Building sustainable professional capacity in African public sectors: retention constraints in Kenya

Abstract

Significant investments are being made by aid agencies to increase Master's-level training of African professionals serving in the public sector. Yet no case studies present detailed data or analysis of past efforts to build sustainable human capacity in governmental institutions. The article reviews career and retention data on 169 economists, planners, and statisticians trained under funding provided by 6 long-term aid projects for targeted posts in Kenyan ministries. After reviewing retention constraints revealed by this data and other evidence, it offers recommendations that might assist governments and aid agencies to design and implement capacity building initiatives with a higher probability of ensuring that returned graduates serve for adequate periods of time in the positions for which they were trained. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Public Admin. Dev. Vol. 17, 307–324 (1997). No. of Figures: 0. No. of Tables: 1. No. of Refs: 31.

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