Decentralisation and reorganisation of the Croatian Employment Service (CES)

Location

Republic of Croatia

Duration

2006 - 2007

Donor

EuropeAid CARDS

Budget

479.500 EURO

Description and Deliverables

The overall objective is to implement a decentralisation and public administration reform process at the CES in order to achieve a greater match between labour market needs and supply.

The specific objective of this project is to assist the management of the CES in planning and implementing those changes that are required in order to improve the performance of their organisation.

One task will be to develop a business plan for the CES. Such a plan will establish a position statement namely-what stage of development has the organisation achieved, what are the challenges that it currently faces and what are the threats and opportunities that it will face in the future? This will be achieved by undertaking an organisational profiling exercise, which will include SWOT analysis and other appropriate techniques. The type and nature of labour market information needs and its implications for the service will be taken into account as an important part of the analysis. The decision to decentralise the CES and empower the regional directors will be a significant factor that will impact on the analysis.

The position statement will be measured against a model of where the organisation wishes to be in the future broken down into time frames such as short, medium to long term. This will be achieved by the analysis of reports, discussions and developmental activities involving senior CES managers who will refine their vision and mission for the organisation.

The resulting business plan will be widely distributed to all appropriate managers.

Following this analysis, areas of performance shortfall will be identified and strategies developed that either reduce the impact of the shortfall or ideally achieve the performance standards and targets. Of particular importance will be the development of an effective management information system. Equally important will be a review of the appropriateness of the existing information technology systems and the making of recommendations for system improvement.

The next step will be to use the analyses and make recommendations to develop the strategy and plan for human resources development within the agency in order to introduce a more effective and efficient allocation of tasks. This will include the development of a workload/caseload weighting system based on targets and possibly performance related pay. There will be advice to the senior management of the CES on the introduction of this system and provide appropriate training and support.

Information gathering, review of documents, reports and analysis of interventions
Develop a mission statement by workshops with key actors and senior managers of the CES
Undertake an organisational review
Measuring of the CES against the European Employment Strategy guidelines
Analyse the management information needs of key positions in the regional offices of the CES and make recommendations for system improvement.
Identification and design of the most appropriate caseload management system
Review of training programme currently undertaken by CES
comprehensive review of the marketing approach of the CES
Development of a business plan
Defining of the performance standards required for the CES that meet the European Criteria for Employment Services
Conducting a full training needs analysis of all key staff in the CES
Conduct a feasibility study on the appropriateness of a National training centre and the viability of introducing a certificated competency based programme for the Counsellors and other key staff in the agency
Production of a full marketing plan
Introduction of caseload management system
Full implementation and delivery of the management development programme and the provision of training sessions
Consultancy and advice on the introduction of effective systems and procedures that will improve service delivery and on introduction of performance standards into the CES.
Consultancy and advice to regional directors on development of local business plans