The Dubai Ministry of Development Government Sector and Competency Center, Etisalat Academy, have signed an agreement for the execution of the competency assessment project for the government sector.

Executive director for the Development Government Sector Dr Ali bin Oboud and manager of Competency Centre at Etisalat Academy Mariam Mohammed signed the agreement.

The agreement falls within the general agreement that was signed by both the Ministry and Etisalat Academy recently, where it was stated that 300 government managers and directors from all ministries in the UAE would participate in an assessment and development programme.

Witnessing the signing were Director of Human Resources and Financial Affairs for the Ministry Khalifa Al Suwaidi and deputy general manager of civil service council Mariam Al Abbar.

This signing will bring forward 15 nominees from each ministry, according to the nature and specialisation of each employee's role in the ministry, said the official spokesman.

This project will be divided into three major phases, where the initial phase will identify professional and vocational competencies for 50 employee posts via a draft and classification process and then linking these competencies with the jobs concerned.

The second phase will prepare the necessary competency measurement tools by using ability and personality tests, specialized in measuring competencies that have been especially adapted and formulated for the nature of work in the government sector.

In the final phase, each employee will meet with competency assessment consultants from the Competency Centre at Etisalat Academy where their assessment will determine a plan for development of each employee individually. The projected is expected to be completed by December 2008.-Trade Arabia News Service