12 March 2013

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is assisting the State Border Guard Service (SBGS) of Ukraine to become the first Ukrainian governmental institution to introduce competence-based human resources management in line with European best practices. Competencies are determined criteria of knowledge, psychological stability, human and professional behavior, efficiency, cooperation, and communication skills, and are crucial for staff performance evaluation, as well as for recruitment, training and career development of personnel.

In addition to the basic competencies, relevant for all SBGS staff, specialized functional competences were developed for SBGS inspectors serving directly on the border, who form the backbone of the Service at the local level. Furthermore, together with the IOM, the SBGS carried out its inaugural pilot performance evaluation of personnel based on the developed competencies in 2012.

?We believe that the Service is only as strong as its personnel, and thus we are committed to improving the management of human resources in the SBGS through the use of an integrated, competence-based system to better recruit, grow and retain talented service people,? says Chief of Personnel Department of SBGS Administration major general Dmytro Ischenko.

European institutions have enshrined competencies as part of a merit-based system of career development, starting with recruiting individuals that meet the basic expectations of the institution in line with its strategic developmental goals and specific requirements of certain job positions, continuing by providing them with the necessary training to fully achieve the desired basic and functional competence, and finally, by placing them in jobs and promoting them in line with their level of basic and functional competence, which is regularly evaluated.

An international human resource expert, Mr. Guenther Schrom, was hired for this project. Mr. Schrom has over 30 years? experience of working with and advising to various governmental and private institutions in the field of HR management in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria, China, Peru, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Turkey and Venezuela.

The Ukrainian State Border Guard Service?s transformation to an EU-compliant law enforcement agency through reforming its recruitment, training and career development systems is supported by the U.S. Department of State. IOM acts as the projects? implementing partner.

The SBGS human resource management reform is conducted in line with the Decree of the President of Ukraine "On the state personnel policy strategy" and the Border Guard Service development concept.