Old Mutual to help upskill public sector in Gauteng

The Old Mutual Business School has announced the Gauteng intake for its learning programme aimed at imparting Project Management skills to 100 local government employees across the country.

The project is in support of the government's economic growth plan, the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (ASGI-SA), and is undertaken in collaboration with the office of the Deputy President of South Africa and the South African Management Development Institute (SAMDI).

The intake of 25 Gauteng delegates was announced on July 3, at the training facilities of Snaptech, an accredited Project Management Training service provider.

"The first module of this intake will be done over a five day period but the entire programme will last nine months, after which the delegates will receive an international project management accreditation," said Dev Pillay, Head of the Old Mutual Business School.

The first intake of 25 delegates on the programme occurred on 1 June in Cape Town, and was endorsed by Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka commented: 'Business and government have clubbed together in this project to deliver the skills we so dearly need. The maintenance and acquisition of scarce skills for our country's development is a matter close to my heart and a priority for our country. We are very grateful to responsible corporate citizens such as Old Mutual for coming to the party in this regard.'

Old Mutual Business School has based the JIPSA development programme on the design of its current Project Management Curriculum, the foundation of which is built on generic best practices and delivered in association with an accredited service provider.

Old Mutual said it would carry all the costs associated with the training components of the programme.

"The major benefit of this programme is an injection of critically needed skills directly into the frontline of government's service delivery promise to the people," adds Pillay.

"Every successfully delivered project means a greater chance of government's budgetary commitment turning into real benefits for the people of our nation ....more houses built, more pensions paid on time," he said.