As part of the established Mercator Plan for Ethiopia, the WCO successfully concluded a human resources management diagnostic study in partnership with the Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority (ERCA). Recognizing that people are the foundation of successful Customs modernization and reform, this mission was designed to explore the current human resources situation within ERCA and to make recommendations in keeping with the WCO’s Framework of Practices and Principles on Customs Professionalism, encompassing training policies, strategies and delivery methodologies. The study included a follow-up review on the use and impact of the Amharic e-learning modules, which have been successfully integrated into the delivery framework for ERCA’s broad-based Tax Transformation Initiative.
The WCO team held in-depth discussions with key ERCA officials representing human resources and training functions, along with other domestic and international stakeholders with an interest in questions of training and organizational development. All stakeholders showed a high level of commitment and offered important insights on current human resources and training processes, policies and capabilities.
The WCO experts encouraged ERCA to embrace competency-based management as envisioned in the Framework of Practices and Principles on Customs Professionalism as it serves as a link between human resources management and the overall strategic plan of an organization embedding observable abilities, skills, knowledge, motivations or attitudes needed for successful job performance.
Following the assessment, a report on recommendations and priorities for enhanced implementation of an organization-wide competency-based human resources management will be provided to ERCA and will include guidance on improved training and enhanced donor coordination initiatives. This mission was made possible with the generous financial support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Finland.