SAFIR’s flagship training activity is the annual Core Course on Infrastructure Regulation and Reform. The core course is aimed at utility regulators and their staff, senior government officials working on the reform of the infrastructure sectors, and executives from public and private regulated infrastructure service providers. The core course delivers practical lessons on the regulation and restructuring of infrastructure from within and outside the region. It also provides an ideal opportunity for participants to exchange their own experiences and to build networks within the region.

Participants

The training course is designed for a select group of about 80 participants from government departments, regulatory agencies, regulated agencies, private institutions concerned with the infrastructure sector such as power, telecommunications, water, and transport from the South Asia region. Participants from other regions can also apply. All participants receive a certificate on completion of the course.

Course format

The core training course comprises 10 full days of lectures, sector-specific case studies, practical exercises, and panel discussions with utility experts. A typical day will start at 9.00 a.m. and finish at 6.30 p.m. featuring a combination of four plenary sessions or a combination of plenary and sector breakout sessions or only breakout sessions. The topics are presented in a manner that emphasizes their interrelationship. Lessons are drawn from cross-sectoral comparisons and national experiences.

The major conceptual issues are presented in plenary lectures, which use case studies from within and outside the South Asia region. Sectoral breakout sessions are used for the in-depth examination of sector-specific applications of these principles, and are presented by sector experts who have hands-on experience of regulating or restructuring the sector. The course has a particular emphasis on hands-on and interactive teaching methods, and the participants will spend much of their time working in small groups on the preparation of a mock price control case study, using financial models and realistic briefing material.

Faculty

The faculty for the course reflects a strong bias towards ex-regulators, or those currently in the profession, who can speak from their own personal experiences.

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