Technology Cooperation and Capacity Building - CommDev

TECHNOLOGY COOPERATION AND CAPACITY BUILDING… Case Study ThreeCanadian Occidental in Yemen RepublicTRAINING PROGRAMMESCanadianOxy has made a substantialcommitment to training Yemenis whopossess the basic academic capabilities butwho lack the necessary technicalknowledge, skills or experience to operatea variety of equipment safely andefficiently. Candidates meetingCanadianOxy’s minimum educationalstandards—completion of secondaryschool—are enrolled in the first yearFoundation Program. Lasting 9–12 months,this programme focuses on improving thetrainees’ English language comprehensionand technical vocabulary. Working modelsand field visits are used to illustrate andreinforce the trainees’ understanding ofequipment and processes. Rounding outthe first year’s more ‘academic’ curriculumare segments on elementary physics,chemistry, mathematics and electronics.A number of aptitude tests areadministered to supplement the formaltest data collected during the first year oftraining. These evaluations are then usedto assess overall suitability for moreadvanced operations. A second year oftraining incorporates both classroom andon-the-job experience to begin to link thetechnical terminology and concepts to siteapplications. Each building block ofclassroom material and associated on-thejobtask is linked in a module. Traineesprogress from one module to another bysuccessfully completing examinations onboth the academic and on-the-job portionsof a module. Essential health, safety andenvironment practices introduced duringthe Foundation Program are applied toreal job site situations. Although traineesare expected to spend time in a variety ofdepartments during their first real periodof exposure to the field, by the end of thesecond year they will already have begunto specialize in one of the core disciplines:field or facilities operations, mechanical,electrical or instrumentation maintenance.A third and fourth year involvesincreasing proportions of on-the-jobpractical training in relation to formalclassroom training. Again, a modularapproach is used to measure how welltrainees are actually retaining and applyingthe technical knowledge being transmitted.Depending on the specific discipline, atypical trainee will ‘graduate’ in his tradeafter the fourth or fifth year of appliedpractice in the field. At that point, thetrainee is deemed to be qualified andcapable of handling the day-to-dayrequirements of his discipline.It is expected that 2–3 intakes of some24 trainees per year will be necessary totrain a sufficient number of Yemenis toreplace expatriate technicians andoperators. As the pool of qualified nationalemployees expands, training will developYemeni employees’ supervisory andmanagement skills in order to replaceexpatriate foremen and supervisors.Work/study programmes in the company’sCanadians operations for candidatesselected on the basis of educationalachievement and work performance is oneapproach that will be utilized.support crews so that the state-of-the-art oil spill responseequipment is essentially all maintained and operated byYemen nationals. These badly needed skills are beingtransferred elsewhere in Yemen as contractors expand theirwork to other local clients.CanadianOxy is also seeking to support communityoutreach environmental educational opportunities in Yemen.For example, in cooperation with government and nongovernmentorganizations, it will support the preparation ofpromotional materials aimed at educating coastal residentsabout the ecological importance of sea turtles.Through these measures, CanadianOxy is taking itsresponsibilities for the transfer of both ‘soft’ and ‘hard’technology to the host country. This approach is viewed as asound investment to ensure long-term project success and asa necessary contribution that must be made by responsibleoperators in the increasingly globalized petroleum sector.Saah District Mamour, Omer Abdulla Al-Jabry (on left), and RessibVillage elders discussing a water supply system development project thatCanadianOxy is sponsoring. Under an agreement with the village,CanadianOxy purchased a water pump, generator and water pipe, and fundedconstruction of a large tank using local materials and labour. The villagewill repay the majority of CanadianOxy’s investment over a two-year period.27