Institutional Development and Human Resources

The Thematic Group

The main objective of the Thematic Group on Institutional Development and Human Resources is to find ways to know all the different structures of development cooperation among European Union members and the Commission. Better knowledge about all the structures will enable us to contribute to a more efficient organisation of development cooperation within the European Union.

We build on the assumption that every European Union Member State has developed different organisational structures of development cooperation delivery system with both advantages and disadvantages. The institutions are not only influenced by the institutional set-up, but at the same time by its staff and the approach being applied towards human resources management.

We find it especially crucial for member states to share their experience and lessons learned in order to optimise their systems and to achieve higher levels of efficiency, transparency and attractiveness. Especially for emerging and re-emerging donors, it is of great importance to develop and improve their own structure and recruit, train and retain quality staff. It will also be an opportunity for the more experienced donors to assess the need for adjustments to their own development cooperation systems.

Objectives and activities of the Thematic Group

Objectives of the Thematic group

• to improve our knowledge about various systems of development cooperation practice and highlight their strengths and weaknesses by sharing know-how and experience among European donors
• to identify lessons learned and good practices of institutional/organisational set-ups and human resources development systems and to contribute to organisational learning/development (capacity development)
• to facilitate a framework for ideas in this area and see the working group as “think tank”

Activities of the working group

In 2007, aseminar on institutional set-up of development cooperation was held in Prague, concluded by strong need to give priority to human resources development and further donors coordination.

Through a permanent dialogue among the members of the working group, various seminars, possible staff exchanges and secondments, the main topic for 2008 is going to be the human resources management agenda and its specific aspects within the framework of European development cooperation.

Structure of the Group

Lead: Czech Development Agency (Mr. Prochazka, Czech Republic) and InWent (Ms Carola Donner-Reichle, Germany)

Participants: ADA (Austria), AECI (Spain), AFD (France), DFID (United Kingdom), EuropAid, GTZ (Germany), MFAEI (Croatia), MFA (Romania), Sid Bank (Slovenia)