The Barbados Customs and Excise Authority (BCED) has identified as part of its strategic plan, the aim of improving operational efficiency, revenue collection and stakeholders’ engagement through its primary goal of modernizing its governance, policies and operations.  To this end and under its flagship Executive and Professional Competency Based HRM Programme (EPCB-HRMP), the WCO delivered a virtual workshop on competency-based HRM back in September 2020 and more recently delivered a follow up support workshop August 9-11, 2021.  This workshop was co-delivered by two accredited experts from Canada and Liberia. 

BCED does not have its own HRM capacity and relies exclusively (through legislated authority) on the Ministry of Public Service (MPS) to provide recruitment, staffing and training services.  As such, in attendance at this workshop were two participants from the Ministry of Public Service, two from the Ministry of Finance with six participants from BCED for a total of 10 participants (9 women).

This e-workshop aimed at equipping and empowering BCED, the MPS with support from the Ministry of Finance  to be able to work together to understand the benefits of an HRM competency based Programme and how it can be used to (i) strategically manage human resources and (ii) promote the use of competency-based HRM within both BCED and MPS.  This workshop was further supported by the newly appointed Director of Corporate Strategy and Competitiveness who was hired by BCED to specifically focus on its renewed committed to developing the compentency-based HRM tools and in establishing and staffing a strategic HRM within BCED.

BCED has already established a core Steering Committee and Working Group which includes individuals from both the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Public Service.   Participants from both this e-workshop along with the workshop from last year are committed to (i) developing realistic and measurable HRM modernization work plan and (ii) designing competency-based HRM tools.  On its side and keeping business continuity in mind, the WCO will pursue the remote delivery of its capacity-building services to BCED, especially with regard to the finalization of the competency based tools. BCED is committed to structural reforms that will modernize its operations in line with modern and effective international practices showcased by the (IMF) and the World Customs Organization (WCO).  The WCO is looking forward to supporting BCED and the MPS in achieving its HRM modernization goals.

For more information, please, contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org.