is relevant to include the
multilayered world community and its economy. Key to this view is the social responsibility that local and
multinational corporations have and should have in capacity building for the local, regional, national, and world
communities. “Why is this corporate social performance [CSP]-corporate financial performance [CFP] question so
important? It is important because it neatly illustrates how the shadow of economics influences our approach to
something as basic as human welfare. Unless it is linked to wealth creation, CSP has little standing within
organization theory.” (Walsh et al, 2006) Perhaps examining the capacity building case studies of three local
governments from different nations included in this paper is a unique opportunity to begin such a prospect.
2 On international capacity building methodology
A comprehensive capacity building methodology with a global view would need to include the basic
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development fields of capacity building and Capacity Development (Lusthaus et al, 1999) such as: (1) Human
Resource Development (HRD), Institutional Building (IB), (2) Organization Development (OD), (3) Natural
Resource Development, and (4) Economic and Financial Development. Each of these development fields has its
own methodology, theory, and lengthy history. The major task of capacity building is to involve these development
fields in a holistic focus where they can enhance each other to build a community’s capacity to grow, develop, and
contribute as a participant in the changing global community in an equitable and robust way. In addition, Capacity
Building efforts in Serbia, Sri Lanka, and India are experiencing several natural phases of change. These phases
include: (1) Learning Capacity Development – a development expedition for staff in “Learning-to-Do”; (2) Seeding
Capacity – providing people start-up development capacity building resources; (3) Growing Capacity: – training
people to teach others how to builds their capacities; (4) Expanding Capacity – nurturing a development culture in
other communities; (5) Networking Capacity: – an effective mutually supportive community capacity building
program.
Capacity building involves engaging the people who will be affected in the capacity building effort to have
meaningful and fair participation in planning and implementing that capacity building. Capacity building for local
government would therefore include the institutions and the working organizations, private and public, in the
community. Additionally, capacity building could include roles for other people, organizations, and communities
with which the community has various private and public relations.
2.1 The role of capital in capacity building
The word capital carries has a great deal of usage. Therefore, capital as used in this paper will be restricted to
refer to resources that can be allocated or reallocated to meet new needs and opportunities. All living creatures must
continually acquire and store energy from the environment in order to sustain life, grow, and be fruitful over time.
Due to the uncertainties of life’s project, it is strategically prudent to have access to a ready reserve of unallocated
(or re-allocatable) resources, namely capital resources that can be applied for upcoming needs, emergencies, and
valuable opportunities even if only for tomorrow. Capital resources can include not only financial capital, but also
human resources, social, civic, and political resources, as well as natural resources. In addition, resources already
being used, i.e., capital assets can qualify as capacity building resources if they can be readily reallocated to other
more desirable capacity building efforts. For example, a building being used for a discontinued purpose and be made
available for a capacity building effort for training citizens and public administrators in new service delivery
methods.
Although capital provides the building blocks and fuel for capacity building, such capital cannot accomplish
capacity building in itself. Capacity building is a methodology to develop access to ready capital resources to meet
new or unmet needs. In this larger view, capacity building involves methods that people working together can use in
applying and sharing their resources for the increased benefit of the all members of the community.
Therefore, capacity building blends various forms of capital together. For example, human capital refers to the
unrealized potential of individual people to increase their knowledge, skills, and abilities. Social, civic, and political
capital refer to the ability to increase the level to which people can develop their trust relationships, norms, values,
ethics, governance, and processes within a community in order to better promote each individual to exercise their
capabilities together with others for the betterment of the commonwealth of the community. Financial capital
includes the reserve of assets, goods, infrastructure, and services. Natural resource capital is the reserve of
renewable and non-renewable resources found in nature (Fisher, 2007).
2.2 Human capital and human resource development
Capacity building is fundamentally dealing with people; it is primarily the endeavor of people finding ways to
get along and work together to increase their mutual and equitable benefit. The capacity to be built is by and for the
capacity of the people involved. They are the capacity builders and the beneficiaries of capacity building. Therefore,
human resource development, as it is now called, is the fundamental field of development in capacity building. In
the recent past, many organizations viewed their members (employees) as their greatest asset. However, any cursory
review of the account books reveals that employees show up in most organizations accounting only on the debit side
of organization accounts. This view has resulted in organizations often dealing with people as subjects at best or as
objects at worst; they are categorized along with the organization’s inanimate resource assets.
However, human resources are not people; they are people’s knowledge, skills, abilities, health, lives and
commitment that the person can bring to the organization. Seen in this light, human resources will be found in the
organization’s books of account as credits in the form of the goods and services to which people have contributed
their skills, knowledge, abilities, time, and energies that have contributed to the generation the organization’s
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revenue. An organization’s capacity can be directly increased by developing the knowledge, skills, abilities, health,
and level of personal commitment through human resource development actions such as education, training, practice,
and equitable revenue sharing. Therefore, Capacity building begins with building the capacity of the individual
along with the tools, work processes, and materials people need to do the work.
2.3 Social, civic, and political capital
Social, civic, and political capital can be viewed as capital required for social capacity building in increasingly
complex communities. This capacity building usually takes the form of institutions and organizations. There is a
wide diversity in the literature on the difference between institutions and organizations. These differences have led
to some confusion in holistic capacity building. This diversity about institutions and organization varies widely
within three general relationship categories: (1) Institutions and Organizations are different entities. (2) Either one is
a sub-set of the other. (3) They are basically the same.
This discussion about capacity building will treat them as basically different constructs. On one hand,
institutions will be considered as human artifacts in the form of basic human relationships such as trusted
agreements, norms, ethics, mores, and customs. Namely, they are cultural elements of behavior that become
instutionalized among people and social groups arising out of the potential mutual advantage of them living and
working together in a group community. These informal rules of behavior are instituted by people in their efforts to
facilitate their sharing the productivity of their combined resources, to make the tasks of living more efficient, to
promote happiness, and to minimize the level of conflict and discord by agreeing on what is fair and what is not fair.
Social capital is the degree that the community has the flexibility to form, reform, and evolve their behavior
relations in trust to meet new needs or opportunities.
On the other hand, organizations will be considered as more formal human artifacts that arise out more
complex communities and living arrangements. Organizations are more codified and resourced behavior structures
that operate on more formalized rules and requirements of work operations that are directed at more specific work
participants, outcomes, and recipient client services. Organizations often employ special requirements for people to
qualify for participation or for access to the organizations’ services and products (e.g. transaction applications such
as membership qualification, fees, price payments, and contracts). Examples of organizations include exclusive
social organizations, business enterprises, and government agencies. Admittedly, there is blurred demarcation
between institutions and organizations; the terms are often used interchangeably.
At the primary level social capital is the potential for people to institute ways to improve getting along and
trusting one another in new and different ways in group settings. Instituting informal behavior norms, values, ethics,
economies, and mores required to get along results in a basic common culture is the object of social capacity
building. The need for civic capital arises from a community’s potential to grow beyond the bounds of a single
culture when there are groups of various degrees of cultural diversity living together or adjacent to the community.
Typically capacity building involves developing more formal cultural artifacts such as social, protection, and market
organizations. Civic capital is the citizens’ potential for increased tolerance and flexibility to develop their mutual
behavior norms, ethics, etc., and vest their trustworthiness especially in a cross-culture of mutual trust and respect,
both formal and informal. Here, the potential and flexibility to develop a greater degree of trust and transparency of
respect and cooperation across different cultures are core values in capacity building requiring the community’s
civic capital.
When such diversification of cultures expands, the community finds itself faced with the need to develop and
reconcile multiple and sometimes countervailing sets of cultural norms, customs, etc. At some point political capital
is required for developing formal governing agencies with binding rules, regulations, norms, ethics, and laws to for
people to self-govern their behavior that reaches across and joins together the differing cultures’ norms, customs, etc.
Political capital grows from flexible but controlled community access to shared capital in the political realm of laws,
taxes, and formal organizations namely, governance. Political capital involves the more formally agreed upon ways
for social groups of differing cultures in getting along together under a political organization of mutual governance.
As with social capital and civic capital, political capital becomes most useful when embedded in a network of
reciprocal social and civic relations that build trust. Interaction enables people to build communities, to commit
themselves to each other, and to knit the social fabric. (Putnam, 2000) Both civic capital and political capital focus
on the connections and networks between people, their economies, and their government. Eugene McGregor defines
civic capital as meaning that “citizens know what government does, what its purposes are, and what options are
available for action” (McGregor, 1984) and acknowledges the role of local government in intensifying and
formalizing collaborative networks within and between communities at a level that is closest to the individual citizen.
Capacity building for local governance should be undertaken with emphasized regard to trust by its citizens and
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trust within the cultures as a key element in the development of social and civic capital. Furthermore, the globally
recognized human development map of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), specifically includes
democracy and good governance that reaffirms inclusive political processes. These processes need to be directly
linked to cultural and governance realities of different regions and communities (Javier, 2007) and guided by an
integrity policy that fights corruption and requires ethical behavior by public servants.
The connection between individual, social, civic, and political interactions is clarified by structuration theory
(Giddens, 1984) that argues both human actors and organizational systems together constitute social reality. Social
capital is produced by human actors employing structure (rules and resources created by civic and political capital)
in interaction throughout the various levels of the community. Thus structure provides the context for action and is
also the product. Human action takes place in the realms of social, civic, and political structure. A group of many
virtuous but isolated individuals is not necessarily rich in social, civic, and political capital required to build capacity
for mutually beneficial actions (Putnam, 2000). Capacity building is undertaken by individuals in themselves but in
building living structures that constitute the community.
In defining structure, Sewell implies structures are constituted, “…by mutually sustaining cultural schemas and
sets of resources that empower and constrain social action and tend to be reproduced by that action. Agents are
empowered by structures, both by the knowledge of cultural schemas that enables them to mobilize resources and by
the access to resources that enables them to enact schemas.” As such, local governance is more than an institutional
or organizational approach as the primary provider of economic welfare and protector of people and environmental
qualities. Governance with a consistent, clear, and supportive integrity policy that works to create public trust is how
local government helps engender civic and political capital necessary to increase the capacity for development of the
community’s commonwealth. The common response to building public trust in a traditional bureaucratic
organizational paradigm of local public administration assumes an integrity policy enforced by bureaucratic
authority (Weber, 1947) and directs public administrators through rules and coordination control with experts using
scientific principles of development. In essence, we argue that capacity building in local government goes beyond
the boundaries of rational and purposive structures or a managed model and must include a constructionist view of
social integration.
Contrasted with the bureaucratic paradigm is the normative approach shown in the following brief case studies.
They argue for subsidiarity, transparency, and accountability by the citizens as the key measure of integrity and
ethical behavior of public servants. Postmodern theory advocates this decentralization of government institutions.
Subsidiarity forces accountability and responsibility to lower levels in the leadership chain. Under this approach,
accountability centers on external control while responsibility focuses on internal control. Dispersal of power among
more participants increases the need for greater discretion in duties and calls for greater external participation in the
public’s business to hold public leaders responsible (Gortner, 1995). Building the capacity of the local government
as a key actor in developing social, civic, and political capital requires a robust integrity policy that supports
property security, anticorruption, fair courts for redress of injuries, and normative structural approaches that include
active intergovernmental relations. Societies that have been closely aligned with centralized governance require a
broad-based mutual commitment to create a new vision based on renewed values around subsidiarity (Gill, 2000).
2.4 Natural and physical capital; natural resources and infrastructure
development
To every community befalls a destiny that is circumscribed by the natural resources found within the physical
limits of their “home” place. This is “Natures Bounty” and the originating source of capital in the form of unused,
undeveloped, or re-allocatable physical resources such as land, minerals, plants, water, animals, and space. In any
case, Natural resources are always viable candidates for constant discovery or re-evaluation for redevelopment in
capacity building. Where a community’s natural resources may seem to have been completely developed and
exploited, changing situations in other areas may make new uses for resources that did not warrant any kind of
development in the past. Natural resources such as air, water, and land are threatened for us all and have become
prime candidates for protective development concerns that can affect most communities’ capacity building efforts.
2.5 Financial capital and economic development
Financial capital refers to a community’s ability to use access new or reserve revenue, usually in the form of a
tax base, to create community investment potential. Cornelia Butler Flora, Jan L. Flora, and Susan Fey (Flora et al,
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2003) describe financial capital as money that is used for investment rather than routine municipal consumption.
Financial capital is particularly important because it is can be directly converted into the other forms of building
capital cited above. Employment diversity, private investments, reallocation of funding and low poverty rates also
characterizes potential sources of a community’s financial capital. For Capacity building in local government,
financial capital is closely tied to the political ability of the community to provide for its commonwealth. The
decentralization of fiscal power to regional and state levels, namely subsidiarity, to generate and acquire revenues
among themselves is key to capacity building for local government.
Capacity building in its broadest consideration is Economic Development. The economy is, in practice, the
commonwealth of the community. Any capacity building contributes to the economy; it is the co- development of all
of the resources of communities, countries, or regions for the well-being of their inhabitants. If resources can be
viewed as the sustenance for the community, then the economy is the means by which the community shares and
takes care of its people in an equitable and fair way.
The economy is the arena in which a community’s potential ability to build its capacity to fulfill its collective
and changing needs are played out. One of the most important functions of economic development to capacity
building is nurturing the degree of trust of the people in the institutions and organizations that make the economy of
the community robust. People must feel confident that their particular property (capital) is safe to participate in the
economy without the fear of loss on the part of public disorder or from appropriation by unscrupulous public
officials This capital security includes trusted institutions that will deliver restitution to the person for such
violations of the public trust. (Djankov, et al 2003).
2.6 Capacity building for local government – the vision
Capacity building is more than a project plan for specific economic changes in the community. Because
capacity building is building on multilayered living cultures long in existence, some of them over many millenniums;
special notice of the specific culture must be taken. In promoting a holistic organization theory useful for local
governments’ capacity building and methodology, “We may find ourselves working closer to practice (Schultz and
Hatch 2005), generating insight from small-sample research (March et al. 1991), and doing more action research
(Lewin 1946, Susman and Evered 1978).” (Walsh et al, 2006) as indicated in the following case studies.
Capacity building is rarely a “Tear-Down” and systematic “Grand Plan” rebuild program. The clue of how to
proceed in holistic capacity building is found not only in the word culture, but also with a global view. Capacity
building is more a nurturing and a growing multilayered development process rather than reconstruction to a fixed
design. Any effort to build capacity not only involves change and building new institutions, but it also may require
creating temporary institutions and layers of organization scaffolding within the nested institutions and organizations
already in place. Since any capacity building effort is itself an institution; it needs to find a way to link up with the
existing human networks in a way that observes norms, etc., of the culture or cultures involved.
3 Developing capacity for public administrators in Serbia (Sipovac
and Bruce, 2006)
Give a person a fish and you feed that person for a day;
Teach that person how to fish and you feed that person for a lifetime.
Teach that person how to teach others to fish;
You feed the entire village for generations to come.
- Neely Gardner
- Lao Tzu
3.1 Capacity development: a fishing expedition in “learning-to-do”
Capacity building for local government needs to start with local people learning about building their capacity to
serve better their citizens. This is a boot-strap strategy for a few “capacity building” members of the community
involved in building their own capacities to facilitate building local public administrators’ capacity to manage the
city’s resources to result in fair and effective outcomes for the community. Perhaps a better term here is capacity
development since the city already has government capacity to deliver services and goods to the community
(Lusthaus, Adrien, & Perstinger, 1999). Therefore, the next step in capacity building was to collaborate with the
current public administrators to have them develop their capacity to meet the challenges and new needs in the
community. Paramount to the city of Kragujevac was to prepare its public administration to begin to meet the
European Union member requirements of a professional Public Administration that is transparent and ethical. The
University of Kragujevac Faculty of Law in partnership with the University of Texas at Arlington’s School for
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Urban and Public Affairs developed a Center for Public Administration staffed with city residents, some of which
were also city employees, to train Kragujevac city administration officials in EU type public administrations skills,
ethics, and methods. The goal of the center is to provide their Certified Professional Public Management
development program to cities around Central Serbia. The center wa1s also available to develop capacity building
centers in Serbia training programs of interest to other types of municipalities in Serbia and Montenegro.
3.2 Regrounding capacity building—public administration for the University
of Kragujevac
If Public Administration is to be professionalized to meet European and US levels of practice, one of the most
glaring needs that came out of the Center’s experience was the need to establish and fund a Specialized Area of
Studies for Public Administration in local universities. To this end, staff from the University of Kragujevac’s School
of Law, the Center for Public Administration and the University of Texas at Arlington School of Urban and Public
Affairs has put together a proposal to establish a curriculum for specialized studies and created Center for
International Research, Education, and Service to network with capacity building efforts in other nations.
4 Capacity building for public administrators in Rajasthan India
India in general and the State of Rajasthan in particular are involved in keeping up with the fast pace of moving
from a third world economy to a position in the global economy as a developed nation. India’s complex cultures and
social cast system values make such a transition into the global community a unique challenge. University of
Rajasthan’s Department of Public Administration began linking with existing education and training institutions to
help the cities and municipalities in the state of Rajasthan set up municipal capacity building centers for their local
governments. This was done through a grant from the University Grants Commission for a Special Assistance
Program with the Thrust for local government capacity building in Rajasthan.
4.1 The first step is to set up the possibility for capacity building for local
governance
When the Government of India passed the 74 th constitutional amendment, 1992 the stage was set for
effective capacity building by local governments in order to promote capacity building and to ensue
democratic decentralization in urban areas,. The core capacity building principles of Indian urban local
governments are:
 Democratic subsidiarity and decentralization
 Devolution of 3Fs (Fund, Function and Functionaries)
 Convergence of Services
 Citizen centricity
4.2 Capacity building issues of local government in Rajasthan The State of Rajasthan holistic view of capacity
building involves the development issue
areas depicted
in Figure 1. Capacity Building in
Municipal
Institutions: Key Issues. Clearly, these
are
issues
encountered by most capacity building
efforts
and
roughly approximate the capacity
building
development fields cited earlier in
section
2.
There is not enough space here to all of
these
key
issues. The two that present the most
unique
challenges for Rajasthan are (1) Ethics
and
Social
Responsibility and (2) Human Resource
Development.
(1) Ethics and social responsibility
The scope of
capacity building for ethics and social
responsibility
are:
 Empathetic
capacity-spiritual
capacity of a
Figure 1 Capacity building in municipal
person to empathize with others’ needs
institutions: key issues
 Service capacity- capacity to
provide
guidance and services in an equitable way
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 Conscience Building capacity- capacity to take conscientious action across all segments of society
 Social extensional capacity, i.e., capacity of an individual to extend oneself in the social arena
Rajasthan is a region of several major cultures whose fundamental values over several millennia have not
always blended in harmony and mutual support. Therefore, social, civic, and political capital is of highest
importance since it is required to validate ethical local government activities and the social responsibility to provide
equitable and fair governance of the blended community’s commonwealth. These ethical and social responsibility
norms must find their basis in the spirit of common good will and humanity within the members and guests of the
communitywide variety of cultures.
(2) Capacity building for local government Human Resources in Rajasthan – the plan The concept of capacity
building training encompasses a holistic approach, including overall social, economical, political, administrative,
and technological development of community institutions. However, the development of the community’s human
resources is the core concern because it is the human resources of people that ensure the best utilization of all the
available resources. A well designed human resource policy, comprising all aspects viz., recruitment, training,
promotion, open career paths, career development, salary and allowances, retirement and fringe benefits, ethics,
redressing of employees’ grievances and motivation can address many of the problems of the Public Administration
employees and help in building their individual capacities. Well designed training modules are the base for effective
capacity building by local government.
The Department of Public Administration, University of Rajasthan has been tasked with implementing a five
year Special Assistance Program with the thrust area on Capacity Building in Municipal Governance in Rajasthan by
the University Grants Commission in New Delhi. This is a long- term program, which has the following specific
foci:
① Developing reading material on Capacity Building with special reference to the public institutions of
local governance;
② Finding out the research inputs, which need immediate and distant attention for capacity building;
③ The major sub-thrust areas are: (a) Institutional Capacity Building; (b) People Centric Capacity
Building (c) Capacity Building through Ethics
④ Preparing Training Module for capacity building with wider acceptability in governmental
functionaries
⑤ Designing Training Courses to train personnel in these Institutions to have productive interface with
the people to enhance its functional utility
⑥ Looking for Outreaching facilities so as to have network of frequent exchange information locally,
nationally and internationally
The program has already planned three small outreach events:
① Book Plan on Institutional Capacity Building where we are inviting article submissions from experts.
② Develop Modalities of Municipal Local E- Governance
③ Delivery of Benefits under Jaipur Municipal Corporation “An Empirical Analysis”
The capacity building development program has already organized seminars/Conference/ Roundtables,
activity based workshops, training courses, and Interactive Sessions. The program’s purpose is to develop
training resources to support municipalities in building the capacity of the public administration personnel in
such a way that they can not only sustain themselves in the crisis but to rise to the new needs of the
community. The Municipal Institutions in India draw their statutory power from the 73 rd and 74th
Amendments introduced in the Act. However the functional efficiency has yet to be ensured and it is with this
focus the University of Rajasthan has planned this project.
(3) Preliminary field research The University of Rajasthan’s The Special Assistance Program has done some
preliminary field research and analysis showing that there are areas of receptivity for capacity building favoring
change by Jaipur city employees (Sharma, Kataria, and Lakhan, 2008). These areas of receptivity include: Working
conditions, Job Assessment-level of satisfaction, Public Satisfactions Information Technology Preparedness.
However, there are also some impediments to successful capacity building. They include: Conflicts, pressures, and
interference, Conventional mind set, less role receptivity, lack of physical facility, career stagnation.
Specially focused local training and development programs can help abate these impediments and lead to more
successful capacity building in the Jaipur city administration. Also, such programs can work to form a consortium of
capacity building programs among the Universities in Rajasthan such as the University of Jodhpur and the
University of Udiapur; with the municipal administrations; and along with the All India Institute of Local Self
Government (AIILSG) in Mumbai which is a national private sector institute in the country to run training programs
and basic courses for urban local government employees.
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The Special Assistance Program on Capacity Building for Local Government is looking into the Center for
Public Administration Management of Kragujevac, Serbia, as a model for the universities in Jaipur, Jodhpur, and
Udiapur to adapt in order to provide human resource capacities in their local governance. At the same time they are
also researching the more holistic approach developed by Sri Lanka to bring many of the separate HRD resources
into a consortium network where their combined resources can become capacity building for all.
5 Building capacity for the garment industry in Sri Lanka
In Sri Lanka the apparel and textile industry accounts for as much as 46% of the nation’s export revenues, 8%
the Gross Domestic Product, and generates over a million jobs employing 15% of the nation’s eligible work force.
The Joint Apparel and Textile Forum (JAAF) was organized in 2002 to work as a group with a goal to address and
develop a 5 year capacity building program to deal with the issues of the developing their presence global industry.
They have built the capacity of their industry from being simply a garment manufacturing industry to grow their
capacity from a strictly garment manufacturing industry become a full service from-concept-to-customer apparel
and textile industry. This effort industry capacity building coordinated economic development methods in
conjunction with those of resource development. The government and academia had separate but supportive roles.
After much of this capacity building plan had been implemented, the current training and education and
training capacities in Sri Lanka needed to be developed in order for workers in Sri Lanka to be able to do the many
new kinds of jobs that the new full service industry needed. People are always the key ingredient to any successful
work enterprise such as capacity building whether in the Private or the Public Sector. In both cases, people who
maintain their skills, knowledge, and abilities to meet the changing requirements of the global market place, as well
as those of the fields of governance, place the nation at advantage to participate most successfully in the fast
changing world and national scene. Constantly updated education and training programs are the best assurances that
any citizen who has the desire will be able to participate with increasing capacities in the opportunities that this
changing situation can provide. This is apparent not only in the Apparel and Textile industries but in the other
business, education,
JAAF envisioned this resource as an independent council of partners as an organization of joint cooperation
partnering between industry in the Private Sector, Academia, and the Public sector, to focus on capacity building
human resource capacity building through human resource development and technology development for the textile
and apparel sector.
5.1 The Council of Apparel and Textiles (COAT)—a holistic HRD capacity
building approach
This organization research project is focused on finding the most effective way for the key stakeholder
organizations in the apparel and textile industry in Sri Lanka to work together. The key institutions include the
government, academic, and public sectors to keep the education, training and technology innovation resources not
only of the apparel and textile fields in pace with the global trends of the industry and markets, but as a model for
future capacity building in Sri Lanka as well.
While there is a shared interest among the three basic stakeholder areas of industry, government, and education
institutions, these stakeholders recognize that each area has many other interests and issues that are divergent to the
interests of the other stakeholder areas. Because there is a diversity of institutions involved with a diverse set of
needs, interests, and objectives an outside professional consultant (Bruce, 2007) was selected to create a dialogue
among the principles of the industry, education, and
government ministries. This dialog is intended to seek the
most
constructive and sustainable institutional structure for the
participating institutions to work together for their
common
interests and goals without detracting from those interests
and goals
that may not always be held in common.
The three areas of human resource development
concern,
namely, the Apparel & Textile Industry sector, the
Gov
government sector, and the Education, Training, and
innovation
erni
technology research sector form the council of COAT (See
Figure 2
ng
Organization chart of COAT). The council convened as
colleagues
and partners in order to research, analyze, and present the
nature of
8
Figure 2 Organization chart of
COAT28 (Bruce, 2007)
their concern in some sort order of priority for action. Generally all of the institutions in the three areas of concern
could comprise the full membership as the virtual COAT. Any member then could be selected by their respective
area of concern to sit with the Governing committee in a revolving fashion that would best reflect their current
concerns.
5.2 COAT—the vision
Coat’s vision (JAAF, 2008) is to create a mechanism that will ensure that the standard of training for the
apparel industry in Sri Lanka falls in line with the current requirements of the industry and continues to evolve to
align with global trends, enabling Sri Lanka to become a regional hub for apparel and textile education. A good
supply of trained and educated workforce is essential if the apparel industry is to transform itself from a contract
manufacturer to a full-service, value-added solution provider that can meet ambitious growth targets.
Historically, a significant portion of the training of workforce has been carried out by manufacturing
organizations themselves. Except at the tertiary or academic level, there has been no cohesive national training and
education policy the industry. The numbers being trained have not been sufficient to meet industry demand; often
training has not been well aligned with industry needs. Major retraining was required before the trainees could be
contributing members of the productive workforce
As a crucial step towards strengthening the training facilities available within the country for the future wellbeing of the industry, JAAF identified the urgent need for the country to establish a holistic national education and
training vision covering all levels of conceiving and producing apparel and textiles. The Council of Apparel and
Textiles was thus established as an independent legal entity or partners from the private sector, government, and
academia to formulate and maintain policy for the education infrastructure for the industry. COAT will also guide,
coordinate and monitor apparel and textile the training and educational activities in the country, and develop an
accreditation scheme to accredit the services of the educational facilities. The council will be comprised of a crosssection of professionals who represent academia as well as private and public sector bodies of the industry.
By increasing levels of competence, COAT hopes to build its capacity by infusing professionalism and dignity
into the industry at all levels. This will particularly benefit the women employees who make up over 90% of the
apparel and textile workforce. There is also a drive to empower the workforce by imparting a range of personal life
skill development such as appreciation for financial management, savings, marketing, fashion, as well as family and
women’s health and hygiene issues.
By playing an active role in guiding and providing assistance for industry-related education, the apparel
industry has shown how the industry and educationists can come together to forge a mutually beneficial partnership,
and how the industry can playa positive role in developing Human Resource skills with the people working in the
industry. In a country where employers often find themselves caught up in the mismatch between the education
provided and the employer’s needs, it is hoped that other sectors will encouraged by these initiatives and take up the
challenge to play similar roles in providing guidance for a more holistically structured education in Sri Lanka.
5.3 “Competence and Beyond” a manual for human resource development
capacity building
A Human Resource Development manual “Competence and Beyond” was developed as a key initiative of HRD
capacity building plan that demonstrates the Sri Lanka’s passion to become a world class manufacturer of textiles
and apparel. It maps all the key job roles in the apparel and textile industries, articulating the skills, standards, and
knowledge areas relating to each role’s requirements. It is the first such documentation for any industry in Sri Lanka
and for the apparel and textile industry worldwide.
By partnering with the government, the University of Moratuwa, and the Information and the local
Communication Technology and Accessibility (ICTA) as well as with off-shore organizations such as the North
Carolina State University and London school of Fashion the local prospective employees can garner the skills and
talents required of them to participate in this expanded industry. Marketing professionals, fashion designers,
industrial engineers, research, and technology experts are just a few of the professions that are being developed. The
ICTA is establishing “Nensalas” (knowledge centers) in communities throughout the country to encourage IT and
internet literacy and it makes good sense for industry to leverage this resource (Education Sector Development
Program, 2007).
9
6 Conclusion
Kragujevac, Rajasthan, and Sri Lanka are examples of how universities can be partners in fruitful learning
about capacity building assistance programs with private industry, university, and local government administrations.
They form a partnership consortium of capacity building support institutions to provide and research and
development expertise to local government administrations. Similarly, government administrations and private
sector firms create internships for students and researchers in Public Administration and capacity building in order
for the students to gain practical experience in the object of their study and research, namely, local government
operations and administration. However, they can play and even greater role in helping integrate Human Resource
Development, Institutions and Organization Development, Natural Resource Development and Economic
Development into a composite Capacity Building enterprise for the whole community.
At the foundation of community and government, citizens, member institutions, and organizations must seek to
ground their capacity building efforts on their common spirit of humanity. This spirit manifests itself in the
community’s capacity to build its commonwealth through evolving its capital resources, especially its social, civic,
and political capital resources together in an equitable and fair minded way.
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