National human resource development (NHRD also known as National human resource development) is the planned and coordinated process of enhancing human resources in one or more political states or geographic regions for economic and/or social purposes. [1] NHRD has been recognized as a policy priority and undertaken as an activity by various divisions of the United Nations, [2] national country governments (see list of NHRD efforts by country below), organizations involved in international development,. [3] [4] Specific human resources targeted by NHRD policy or practice typically include personal characteristics like knowledge, skills, and learned abilities and aspects of physical and psychological wellbeing; examples of NHRD interventions include ensuring that general education curricula include knowledge critical to employability and wellbeing, assisting employers in implementing effective on-the-job training programs that promote both greater effectiveness and workplace empowerment, and working to benefit specific populations by, for example, aligning vocational education and training with maternal health services and nutritional support. [2] [5] [6]
The first country to refer to its integrated approach to human resource development as “national human resource development” was India in the mid-1980s. [5] Especially when a particular national context is implied, NHRD is often referred to as “human resource development” or “human resources development” (HRD). For example, South Africa has established a Human Resource Development Council (HRDC) which coordinates efforts from multiple governmental departments with the aim of stimulating “a culture of training and lifelong learning at individual, organisational and national levels...”. [7]
NHRD is sometimes thought of as a sub-topic of human resource development (HRD) which concerns the issues of training and development on a predominantly organizational level of analysis. [8] NHRD has been highlighted as distinct from HRD not just in terms of its level of analysis, but because it deals with social and intuitional issues often not considered by HRD practitioners (for example, maternal health and international policymaking) and because national governments, international development actors like the United Nations, and other civil society organizations both use the term and at times conceptualize NHRD separately from issues of either employee-related training or development. [2] [8]
Because of its interdisciplinary nature, NHRD carries with it influences from other fields that focus on issues of the development of human resources including training and development, human resource management, and industrial and organizational psychology. For example, industrial and organizational psychology has considered entrepreneurship skills [9] and the process of skills development in lower-income nations. [6] As an activity or process, HRD on a national or regional level relates closely to and sometimes overlaps with issues in workforce development and the development of human capital within broader economic development efforts; however, NHRD is arguably distinct from workforce/human-capital development because of its emphases on economic and non-economic considerations, dynamics, and outcomes. [2] [10] [11] [12]
While the planned development of human resources on a regional level has arguably existed since at least the Middle Ages, [5] the first known use of the term “human resource development” in reference to an entire region or nation was in Harbison and Myers’s (1964) publication entitled Education, Manpower, and Economic Growth: Strategies of Human Resource Development which considered the issue of the development of human resources on a societal scale. [13] Crucial steps in this international progression have been the work by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific towards integrated human resources policy provisions in national public policy in that region as expressed in the 1988 Jakarta Plan of Action [14] and subsequently a 1994 report by the United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Human Resources Development in the Public Sector. [15] The term `national human resource development' was introduced several times in the 1995 UN Secretary-General's Report on HRD to the General Assembly (A_50_330-ENG).
Notable efforts toward promoting NHRD on a country level have included the establishment of policies, programs, and departments by a number of national or regional governments (see below for examples of how countries have engaged with NHRD).
One of the earliest human resources development projects on a national scale in Western countries was carried out in the United States in the 1970s by the National and State Occupational Coordinating Committees (NOICC-SOICC). [16] [17] These bodies were set up to regularly prepare and update labor-market and occupational information to assist career development, to support educational program design, and to meet employers’ information and training needs. The United States continued engagement in NHRD via the creation and maintenance of nationally representative occupational information in the Department of Labor's Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) and the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) which replaced the DOT.
Outside of the United States, NHRD initiatives include the nationwide vocational education and training systems of Germany and other European nations (see below). In addition to efforts by individual countries, efforts to understand and develop human resources across countries in the European Union (EU) have been undertaken by the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDFOP). For example, CEDEFOP has worked to develop profiles of the skills involved in occupations across the EU. [18]
Outside of Western nations, India established the first Ministry of Human Resource Development in the Asia/Pacific region in 1985. [19] In addition, a number of lower-income countries and emerging economies have often established NHRD departments, platforms, and plans that combine efforts from stakeholders involved in basic education, higher education and training, adult and continuing education, vocational education and training, labor advocacy, commerce, and/or various industries and professions (see below).
As early as 1965, international actors, including the United Nations, identified the development of “human resources” as an international policy priority. [20] Beginning in the 1980s, over 20 reports of the United Nations Secretary-General and the General Assembly have addressed aspects of the development of human resources. [21] Beginning in the 1990s, the use of an “s” was often added to the word “resource” in United Nations documentation in order to emphasize that human resources are diverse and important parts of an individual's unique identity, to avoid implying that human resources are undifferentiated commodities to be traded in exchange for monetary compensation or economic growth, and that coordination among stakeholders from a diverse array of sectors and concerns (for example, health, education, and private industry) are of relevance to the development of human resources. [2]
Other notable international considerations of NHRD include declarations emerging from the 1995 Copenhagen World Summit for Social Development, [22] the International Labour Organization's 2004 Human Resource Development Recommendation, [23] and the 2013 United Nations Secretary-General's report on Human Resources Development, which tied the issue of NHRD to sustainable development priorities, information and communication technologies, and education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. [24]
A number of NHRD-related efforts by international and national stakeholders have been focused on a particular form of human resources – namely, skills. These efforts have been undertaken both for the purpose of promoting economic and workforce development, but also for the sake of meeting important psychological needs, enhancing people's empowerment at work, and promoting greater participation in a country's political processes. [6] [25] Efforts to accelerate skills development within a given region include active labor-market programs that, for example, provide income assistance alongside vocational education and training. [26] A particular challenge to skills development in lower-income countries, especially within the informal economy, is properly understanding current skill proficiencies, skill demand, and the most effective methods of skills development. [26] The World Bank, the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the European Training Foundation (ETF), the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the G20, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have undertaken efforts to better understand and improve the skills of key populations, countries, and regions – prominently including people affected by poverty in lower-income countries. [6] [27] In order to overcome the limitations of existing information about skills and the difficulty of estimating skills in the informal economies of lower-income countries, scholars and international development practitioners have innovated with ways of directly measuring and indirectly estimating skills. For example, the World Bank has begun to directly measure skill levels instead of inferring them from existing labor-market information in urban centers in lower-income countries. [28] In addition, researchers have combined both occupational employment figures and data on countries’ exports with information about occupations to estimate countries’ skill levels. [29] [30]
NHRD efforts, and models for NHRD initiatives and systems have at time been tailored to the economic, cultural, historical, and political realities of different nations. For example, Alagaraja and Wang (2012) proposed nine different models for a country's approach to NHRD. [31] In addition, Oh, Choi, and Choi (2013) have highlighted considerations for measuring NHRD systems, including supply conditions (for example, the percentage of a population with tertiary education), demand conditions (for example, a region's unemployment rate), and supporting systems (for example, government expenditure on research and development). [32]
As an example of the customization of NHRD approaches to the realities of certain countries, specific approaches to NHRD have been highlighted in countries that rely in large part upon natural resource extraction. In order to avoid and/or overcome social and economic issues resulting from overreliance on resource extraction, also known as the “resource curse”, Azerbaijan launched an initiative known as Converting Black Gold to Human Gold (BGHG) which refers to the conversion of petroleum resources into human resources. [33] The BGHG approach to NHRD has emphasized, among other things, multi-sector partnerships, empirically-based skill measurement and projections, and the creation of a community college model of vocational education and training. [33]
Critics have argued that current NHRD scholarship lacks a rigorous and cohesive theoretical basis. [34] In response, some have highlighted the importance of developing inductive and constructivist understandings of NHRD and efforts to develop NHRD theory have been featured in academic literature. [11] Other critics have claimed that the idea of the development of a population's “human resources” can be dehumanizing if it overemphasizes economic outcomes because such an emphasis might imply that people and their characteristics are only commodities to be acquired, utilized, and/or improved for economic profit and growth. [10] Others have emphasized the potential for NHRD to be a participatory process by which people's agency and “resourcefulness” are enhanced. [35]
Below is a list of NHRD bodies, programs, and plans listed by country. This list represents both a small sample of NHRD efforts undertaken by national governments and an attempt to create a growing list of NHRD efforts worldwide. Countries are listed alphabetically by titles used in Wikipedia (for example, “South Africa” is used instead of the formal title “Republic of South Africa” because the former is the title of the Wikipedia page devoted to that country). Examples do not necessarily involve the words “national” and/or “human resource” but they do pertain to the focus and scope of NHRD.
Azerbaijan
Bhutan
Botswana
Germany
Grenada
India
Japan
Kiribati
Malaysia
Mauritius
Pakistan
Saint Lucia
South Africa
United States
Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest, and cultural value. On Earth, it includes sunlight, atmosphere, water, land, all minerals along with all vegetation, and wildlife.
Human capital or human assets is a concept used by economists to designate personal attributes considered useful in the production process. It encompasses employee knowledge, skills, know-how, good health, and education. Human capital has a substantial impact on individual earnings. Research indicates that human capital investments have high economic returns throughout childhood and young adulthood.
Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include manpower, labor, or personnel.
Vocational education is education that prepares people for a skilled craft as an artisan, trade as a tradesperson, or work as a technician. Vocational education can also be seen as that type of education given to an individual to prepare that individual to be gainfully employed or self employed with requisite skill. Vocational education is known by a variety of names, depending on the country concerned, including career and technical education, or acronyms such as TVET and TAFE.
Professional development, also known as professional education, is learning that leads to or emphasizes education in a specific professional career field or builds practical job applicable skills emphasizing praxis in addition to the transferable skills and theoretical academic knowledge found in traditional liberal arts and pure sciences education. It is used to earn or maintain professional credentials such as professional certifications or academic degrees through formal coursework at institutions known as professional schools, or attending conferences and informal learning opportunities to strengthen or gain new skills.
The career is an individual's metaphorical "journey" through learning, work and other aspects of life. There are a number of ways to define career and the term is used in a variety of ways.
Career development refers to the process an individual may undergo to evolve their occupational status. It is the process of making decisions for long term learning, to align personal needs of physical or psychological fulfillment with career advancement opportunities. Career Development can also refer to the total encompassment of an individual's work-related experiences, leading up to the occupational role they may hold within an organization.
International education refers to a dynamic concept that involves a journey or movement of people, minds, or ideas across political and cultural frontiers. It is facilitated by the globalization phenomenon, which increasingly erases the constraints of geography on economic, social, and cultural arrangements. The concept involves a broad range of learning, for example, formal education and informal learning. It could also involve a reorientation of academic outlook such as the pursuit of "worldmindedness" as a goal so that a school or its academic focus is considered international. For example, the National Association of State Universities prescribes the adoption of "proper education" that reflects the full range of international, social, political, cultural, and economic dialogue. International educators are responsible for "designing, managing, and facilitating programs and activities that help participants to appropriately, effectively, and ethically engage in interactions with culturally diverse people and ideas."
A national qualifications framework (NQF) is a formal system describing qualifications. 47 countries participating in the Bologna Process are committed to producing a national qualifications framework. Other countries not part of this process also have national qualifications frameworks.
The Centre for Instructor and Advanced Skill Training is under the aegis of the Manpower Department, Ministry of Human Resources of Malaysia and has been operational since 1984. Its establishment was sponsored by the Government of Japan under ASEAN Human Resources Development.
The Senegalese education system is based on its French equivalent. The state is responsible for the creation of an educational system that enables every citizen access to education. Articles 21 and 22 of the Constitution adopted in January 2001 guarantee access to education for all children. However, due to limited resources and low demand for secular education in areas where Islamic education is more prevalent, the law is not fully enforced.
Recognition of prior learning (RPL), prior learning assessment (PLA), or prior learning assessment and recognition (PLAR), describes a process used by regulatory bodies, adult learning centres, career development practitioners, military organizations, human resources professionals, employers, training institutions, colleges and universities around the world to evaluate skills and knowledge acquired outside the classroom for the purpose of recognizing competence against a given set of standards, competencies, or learning outcomes. RPL is practiced in many countries for a variety of purposes, for example an individual's standing in a profession, trades qualifications, academic achievement, recruitment, performance management, career and succession planning.
Education in Guyana is provided largely by the Government of Guyana, through the Ministry of Education and its arms in the ten different regions of the country. Guyana's education system is a legacy from its time as British Guiana, and is similar to that of the other anglophone member states of the Caribbean Community, which are affiliated to the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC). School curricula, funding, standards and other policies are set by the central government and implemented through the Ministry of Education and related agencies. The Education System is divided into eleven districts, ten of which correspond to the national administrative and geographical regions of the country, while the capital, Georgetown, is treated as a separate education district, district 11. With 8.3% of its GDP spent on education, Guyana sits with Cuba, Iceland, Denmark and Botswana as among the few countries with top spending on education.
Humanity First is an international charity that provides disaster relief and long term development assistance to vulnerable communities in 52 countries across 6 continents. The organisation is run by volunteers with diverse skillsets across the world and has access to thousands of extra volunteers worldwide. Volunteer staff in all areas often pay their own expenses to support the international projects.
Career Pathways is a workforce development strategy used in the United States to support workers’ transitions from education into and through the workforce. This strategy has been adopted at the federal, state and local levels in order to increase education, training and learning opportunities for America’s current and emerging workforce.
Life skills are abilities for adaptive and positive behavior that enable humans to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of life. This concept is also termed as psychosocial competency. The subject varies greatly depending on social norms and community expectations but skills that function for well-being and aid individuals to develop into active and productive members of their communities are considered as life skills.
Elwood F. "Ed" Holton III is the Jones S. Davis Distinguished Professor of Human Resource, Leadership, and Organization Development in the School of Human Resource Education and Workforce Development at Louisiana State University where he coordinates their B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degree programs in Human Resource and Leadership Development.
Workforce development, an American approach to economic development, attempts to enhance a region's economic stability and prosperity by focusing on people rather than businesses. It essentially develops a human-resources strategy. Work-force development has evolved from a problem-focused approach, addressing issues such as low-skilled workers or the need for more employees in a particular industry, to a holistic approach considering participants' many barriers and the overall needs of the region.
Santosh Mehrotra is a development economist, whose research and writings have had most influence in the areas of labour, employment, skill development, on the relationship between human development and economic growth, child poverty, and the economics of education. He was an economic adviser in the United Nations system in New York City, Italy, and Thailand (1991–2006), and technocrat in the government of India (2006–2014), apart from making contributions to academic research since the mid-1980s. He has also in recent years established a reputation as an institution-builder in the field of research in India, despite facing difficult odds. He brings a combination of professional experience: with the Indian government as a policy maker and adviser, with international organisations as a technical expert, having lived on three continents and travelled to 63 countries providing technical advice to governments; and as an academic whose research work has been translated into French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and German.
TVET refers to all forms and levels of education and training which provide knowledge and skills related to occupations in various sectors of economic and social life through formal, non-formal and informal learning methods in both school-based and work-based learning contexts. To achieve its aims and purposes, TVET focuses on the learning and mastery of specialized techniques and the scientific principles underlying those techniques, as well as general knowledge, skills and values.