Methods and Procedures Guiding Capacity Building on Staff Development at the University for Development Studies

Capacity building is an important activity in all aspects of professional life. It is also important in all organizations, both private and public, regardless of size or complexity since every organization needs to have well-trained employees who are prepared to perform their job. In a university for development studies many people enter the workforce each year and need training to help them perform to meet university goals or target. However, the main challenge is that majority of the staff after joining the university are ignorant of the conditions of service of the university and therefore have no knowledge on what do and at what time concerning their capacity building. The study was therefore to examine the methods and procedures guiding capacity building on staff development at the University for Development Studies. The study used the mixed method which employed quantitative and qualitative approaches. The tool for data collection in the form of structured questionnaires and interviews was carefully designed and developed considering their reliability and validity as well as research ethical issues. A noteworthy quota sampling technique was employed with the acceptable sample size of the respondents was selected throughout the various departments in all the campuses. Descriptive and exploratory study designs were adopted in the study. The data was processed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Version 20). The frequencies and cross-tabulations analyses were computed to determine the percentage trend in responses of the respondents to each question. The study found that the capacity building programme has helped to improve the performance of staff; the Majority of respondents represented by 55% testify they joined the university with a low grade but had the opportunity of building themselves after serving the university for some time after meeting the waiting period. Contrary some staff claimed to be completely ignorant about the policies or condition of service of the university hence the violations of the rules of the university. Management should organize quarterly or annual durbar to remind all staff of the need for them to build or develop the skills to enable them to meet the target or goals of the university as well as the need for staff to follow the right methods and university lay down procedures in doing so as this can help both management and staff in minimize if not eliminate the challenges at hand. Besides Management should also make sure every staff whether newly employed or old has copies of the university condition of service (Administrative Mannuel) which contains the Policies or rules and regulations of the university to guide staff as to what to do and at what time as some staff claim to be completely innocent about these conditions of services. Lastly, Management should always review the staff development policy every 5 years to suit the current needs of the University.