![Ruben Petersen, Nomathamsanqa Mazolwana, Shaheed Hariby, Olwethu Dlulane and Gail Eckard from the Professional Development Programme. Ruben Petersen, Nomathamsanqa Mazolwana, Shaheed Hariby, Olwethu Dlulane and Gail Eckard from the Professional Development Programme.](https://www.westerncape.gov.za/sites/www.westerncape.gov.za/files/proud_team_from_left_ruben_petersen_nomathamsanqa_mazolwana_shaheed_hariby_olwethu_dlulane_and_gail_eckard_.jpg)
The Professional Development Programme of the Western Cape Department of Transport and Public Works was recently in line for top honours when it was a finalist in the prestigious 2015 Skills Development Summit: Achievers Awards.
Although private engineering company, Pragma was crowned the overall winner, the programme has many reasons to be proud of its achievements over the years.
The awards are an integral part of the FP&M Seta Skills Development Summit, and annually honour excellence and commitment to skills development across a broad range of the South African industry. Competing for the award are companies, government departments and organisations of all sizes that enhance employees' skills base by implementing innovative and effective skills development and training programmes.
The entry submission was compiled by Gail Eckard, Deputy Director: Professional Development and was co-assisted by Carl October, Director: Road Planning and Dave Lydell, Mentor: Civil Engineering.
Reaching the finalist stage brings recognition of the strides the Professional Development Programme has made in skills development and training, while providing valuable motivation for the team.
“We believe that our participation in the awards has provided us the ideal platform to showcase the initiatives of the Professional Development Programme and we invite incumbents of transport, built and engineering occupational specific dispensation (OSD) posts to come on board and trust us to take them on the road to professional registration,” says Gail Eckard.
The programme was incorporated into the Masakh’iSizwe Bursary Programme in order to provide structured training that meets the requirements of professional bodies. This enables newly appointed graduates and current employees of the Department to acquire the exposure, experience and training they need to register as engineering and built environment professionals. The programme is structured to achieve the training outcomes stipulated by the bodies governing the built and engineering environment professions. In order to develop well-rounded, knowledgeable professionals, mentors have been sourced externally and assigned to trainees via a formal memorandum of understanding. Due to the nature of the Department’s engineering work, candidates may be placed within private sector companies, municipalities and other spheres of government for in-service training in a variety of working environments. To date, six candidates have successfully registered as professionals with their relevant professional bodies.
The Professional Development Programme will continue to develop beneficiaries into well-rounded, and knowledgeable professionals. It is clear that this successful programme makes a difference in the Western Cape.
For more information on the programme, contact Gail Eckard on 021 483 8737 or Rubin Petersen on 021 483 5851.
You can follow the Department of Transport and Public Works on Twitter: @WCGovTPW