5
An International Civil Service
William F. Howell, Deputy Director
of Personnel for the United Nations
Relief and Rehabilitation Administra
tion in the Public Personnel Review
of July, 1945 describes the Personnel
Program of the UNRRA. UNRRA
was created in the East room of the
White House on the 9 th of November,
1943 by the representatives of 44 na
tions signing an agreement. The admin
istration has had as one of its basic
concepts the development of an inter
national civil service. Here is Mr.
Howell’s description of this concept:
At the outset the Council recognized
the importance of personnel administra
tion and the concept of an international
civil service in the framework of the
administrative organization. The resolu
tions on the subject adopted at the A t
lantic City meeting have become the
basic, authority and guide-post for the
creation of the personnel prograin. Res
olution No. 37, the first Council Pro
ceedings, provides:
Whereas, the Council desires to pro
mote the concept of a truly internation
al civil service; and, whereas, it recog
nizes that the success of the Adminis
tration will in large part depend upon
the vision, competence, integrity, and
loyalty of ' the men and women who
will become its administrative officers,
and comprise its technical staff; and
that the vesting, by the Agreement, of
full executive authority and responsi
bility in the Director General, requires
that he act with the greatest possible
freedom in the selection of personnel
and the establishment of personnel
standards; it is therefore resolved, that
the staff of the Administration should
be of an international character, se
lected upon the basis of individual com
petence, character, and integrity with
out discrimination on the grounds of
sex, race, nationality, or creed, and re
cruited upon as wide a geographic basis
as is possible, compatible and efficient
administration; and that salary stand
ards be established at a sufficiently high
level to make it possible for the Ad
ministration to secure the employment
of persons possessing the highest quali
fications within their own particular
field of endeavor . . .
The overall resolutions of the Coun
cil have been implemented by state
ments of policy and, procedure by the
Administration. Administrative' orders
and working manual of personnel pro
cedures and policies have been prepared.
But perhaps of greater significance is
the influence exerted by the civil ser
vice practices of the member nations,
particularly the United States and the
United Kingdom. The headquarters of
fice in Washington and the European
Regional Office in London have en
deavored to follow the best practices of
personnel administration in these two
countries. The officials and employees
coming from other member nations
have brought to the Administration
valuable experiences from their respec
tive home governments. Even though
the organization is international in
character and has set out to establish
an international civil service, the im
portance of traditions and precedents
of the national governments in the field
of personnel administration cannot be
overlooked.
The organization set up to adminis
ter is described by Mr. Howell as fol
lows:
The focal point for establish’ng the
personnel program of the Administra
tion has been the Headquarters Office.
The Bureau of Finance and Administra
tion is headed by a deputy director gen
eral who has responsibility for fiscal
and budgetary matters, organization
analysis, and administrative services, in
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