Journal of Marketing and HR (JMHR) ISSN: 2455-2178 Volume 1, Issue 1 available at www.scitecresearch.com/journals/index.php/jmhr 33| SCITECH Volume 1, Issue 1 RESEARCH ORGANISATION| September, 2015| Journal of Marketing and HR www.scitecresearch.com The effect of employee training on project performance A case of the Girl Child Catch up project of the International Education Exchange Joseph Kagona 1 , Jaya Shukla 2 , Joseph Oduor 3 1 josephkagona@yahoo.com Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kigali, Rwanda. 2 js.jayashukla@gmail.com Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kigali, Rwanda 3 joekoduor@yahoo.com Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kigali, Rwanda. ABSTRACT The main purpose of the study is to assess the effect of employee training on project performance. The study used the case of the ‘Girl Child Catch up project’ of International Education Exchange (IEE). Trainer characteristics, training design, managerial/peer support and trainee characteristics were used to predict performance. The objectives of the study were: to examine the effect of trainer characteristics on performance on the girl child catch up project, to assess the effect of managerial/peer support on performance of the girl child catch up project, to examine the effect of trainee characteristics on performance and to assess the relationship between trainer characteristics, training design, managerial/peer support, trainee characteristics and project performance. Both qualitative and quantitative techniques were utilized and census method was used given the small size (50) of the study population. Questionnaires were distributed for data collection, the data coded and analyzed by way of SPSS. The analysis was the descriptive, correlation and regression. Findings indicated that, trainee characteristics, peer support, trainer characteristics and training design account for 10.6% (R squared .106) variance in the performance of the girl child catch up project. Thus, the model was significant in the prediction of performance on the girl child catch up project due to employee training. The study recommends that the girl child catch up project encourage an environment that promotes effective training by giving managerial/peer support needed in the training with aim to improve on the performance of the project. Key words: Employee training; project performance. 1. Introduction Training has increased its importance in today's intense environment of global competition and fast change where jobs are complex and often change. As a result, certain project management organizations run training courses for their employees (Maylor, 2010). This is perhaps backed by the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK, 2008) which highlights training as one of the tools and techniques to develop project teams. Similarly, Becker (1962) linked investment in human capital with high productivity and reduced mobility of workers while Salas and Cannon-Bowers (2001) argued that employee training creates competitive advantage, provides innovations and opportunities to improve employee skills, knowledge and firm performance. It follows, as put by Martocchio and Baldwin (1997) that there is a growing awareness in organizations that the investment in training improves performance. Despite the number of studies that have estimated the effects of training on performance (Zwick 2006), establishing the effect of training on performance on projects has been a matter of great concern in management circles. Kerzner (2010) posited that it’s crucial that training should not be performed unle ss there is continuous return on the dollar for the organization. Similarly, Kraiger, McLinden and Casper (2004) criticized training as faddish or too expensive while