Personnel Management for Technical Co-operation

Since technical co-operation is achieved primarily through people, personnel management assumes particular im portance in the effective administration of the programs. While many of the problems are common to domestic activities, many others arise out of the unique nature of this type of program. Requirements are primarily for technical specialists having sufficient experience and maturity to serve as advisers to newly developing countries. Therefore most of those entering this field necessarily do so at mid career without the benefit of specialized preparatory training or experience. Few will have had previous overseas work experience, still fewer in an activity in which the entire family plays a significant role in achieving the objectives of the program for which the father is employed. Until recently, the United States had little experience in build ing a continuing overseas staff of technicians, ranging from health educators to economists, to agronomists, to tax experts, and others. Over the past few years, however, the Interna tional Cooperation Administration has undertaken a funda mental reorientation of its overseas personnel system to better meet the longer range as well as the immediate needs of co- operative programs with sixty-odd newly developing countries. In this review of major problems of personnel management for international technical co-operation, the approaches which ICA is finding practicable are presented as illustrative of principles and techniques which may have broader applicability.