The World Bank and the Government of Romania, through the General Secretariat of the Government (SGG) and two main implementation partners - the National Agency for Civil Servants (ANFP) and the Ministry of Labor and Social Solidarity (MMSS), marked the completion of their joint work on Developing a Unitary Human Resources Management (HRM) System within the Public Administration. The closing conference gathered key representatives of the Government and experts from the World Bank, informs a World Bank press release.

"The vision behind our support was to build capacity in the Government to attract, deploy, retain, and motivate people to better serve citizens, enable the growth of the private sector, and support Romania's overall development," said Anna Akhalkatsi, Country Manager for Romania, the World Bank.

By providing technical assistance, the World Bank supported the Government in launching reforms in key HRM areas meant to lead to a high-performing public administration.

"The center piece of this technical assistance project was the development of a competency framework for the civil service, a steppingstone towards a competency-based HRM in Romania's public administration. We look forward to the Romanian Government operationalizing this joint work to complete fundamental HRM reforms, as we continue to support Romania in its journey towards a stronger public administration," added Anna Akhalkatsi, Country Manager for Romania, the World Bank.

The technical analyses and policy recommendations provided under the project helped the Government to develop draft legislation for a new recruitment model and competency framework for the public administration, and to pilot a new methodology for monitoring public sector pay policy. The competency framework was embedded in the proposed models and tools for recruiting and evaluating civil servants. Taken together, these are the main pillars of the proposed HRM reform. When implemented, they are expected to lead to: Transparent and meritocratic recruitment based on competencies matched to job requirements; The start of strategic HR planning for the civil service, based on actual and forecast institutional needs; Strategic and transparent career management that rewards performance and promotes staff's development.

The project has also informed Romania's National Recovery and Resilience Plan through which the Government will operationalize several critical HRM reforms. These will include, inter alia, the implementation of a national contest (the new recruitment system) for the civil service, the competency framework for the Romanian public administration, an improved performance evaluation and management model, and the digitalization of selected HR processes.

The Developing a Unitary Human Resources Management System within the Public Administration project was co-financed from the European Social Fund through the Administrative Capacity Operational Program and implemented by the SGG, in partnership with ANFP and the MMSS. The technical expertise regarding the options for public policy was provided by the World Bank. AGERPRES (RO - author: Constantin Balaban, editor: Oana Tilica; EN - editor: Adina Panaitescu)

* Photo source: Agenţia Naţională a Funcţionarilor Publici / Facebook.com