THE USE OF TRAVEL ALLOWANCE AND PER-DIEM RATE AS MOTIVATING FACTOR FOR PARTICIPANTS IN TRAINING/WORKSHOPS: STUDY ON ICAP & PLAN INTERNATIONAL ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Per diems and allowances payments made to compensate staff for work-related travel or participation in staff development activities were recognized as an important factor in motivating workers in government and non-government organizations. A large portion of development aid was spent on seminars, trainings and workshops to enhance competence and efficiency in state administrations as well as in civil society organizations. While there can be little doubt that the government, non-government staff and civil society employees attending such training and awareness-raising events learn something and upgrade their skills. The purpose of this study is to examine the use of travel allowance & per-diem rate as motivating factor for participants in a training/workshopson two selected non-governmental organizations (International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs and Plan International Ethiopia) staffs and their government partners’. In terms of the methodology the researcher used questioner &interviewtechniques for data collection, and employing sequential explanatory design with the view to using qualitative results to assist in explaining and interpreting the findings of a primarily quantitative study. The studywas found that per-diem and travel allowance rate hadan effect on motivating employees to attendtraining/workshop, therefore, the higher the per-diem rate and travel allowance the more employees motivated in training and workshop activities. Thefindings drive to a conclusion that the major purpose of per-diem was reimbursing travel expenses and not to remunerate staff. If the per-diem rate is more than actual cost, employees motivated to participate in unnecessary meeting or workshop. In contrary, if the rate of per-diem is not sufficient enough to cover the expenditure related with travel, the participants/employees pursue illegal mechanism to compensate their expenses like inflating the training days, manipulating /falsifying the documents. Based on the result of this study, it was recommended thatintroducing tighter financial control & enhancing transparency in policy implementation may help to reduce per-diem abuse.