Review of the MFA's support to international recruitment

The recruitment of Finnish specialists to international positions in the UN and other multilateral organisations plays an important role in Finland’s foreign-, security, trade -and development policies. This review was carried out to gain a clearer picture of international recruitment supported by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland (MFA) and generate ideas for how it can be developed further.

The review covered all forms of international recruitment supported by the MFA and looked at also how international recruitments are organized in Sweden, the Netherlands and Italy.

International recruitment serves multiple purposes. These are influencing and supporting the multilateral system, gaining access to its organisations, fostering an internationally experienced Finnish workforce, and demonstrating Finland’s international presence. The goals are not clear, which leads to activities being managed without an overarching long-term strategy to guide resource allocation and choices.

The review concluded that Finland needs more strategic clarity on international recruitment, that effective management of international recruitment needs efficient coordination and that Finland does not take full advantage of its footprint in multilateral organisations nor of the networks and experience of former recruits. The report makes eight recommendations to develop international recruitments.

 

Report

Review of the MFA's support to international recruitment (english, pdf, 86 pages, 2,96 MB)

Powerpoint presentation

Final presentation of the evaluation results 23.5.2023 (enlish, pdf, 24 pages, 1,25 MB)