Strategic Overview & Core Philosophy
Institutional Identity | For nearly three decades, human resource development has sat close to the center of PKSF’s institutional strategy. What began in 1997 as a dedicated training unit for the staff of Partner Organizations (POs) has grown into the PKSF Training Center (PTC)—an apex platform for capability development in microfinance, climate resilience, digital innovation, and social enterprise, organized under PKSF’s Capacity Enhancement and Research Development (CERD) structure. The Center is led by Deputy Managing Director Mr. Md. Mashiar Rahman. PTC provides a wide range of demand-driven training programs tailored to the capacity-building needs of PKSF’s Partner Organizations, while also offering need-based professional development opportunities for PKSF staff. In addition, the Center extends its training services to representatives of both national and international organizations, thereby contributing to broader knowledge sharing, professional development, and capacity enhancement across the development sector. |
Operational Shift | PTC has transitioned from conventional training delivery into an evidence-based, outcome-driven platform. For the first time in its history, the Center is measuring whether learning actually changes how people work — using the internationally recognized Kirkpatrick–Phillips Evaluation Framework, tracing impact from classroom reaction toward Return on Investment. “The direction of travel is from training delivery toward measurable capability development — from counting who attended, to understanding what changed.” |
Core Values | • Evidence-Based Learning • Inclusivity & Diversity • Climate Adaptation Leadership • Institutional Integrity & Tech Integration |
Annual Impact Baseline | FY 2025–26 reach: 1,549 professionals trained — 941 Partner Organization officials, 386 project/other officials, and 222 PKSF staff. |
Delivery Performance (candidly reported) | Against a half-year target of 63 PO batches, 41 were achieved (65%) — classroom courses close to or ahead of target, while all 10 planned online/distance batches went undelivered pending completion of the digital learning platform. Naming this gap is itself part of PTC’s more rigorous, evidence-first posture. |
Operational Delivery Streams
Stream 1: Partner Organization (PO) Capability
Focus: Strengthening the skills, competencies, and professional capabilities of branch managers and above-level officials across PKSF’s nationwide Partner Organization network, recognizing that their leadership and performance directly influence the quality, effectiveness, and successful implementation of PKSF’s programs and interventions at the grassroots level.
Courses: PTC is currently delivering 22 demand-driven training courses designed to address the evolving capacity-building needs of PKSF’s Partner Organizations and development professionals. The portfolio covers a broad range of technical, managerial, leadership, and emerging areas, including Training of Trainers (ToT), VAT & Tax, Risk Management, Human Resource Management, Procurement & Inventory Management, Leadership for Development Professionals, Accounting for Non-Accountants, Internal Audit, Micro-Enterprise Management & Financing Strategy, The Art of Facilitation, Crisis Management in Microfinance Operations, Ratio Analysis & Decision Making, Behavioral Nudge in MFIs, Artificial Intelligence in Integrated Training Programs, AI for Workplace Productivity in MFIs, Applied Action Research for Development Practice, Strategic Project Management for Development Professionals, Branch Leadership and Managerial Excellence, Climate Change, Environment and Sustainable Livelihood, Professional Investigation and Integrity Management, and the Certified Master Trainers Development Program (CMTDP). Together, these courses reflect PTC’s commitment to providing need-based, practical, and future-oriented professional development opportunities that strengthen technical competence, leadership capacity, organizational effectiveness, and innovation across the development sector.
Stream 2: Microentrepreneurs & Grassroots Members
Focus: Strengthening financial literacy, digital adoption and business management for local entrepreneurs whose businesses depend on sound financial, digital and life skills. Example: practical modules on digital payment ecosystems and sustainable small-business management.
Stream 3: PKSF Staff
Focus: Keeping the apex institution’s internal capability aligned with what it asks of its partners — behavioral science & Mindset, Financial Management Course (FMC), IT systems and emerging technology. Track includes Agile Scrum Master Certification, database design and administration, scalable microservice development, Professional Investigation & Report Writing Course, and AI for Workplace Productivity (already run for 69 officials across two batches).
Stream 4: Project Staff
Focus: PKSF’s growing portfolio of donor-financed initiatives — climate, drought resilience, health, enterprise — brings its own officials into PTC’s classrooms.
Stream 5: Academic Immersion & Cross-Border Knowledge Exchange
Focus: Hosting foreign delegations, university study visits and early-career researchers- treating learning as something that happens through exchange and exposure, not only inside a classroom.
Bhutan’s RSPN Knowledge Exchange (July 2026): PTC hosted a five-member delegation from Bhutan’s Royal Society for Protection of Nature for a two-day exchange on Adaptation Fund Programming and Proposal Development at PKSF Bhaban-1.
RSPN, a newly recognised National Implementing Entity of the Adaptation Fund (the same status PKSF secured in 2021), came to learn from PKSF’s experience in climate adaptation and fund management. PKSF Deputy Managing Director Md. Mashiar Rahman chaired the opening session, with Senior GM Dr. AKM Nuruzzaman as special guest.
BUBT Field Visit (3 August 2026): A day-long learning visit for BUBT Economics Department students to PKSF partner organisation Gono Kalyan Trust (GKT) in Manikganj — connecting classroom economics with field-level development reality and widening the pool of young people considering development careers.
Rigorous Evaluation Framework (Kirkpatrick–Phillips Model)
Level / Stage | Evaluation Focus | Benchmarks & Metrics (FY 2025–26) | Practical Application Example |
Level 1: Reaction | Participant Satisfaction | 88.89%–90.71% overall course score (ISO 29993 benchmarked) | Direct feedback drives facility expansion at PKSF Bhaban-2 and improved logistics |
Level 2: Learning | Skill & Knowledge Acquisition | 43.86%–45.00% average skill gain (exceeding 30% benchmark) | Trainees demonstrate mastery in financial ratio analysis, automated accounting, visual reporting |
Level 3: Behavior | On-the-Job Transfer | Assessed via field-level Post-Training Support System (PTSS) | MFI officers apply psychometric tools via Behavioral Nudge in MFIs to refine borrower evaluations |
Level 4 & 5: Impact & ROI | Institutional Results & Returns | Advanced longitudinal research mapping non-financial and financial returns | Evaluating portfolio-quality improvements from updated internal governance training |
Solid fill = measured with FY 2025–26 data · Muted fill = future research direction
The evidence behind the table
Sixteen classroom batches for POs were evaluated between January and June 2026 (7 in Q1, 9 in Q2), covering 355 participants, 239 sessions and 163 resource-person engagements — part of PKSF’s first structured attempt of its kind, “Effectiveness of PKSF Training Programs for POs: A Comparative Analysis Using the Kirkpatrick–Phillips Framework.”
- Knowledge & skill gains: Q1 43.86% (30.57%→74.43%); Q2 45.00% (31.89%→76.89%) — achieved despite a compressed Q1 (only 33 of 90 working days, due to the February 2026 election and Ramadan/Eid).
- Course evaluation score: 71% in Q1, easing to 88.89% in Q2 — PTC’s own analysis links the dip to a busier calendar and logistics/recreation feedback, not weaker content.
- Resource-person quality: “Excellent” ratings rose from 21.0% to 23.26% (still below the 25% benchmark); “low” ratings rose from 2 to 4, concentrated in newly introduced courses (AI for Workplace Productivity in MFIs, Training of Trainers, The Art of Facilitation) — addressed through mentoring and co-facilitation support.
- Female participation: rose from 11.84% to 16.75% quarter-on-quarter — a genuine inclusiveness gain, though representation in some skill-based courses (Risk Management, Ratio Analysis, AFNA, Micro Enterprise Management) remains limited.
Case in point — AI for Workplace Productivity in MFIs
Launched directly from the May 2026 Learning Dialogue, piloted with 23 PO officials across 17 sessions and eight resource persons. Feedback on AI-in-training was the single most-praised element of the entire PO curriculum — while two of the eight facilitators were flagged as under-performing and given mentoring support, showing PTC applying the same evaluation rigor to new and established courses alike.
23 PO officials | 17 sessions | 8 resource persons |
Toward Level 5
No ROI or SROI figure is claimed yet, but the direction — integrating Kirkpatrick’s model with Phillips’ ROI methodology inside a Bangladeshi microfinance-sector training institution — is an uncommon one in the country’s development-training sector.
Modern Infrastructure & Emerging Curricula
1. Specialized Curricular Focus
- AI & Workplace Productivity: Practical AI and workflow-automation applications, piloted for both PO officials (23 trained) and PKSF staff (69 trained across two batches).
- Behavioral Finance: Behavioral Nudge in MFIs (piloted May 2026) pairs psychometric analysis with conventional financial analysis for more human-centered lending decisions.
- Climate Finance & Adaptation: Building on PKSF’s status as an Adaptation Fund National Implementing Entity (NIE) since 2021 — FY 2025–26 saw 50 PKSF officials trained in Climate Change and Climate Finance, 90 project/PO officials (3 batches) in Climate Change and Development, and 57 participants in the hybrid course Navigating Climate Finance: Media Reporting for Impact. Under the ECCCP-Drought project, June 2026 alone delivered 5 refresher batches to 120 officials from 100 POs, with a further batch of 30 officials from 15 POs under way.
50 · Climate & Climate Finance | 90 · Climate & Development | 57 · Media Reporting | 120+30 · ECCCP-Drought |
- Governance & Documentation: Professional Investigation and Report Writing (3-day course, 30 officials, covering complaint verification, evidence collection, natural justice and report writing) and Project Photo Documentation & Visual Storytelling (26-hour workshop, 21–23 July 2026 at PKSF Bhaban-2, financed by the SMART Project).
2. Infrastructure & Digital Scaling
- PKSF Bhaban-2 Training Hub: Running regular training activity since June 2026 alongside the long-standing base at PKSF Bhaban-1, Agargaon. Already hosted the opening of Behavioral Nudge in MFIs, Professional Investigation and Report Writing, the Visual Storytelling workshop, and a month of Climate Change refresher training reaching 120 officials across five batches in June alone. Designed to host several simultaneous batches (on the order of a hundred participants at a time) alongside a dedicated Distance Learning Studio (figures per the Center’s own description, pending independent confirmation). Accommodation for out-of-Dhaka participants has been arranged at the nearby office of Partner Organization SAP-Bangladesh.
- Regional Training Clusters: A proposed network of 8 regional hubs — Barisal, Chattogram, Sylhet, Rangpur, Rajshahi, Jashore, Mymensingh and Shariatpur to decentralize training needs assessment, manual development, feedback collection and the field-level Post-Training Support System (PTSS).
Barisal | Chattogram | Sylhet | Rangpur |
Rajshahi | Jashore | Mymensingh | Shariatpur |
- Upcoming LMS Platform: The online course AI Fundamentals Plus has completed design; a technical and financial proposal for an integrated online platform, developed with Learning Bangladesh, was submitted on 14 May 2026 and remains under review. Candidly noted: against a six-month target of 10 distance-learning batches, none had been delivered by end-June 2026 — a gap PTC flags as requiring urgent attention.
41 / 63 Classroom PO batches delivered (65%) | 0 / 10 Distance-learning batches delivered |
Looking Ahead: FY 2026–27
Built directly on gaps and opportunities identified in the Jan–Jun 2026 evaluation — not a generic wish-list.
8 PKSF staff skills areas | 6 New PO courses | 5 Online courses (pending approval) |
Track | Planned Courses |
PKSF staff — 8 skills areas | Management Audit; Systems Audit; Python for Workplace Productivity; Corporate Ethics and Governance; Professional Investigation and Report Writing; Hands-on Action Research; Advanced Course on Claude; Behavioral Science and Mindset |
Partner Organizations — 6 new courses | Applied Action Research for Development Practice; Strategic Project Management; Branch Leadership and Management Excellence; Climate Change, Environment and Sustainable Livelihoods; Professional Investigation and Integrity Management; a 15-day Certified Master Trainers Development Program |
Online platform — 5 courses (pending approval) | AI Fundamentals Plus for MFIs; enterprise development and management; digital skills for income-generating activities; life skills; environmental awareness |
Internship Program, reshaped around five elements: project-based internships with mandatory presentations; a talent-pipeline approach treating internship performance as a recruitment channel; a mentorship framework pairing interns with GM/DGM/Manager-level staff; an innovation challenge on digital transformation, climate finance and AI; university partnerships via MoUs; and a PKSF Internship Research Fellowship selecting 10–15 top interns yearly to research microfinance and climate finance.
Strategic Collaboration & Engagement Pathways
For International Organizations & Delegations PKSF welcomes international institutions, non-profits and multilateral agencies for bilateral knowledge exchanges, study visits and climate finance briefings. Detailed protocols and scheduling are provided upon initial contact. | For Banks, NGOs & External Organizations External institutions can request participation in ongoing programs or collaborate with PTC to design customized staff development courses tailored to organizational needs. |
For Expert Resource Persons Experienced trainers, academicians and practitioners in AI, financial management, climate resilience and governance are invited to join our expert pool. | For Academic Partners & Interns University departments can collaborate for structured student exposure visits, research fellowships and internship placements. |
Contacts
Mr. Dipen Kumar Saha
Deputy General Manager (DGM) & Unit Head, PKSF Training Center
Phone: +880241023041-Ext.160
E-mail.sdipenpksf@gmail.com