UNSOS convened the first ever Management Development Programme (MDP) training, for staff with managerial and supervisory responsibilities in the UN Field Mission in Somalia, in July 2018.

The weeklong residential training held in Nairobi, Kenya for selected staff members at P4 and P5 levels, was aimed at retooling them with skills in management and leadership.

“It is to help them develop their managerial and leadership skills,” said Patrick Duah, the UNSOS Chief Training Officer.

Leadership, vision, staff empowerment, building trust, managing performance, judgment and decision making, are some of the key managerial competencies imparted to participants in this training; and which is critical to the UN -  as it implements ongoing reforms.

“As part of this reform process, there’s a perceptible shift in decision-making and authority closer to the area of operation,” noted UNSOS Deputy Director, Mr. Harjit Dhindsa. “And this obviously comes with increased accountability on the part of managers,” added Mr. Dhindsa.

“So that we align authority, accountability and responsibility in the same hands. And for that to work well, we need to have our colleagues - you sitting here - have the situational awareness, and the presence of mind, to know what your strengths are; what your weaknesses are; how to operate in the environment that we do,” added Amadu Kamara, the Director of UNSOS.                                        

Facilitated by certified coaches from Encompass World, the training methodology included lectures and team exercises that involved competitions to enhance teamwork, leadership and communication.

“This programme exposes us, as United Nations Managers into techniques, which we can use in managing our teams, building relationships with our teams, our friends and even people we work with outside the UN,” one of the participants, Mr. Richard Ruhanga, a Senior Police Advisor under UNSOM’s Rule of Law and Security Institutions Group (ROLSIG), said at the end of the one-week course.

“It taught us how to deliver better results,” added Ms. Shipra Bose, a Senior Gender Advisor to the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Somalia.

“I feel the training has achieved its objectives. The idea was to develop the knowledge and skills of the supervisors and managers to help them lead effectively in their sections and offices,” concluded Patrick Duah, UNSOS Chief Training Officer.