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.Definition of NHRD is designed to be inclusive of multiple definitions drawn from both scholarship and its conceptualization by major actors involved in the formulation of NHRD policy and practice: Kim, N. (2012). Societal development through human resource developments: Contexts and key change agents. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 14(3), 239-250. doi:10.1177/1523422312446054; McLean, G. N. (2004). National human resource development: What in the world is it? Human Resource Development Review, 5(2), 176-201. doi:10.1177/1534484306287273; and United Nations General Assembly. (1995). Sustainable development and international economic cooperation: Human resource development (Report of the Secretary-General A/50/330). Retrieved from http://www.un.org/documents/resga.htm NHRD has been recognized as a policy priority and undertaken as an activity by various divisions of the United Nations,United Nations General Assembly. (1995). Sustainable development and international economic cooperation: Human resource development (Report of the Secretary-General A/50/330). Retrieved from http://www.un.org/documents/resga.htm national country governments (see list of NHRD efforts by country below), organizations involved in international development.Lawrence, J. E. S., & Stevens, P. A. (1988). Human resources development in the Swaziland water supply sector (United States Agency for International Development WASH Field Report No. 238). Retrieved from http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNABA088.pdf For example, in industrial and organizational psychology: Lawrence, J. E. S., Thompson, L. F., & Gloss, A. E. (2014). The emergence of National Human Resources Development and its connection to I-O psychology. The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist, 52 (1), 81-88. Retrieved from http://www.siop.org/tip/july14/pdfs/hwp.pdf 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.Russ-Eft, D., Watkins, K. E., Marsick, V. J., Jacobs, R. L., & McLean, G. N. (2014). What do the next 25 years hold for HRD research in areas of our interest? Human Resource Development Quarterly, 25(1), 5-27. doi:10.1002/hrdq.21180United Nations Development Programme. (2014). Barriers and opportunities at the base of the pyramid: The role of the private sector in inclusive development. Retrieved from http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/poverty-reduction/private_sector/barriers-and-the-opportunities-at-the-base-of-the-pyramid---the-/
Terminology and related concepts The first country to refer to its integrated approach to human resource development as “national human resource development” was India in the mid-1980s. 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...”.Human Resource Development Council of South Africa. (2012). Our aims and objectives. Retrieved from http://www.hrdcsa.org.za/content/our-aims-and-objectives
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.See: McLean, G. N. (2004). National human resource development: What in the world is it? Human Resource Development Review, 5(2), 176-201. doi:10.1177/1534484306287273 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.
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 skillsGielnik, M. M., & Frese, M. (2013). Applying I-O psychology to microbusiness and entrepreneurship in developing countries. In J. B. Olson-Buchanan, L. L. Koppes Bryan, & L. F. Thompson (Eds.), Using industrial-organizational psychology for the greater good: Helping those who help others (pp. 394-438). New York, NY: Routledge. and the process of skills development in lower-income nations. 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.Anand, S., & Sen, A. K. (1994). Human development index: Methodology and measurement (United Nations Human Development Report Office Occasional Papers). Retrieved from http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/human-development-index-methodology-and-measurement McLean, G. N., Lynham, S. A., Azevedo, R. E., Lawrence, J. E. S., Nafukho, F. M. (2008). Human Resource Development Review, 7 (2), 241-258. doi:10.1177/1534484308316486Wang, X., & McLean, G. N. (2007). The dilemma of defining international human resource development. Human Resource Development Review, 6(1), 96-108. doi:10.1177/1534484306296305
History and major developments While the planned development of human resources on a regional level has arguably existed since at least the Middle Ages, 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.Paprock, K. E. (2006). National human resource development in transitioning societies in the developing world: Introductory overview Advances in Developing Human Resources, 8(1), 12-27. doi:10.1177/1523422305283055 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 and subsequently a 1994 report by the United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Human Resources Development in the Public Sector.CHANGING PERSPECTIVES ON HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT Report of the United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Human Resources Development in the Public Sector held at United Nations Headquarters, New York 22 to 23 June 1994. https://publicadministration.un.org/publications/content/PDFs/E-Library%20Archives/1994%20Changing%20Perspectives%20on%20Human%20Resources%20Development.pdf 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).
NHRD efforts on a national or regional level 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).Drewes, D. W., & Katz, D. S. (1975). Manpower data and vocational education: A national study of availability and use. (National Institute of Education). Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED118905.pdf Lawrence, J. E. S. (1990). Occupational information and international development: Improving HRD diagnostics. (National Occupational Information Coordinating Committee Occasional Papers). Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED328756.pdf 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.European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (2013). Quantifying skill needs in Europe - occupational skills profiles: Methodology and application. Retrieved from http://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/publications/21142.aspx
Outside of Western nations, India established the first Ministry of Human Resource Development in the Asia/Pacific region in 1985.Rao, T. V. (2006). Human resource development as national policy in India. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 6(3), 288-296. doi: 10.1177/1523422304266075 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).
NHRD efforts on an international level