The new Human Resource Management (HRM) Toolkit for the Public Sector was released by the NATO Building Integrity (NATO BI) Programme on 24 October 2022. It was initiated and developed by the Norwegian Centre for Integrity in the Defence Sector (CIDS).
The toolkit offers an interactive guide to integrity-building in the public sector, including systematic planning guides for human resources personnel, questionnaires for employees and hands-on assessments of managerial competencies.
HRM is critical for integrity-building, which means working towards transparent, accountable and democratic institutions. NATO BI works to support the Alliance as an organisation, Allies and partner countries to promote good governance and implement the principles of integrity, transparency and accountability in the defence and related security sector.
Poor human resources make an institution and its employees less resilient to hybrid threats within an organisation, like corruption and poor governance. Well-functioning systems for HR management are crucial in the defence and security sector because they establish ethical leadership cultures that are honest and reliable.
Integrity-building in HR must be present at every level of an institution, from job design to recruitment and selection, employee induction, professional development and organisational culture, in order for that institution to be effective.
This new and practical toolkit aims to bridge the gap between the principles and practice of public administration reform in different national contexts by offering examples, insights and ideas for countries where democratic change and institution-building are still underway.
Together with the publication, ‘Glossary of Human Resource Management in the Public Sector’, which defines the core concepts of NATO BI (integrity, transparency and accountability), the HRM Toolkit is a practical tool for the implementation of the principles of NATO BI.
Its aim is to aid civil servants and public sector managers, as well as individuals from civil society organisations and the media in building institutional resilience in the public sector. The toolkit will be made available in NATO’s two official languages (English and French), as well as Arabic, Georgian, Ukrainian and Spanish.
