THESIS ABSTRACT

Abstract

The study was proposed to assess the performing skills of municipality engineers in Karnali Province, Nepal, in their respected job domain. The questions were derived from the present needs and preference for infrastructure development works in the municipalities. The self- assessment responses on questionnaire were collected from a sample of 22 engineers from 18 urban municipalities of 8 districts and KIIs were carried out among 10 persons in the area. The study addressed a number of questions related to the hard skills of engineers’, mainly guided by the understanding of infrastructure related policy, laws, acts and regulations; performing tasks in the field; and use of computer applications/software. Questionnaire Survey with 37 sub-sets of questions and in-depth Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) were conducted to collect primary data. The functionality and competency of the working engineers was analyzed qualitatively and qualitatively, both mixed. The result shows that Civil Engineers working in the municipalities of Karnali Province, Nepal, has a smaller number of staff with required competency (hard skills). The study found that there exists higher number of civil engineers with understanding of related policy, laws, acts and regulations (63% combined high and mid leveled competency) but lower number in required skill in using of computer aided programs software (27%). It results that in overall 46% of civil engineers are performing their specific tasks with their best competency level and the rest (54%) are in need to build their capacity in some skills or others. Municipality engineers has perceived gaps in technical skills. The study found that many engineers has limited technical skills in several areas, including structural design, construction management, and environmental engineering as well as in use modern engineering tools and software. The study found that many civil engineers working in municipalities have gaps in hard skills, therefore, capacity building and exposer, separate capacity building plan for technical sections, specialized technical trainings followed by training need assessment, regular performance contract are needed. The findings of this study provide valuable insights into the factors that affect performing skills among civil engineers in the municipalities, which can inform efforts to improve their iii performing skills in the infrastructure development works and good governance in the municipalities.

Keywords

Municipality Civil Engineers, Technical Competency, Infrastructure Development, Good governance, Capacity Building and Development.