On 13, 14 and 15 September, the Capacity Surge Project (CSP) was officially launched for three groups of trainees. The Minister of National Planning and Development, Dr Saad Shire, opened CSP for the first group. The second group was welcomed by Shukri H. Ismail, the Minister of Environment and Rural Development. Ibrahim Siyad Yonis, General Manager of Hargeisa Water Agency, kicked off CSP for the third group. All trainees started CSP with the course 'Introduction and Application of Project Cycle Management'.

The Capacity Surge Project (CSP) is a recent initiative to enhance project management and related knowledge and skills in the first six Ministries/Agencies that have received funding under the SDF: Hargeisa Water Agency, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Environment and Rural Development, Ministry of Livestock, Ministry of Water Resources and Roads Development Agency. The CSP is funded by DFID, as additional support under the SDF.

Over the coming year, a total of seventy SDF Project Management Team members and other senior staff of the six Ministries/Agencies will undertake a variety of courses in project management, ICT and professional English. The courses, which were selected based on what the trainees themselves indicated to be their priorities, will be given by international and national trainers at the Civil Service Institute.

The CSP will be a vital entry point for the overall civil service capacity building as a part of the Civil Service Reform which the government of Somaliland has initiated. It will take an important step forward towards building a cadre of civil servants with critical project management competencies. In addition, the CSP, by equipping the six SDF Ministries/Agencies with the necessary knowledge and skills, is expected to contribute to the success of the SDF projects.

The CSP will work closely with the Civil Service Institute (CSI) in delivering all training under the project. It is expected that by the end of the CSP, the CSI can take over the teaching of the courses. To that end, CSP is ensuring on-the-job training of CSI trainers as 'understudies' and will hand over all contents and materials of the courses.