The Duke Center for International Development (DCID) within Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy concluded its 2015 summer open enrollment programs on Friday, Aug. 7. This year, approximately 100 officials representing 28 countries participated in the five short-term training programs, which cover topics such as project appraisal, tax analysis and local government financial management.
The final program of the summer, Budgeting and Financial Management in the Public Sector (BUDGET) ended Friday with a certificate ceremony at the University Club.
“This is a very major thing which has changed all of our perspectives,” said Alka Jha, BUDGET graduate and chief vigilance officer for India’s Ministry of Labor and Employment. “From here we go on a journey as friends, colleagues and cousins for life. I’m sad to return home, but we have to go back and implement and put into practice what we have learned here.”
In addition to BUDGET, DCID hosted the following programs this summer:
- Project Appraisal and Risk Management (PARM)
- Tax Analysis and Revenue Forecasting (TARF)
- Transfer Pricing: Policy and Practice
- Fiscal Decentralization and Local Government Financial Management (PFD)
Deusdelity Casmir, TARF graduate and chief accountant for Tanzania’s Ministry of Finance, said the training he received at DCID prepared him for reforms that are being implemented in his country.
“We are planning to go farther to sustain ourselves in terms of financial management,” he said. “You come out of this course with everything in terms of the practical and the theoretical point of view.”
DCID has trained more than 1,300 government officials through its summer open enrollment programs since they began in 2002.
