SHILLONG, Aug 4: Policy makers, political leaders, researchers, international leading evaluators and scholars on Thursday came together to brainstorm about ways and means to channel Meghalaya’s resources through exchange of knowledge and experiences from both failures and successes, and build a ‘Capable Learning State’.
A two-day workshop, viz. ‘Meghalaya’s Next Leaders Workshop — Building a Capable Learning State’ was on Thursday launched by the state government at the State Convention Centre.
A statement in this regard informed that the participants, during the day-long programme, engaged in discussions where they reflected on their current practices and challenges, and explored how the various tools can be adapted and applied in their day-to-day work.
They were also exposed to multiple concepts and tools such as technical versus adaptive challenges, problem deconstruction, positive deviance, iterations, learning, supportive management and evaluation.
“The two-day workshop is focused on ‘Evaluation and Problem-Driven Iterative Approach (PDIA)’, overcoming barriers to problem-solving and developing system-level, complexity-informed locally sensitive evaluation,” the statement informed.
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, during the programme, argued that Meghalaya needs to identify the capability of individuals and engage them in areas of expertise to bring out efficiency and deliver maximum results.
“If you do not have the correct mindset and thought process, no matter what capability you have in life it won’t make a difference”, he said.
Speaking at length on the importance of team work, the chief minister said that departments should not work in silos but must converge and work in tandem to realise a larger goal. “We need to recognise the capabilities in our teammates to build an efficient team and allow them to work”, he added.
Chief Secretary DP Wahlang, while echoing the chief minister, said, “While our policies and programmes look good on paper, it is during implementation that most ideas fail. As such, state capability is primarily about getting implementation right.”
Lead Social Scientist at World Bank and the co-creator of the PDIA, Prof. Michael Woolcock, accentuated the need to build a ‘Capable Learning State’.
Woolcock also noted that India’s population will grow by 300 million by 2050.
Development Commissioner Sampath Kumar, during the programme, noted that the State Capability Enhancement Project (SCEP) has been developed to help address the complex developmental challenges encountered by state officials.
He also stressed on the importance of collaboration to address the different developmental challenges of the state.
Joint Secretary, Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO), NITI Aayog, Shailendra Dwivedi, said, “This is the beginning of a new phase for Meghalaya as this is an opportunity for the state to be the test bed of an ‘India of Tomorrow’. The state capability movement in Meghalaya can become an important source of learning for the other states.”
