Capacity Building

Microsoft PTA strengthens the national capacities of developing countries to achieve their development goals

Microsoft PTA works with governments to build country capacity to undertake and sustain reforms in education, government, health and other key sectors on which economic and social development depend.

Through one-on-one skills training, staff workshops, technical assistance and a business model that prioritizes shared responsibility, government leadership and country ownership, PTA solutions enhance the capacities of individuals, institutions and societies to carry out development mandates in an ongoing way.

PTA provides a package of products and services that promote skills transfer, professional development, and change management strategies as well as long-term structural change by mobilizing communities to engage in development solutions. In this way, PTA builds capacity across a spectrum of sectors from education and workforce development to small businesses and within the government itself. All PTA solutions are designed to strengthen national capacity, stimulate sectoral advances and generate productivity gains through the effective deployment of information and communication technology (ICT).

Building capacity in the use of information and communication technology (ICT) for the purposes of socio-economic development.

PTA solutions build institutional capacity to implement change by incorporating organizational sustainability in the solution design. For example, a PTA New World of Government solution in the Province of Buenos Aires combined civil servant digital literacy training with institutional change management processes to enable state modernization. By making civil servants key partners in the planning, design and implementation of reform, this solution enables administrative receptivity to change, strengthens the delivery chain of e-government and increases service demand. The solution is in the process of being replicated across Argentina.
PTA solutions build human resource capacity by equipping individuals with the understanding, skills and access to information, technology and training that enable them to perform effectively. For example, a PTA education solution in Guatemala put affordable, computer-based technology solutions and training in the hands of teachers and students to transform the educational system.

Solution Spotlight

'The PC to Get Connected' Solution Empowers Civil Servants in the Province of Buenos Aires "The PC to Get Connected" Solution Empowers Civil Servants in the Province of Buenos Aires

Working with Microsoft, the government of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, created a public-private partnership (PPP) that gives more than 450,000 civil servants access to the tools they need to meet their fellow citizens' needs.

In the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina's most populous state, the governor set out to streamline service delivery and internal governance in order to digitize government operations and put citizens at the center of its e-government strategy. However, the large civil service itself lacked digital skills and was therefore ill-equipped to implement a digital agenda. To fill this gap, the PTA team developed a solution that included digital literacy campaigns to provide civil servants with access to personal computers, skills and tools to empower them with a sense of digital efficacy. The PTA solution succeeded in building digital capacity across government agencies and transforming the workings of the Buenos Aires government. This solution design is based on studies that indicate that "people readiness" (the degree to which civil servants are fully engaged in and prepared for change) is the leading predictor of e-government success.