Global MPM Insight

The Role of Personnel Administration ODA and Korea’s Response Strategy in the Era of Great Transformation in Development Cooperation Global MPM Insight Vol.5 The Role of Personnel AdministrationODA andKorea’s Response Strategy in the Era of Great Transformation inDevelopment Cooperation 1. The Strategic Role of Personnel Administration in the Global Development Cooperation Landscape In the recent international development cooperation landscape, the importance of personnel administration has become increasingly emphasized. Personnel administration refers to the full range of administrative activities through which public sector organizations systematically recruit, deploy, develop, and manage human resources so that they can effectively achieve policy objectives (Siegel & Myrtle, 1985). In the context of implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), public personnel administration(PPA) is gaining attention as a key factor underpinning institutional implementation capacity and as a vital foundation for strengthening overall administrative capability and building national capacity. The World Bank, through its Global Initiative on Public Administration Reform (GIPAR), identifies the enhancement of public sector capabilities - encompassing human resource management, personnel systems, organizational structure, and compensation - as a cornerstone of public administration reform, emphasizing that these factors are intrinsically linked to a government’s ability to implement policies and its overall performance (World Bank, 2023). Meanwhile, Korea’s development cooperation landscape is at a major turning point. The government is currently formulating the “4th Basic Plan for International Development Cooperation (2026–2030),” which defines Korea’s mid-to-long-term strategic direction. While public administration, including personnel administration, is a clear area of comparative advantage and a core sector for fostering recipient nations’ self-reliance, challenges remain in making ODA more robust and effective. Specifically, public administration ODA has historically focused on building digital government infrastructure, which limited its ability to achieve the primary goal of strengthening recipient governments’ internal capacities. Accordingly, to enhance the sustainability of ODA, there is a growing need to further strengthen human resource development and institutional support, and to provide integrated support for “people–institutions–infrastructure” (Han et al., 2025). This emphasis is not confined to public administration ODA alone; it can be understood as highlighting an “ecosystem approach” that should be applied across Korea’s ODA as a whole. This shift signifies that personnel administration is emerging as a core strategic field driving integrated support across the entire development cooperation ecosystem, rather than merely serving as an auxiliary tool for administrative reform. Han Seungheon Director & Research Fellow, Center for International Development Cooperation, KIPA 2. Current Status and Limitations of Global Personnel Administration ODA However, in the context of development cooperation, personnel administration ODA faces several limitations. First, many projects remain confined to a short-term approach centered on the “introduction” of specific systems. Although individual measures - such as establishing a job-based personnel system, introducing a performance management system, and reforming pay and compensation systems - have been implemented, they often fail to yield tangible results because the organizational culture and management capacity required to operate and institutionalize them have not been sufficiently developed. As an evaluation report on public administrat ion reform in Laos notes, when publ ic administration reform is not accompanied by strengthened implementation capacity following system-building, the practical functioning of the system remains limited (UNDP, 2021). Second, personnel administrat ion ODA is often implemented in a fragmented manner as discrete, isolated project components, which can weaken cross- system l inkages and undermine sustainability. The World Bank’s Independent Evaluation Group (IEG), in its evaluation of public sector reforms, notes that interventions focused on a single system tend to produce results with low sustainability, whereas an integrated approach that links personnel management, organizational arrangements and structures, and capacity strengthening is significantly more effective over the mid-to-long- term (World Bank IEG, 2008). This underscores that, when personnel administration is organically connected to diverse domains of the public sector, it can serve as a cornerstone for system-wide reform across society. Thi rd, despi te the rapid pace of digi tal and AI transformation, personnel administration ODA has been relatively slow to respond. While digital government initiatives are expanding quickly and discussions on supporting AI transitions are becoming more active (OECD, 2023), efforts to integrate data-driven personnel management, digital talent management systems, and human resource information systems (HRIS) with broader institutional reform remain l imited (World Bank, 2025). Moreover, knowledge and preparedness regarding the ethical issues associated with AI transitions, the institutional responses required to address them, and the human capacities needed to sustain such change have not yet been sufficiently developed. Given that AI transformation presents new challenges for both donor and recipient countries, this constitutes a critical area in which future personnel administration ODA should prioritize shared learning and cooperation. 3. Korea’s Personnel Administration Experience andGlobal Comparative Advantage Amid these limitations, Korea’s experience in personnel administration offers a clear comparative advantage. Over a relatively short period, Korea has shifted away from a seniority-based system grounded in tenure and internal career accumulation and has progressively advanced reforms toward job- and competency-based HR systems, strengthened performance management, and restructured civil service education and training. In particular, since the establishment of the Ministry of Personnel Management (MPM), Korea has reinforced its role as a government-wide “control tower” by integrating and coordinating personnel functions that had previously been dispersed across recruitment, assignment, evaluation, compensation, and education and training. Consequently, the government has enhanced the interconnectedness of its personnel systems and strengthened the alignment between institutional design and operational management. Expert Column 30 31