Human Resource Development Council (HRDC) Chief Operations Officers, Mr Meshack Tafa, has applauded the University of Botswana for developing a bespoke course for the Council. Mr Tafa was speaking at the end of a 10-day Mixed Method Design for Skills Shortages and Occupation Demand Research training workshop for HRDC staff at the Centre for Continuing Education on June 18, 2018.
The training was specifically tailor-made for HRDC personnel responsible for identifying and assessing skills shortages and needs including top occupations in demand in the country, using mixed method design.
Mr Tafa said HRDC was grateful to the University of Botswana for having been responsive to their needs and promised to send more staff for training at the University. “This partnership is now forever,” he said.
Participants were introduced to social science research, understanding the survey methods, analysis using statistical packages, creating understanding of the qualitative research designs and sampling procedures, and learning to design research proposal involving mixed methods.
Different methods such as lectures with participant interaction, practical exercises, presentations by participants and some-one-to-one interaction for individual participant attention were used in the delivery of the course.
Consequently, Mr Tafa said the research skills imparted to the participants would go a long way in helping them to their job because “as planners we cannot afford to do without such skills”.
One of the participants, Ms Mpho Mogalakwe, appreciated the work and knowledge of course facilitators, saying they were informative in that they learnt a lot from them. She promised that as participants they would put to good use the skills they acquired from the workshop because they had the drive and ambition to excel.
“Now you know where to get skills,” said Deputy Director in the University of Botswana’s Office of Research and Development Dr. Mogodisheng Sekhwela. He said the University of Botswana was well endowed with expertise in different fields which institutions such as HRDC could engage to train and develop their staff.
Dr Sekhwela advised the participants not to shy away from asking for help from their course facilitators because they were their mentors and that they should constantly engage expertise at the University of Botswana to grow local capacity and plough back the money in the country.