It is business as usual at the Regional Service Centre Entebbe (RSCE) despite the COVID-19 global pandemic as the Centre hosts its first virtual HR Partners Training via Microsoft Teams. The six week’s training that started on 27 April 2020, is facilitated by RSCE Human Resources Local Process Experts, HR Practitioners with hands-on experience and supported by the Capacity Development and Operational Training Service (CDOTS) at the Department of Operational Support (DOS) who prepared the trainers for the sessions, reviewed the timetable, created  the training environment, provided training materials and guidance to trainers.

RSCE Human Resources virtual training is part of a comprehensive HR partner training being planned for delivery at the Centre. The live training sessions involves 10 RSCE practitioners with advanced HR knowledge. To refresh knowledge of trained Partners, 18 staff members are participating offline with access to the recorded sessions.

The training was opened on 27 April by Chief RSCE, Mr. Paulin Djomo who remarked that the tiered HR partner  roles the staff were being trained on is very key in the operations of the Centre especially for Education Grant, Leave and Entitlement Travel and other entitlements. The period April to July each year is considered critical for the Center and was named the peak season as the Center processes a large number of transactions as client entities end their fiscal year, school closes in many countries around the World and staff submit requests including for travel during summer.

“It is a new norm now that we have to work and train staff virtually and I want you to be very serious as you take this training to improve your skills.” He said “You are being trained for roles that are particularly important and not only for the RSCE but also for your future career”

“We have over 7,000 contracts to extend and over 20,000 annual declarations (staff members in client entities need to confirm the number of dependents to be able to continue receiving dependency allowance) to review and this training is well timed to face these challenges. We have to ensure client queries are handled within the KPI that we have set ourselves to improve client satisfaction. Please take the time required to do it well, it is virtual, I know, and it is not easy to do it virtually.” Advised Mr. Djomo.

“We are preparing you for more responsibilities, additional tasks that can build onto your career as well because additional training can not only be demonstrated in your evaluation, your performance and your e-Pas but into your CV as well.” Added Mr. Djomo.

The staff undergoing the training are drawn from different RSCE Service Lines including Onboarding and Separation Service Line, National Staff Service Line, International Benefits and Payroll Service Line, Education Grants Service Line, Client Support Unit, Human Resources and Talent Management Unit.

“We have a unique team dynamic. We have a good number of new HR staff who joined us over the last year with a wealth of experience from other UN entities and for the first time we have staff identified from Finance and Payroll areas who are going through the training to reinforce the HR side of our business. We have a good number of HR staff in different Service Lines that we will be mapping for higher roles to fill the slacks we have.” said Zewdu Tegen, Service Delivery Manager – Benefits and Payroll.

Upon successful completion and evaluation of performance by CDOTS, and RSCE Management, the participants will be certified, and roll-mapped for the different HR Partner roles