MONROVIA, Montserrado – For the first time in Liberia, human resource professionals are poised to benefit from a Prometric exam center, if arrangements are concluded.

Prometric is an American testing company which administers tests for members of a variety of industry groups.

The disclosure was made by the president of the Association of Liberia Human Resource Professionals or ALHRP, Jonah Soe Kotee, during an interview with The Bush Chicken.

Kotee said his association has begun discussions for a partnership with CITAM-Consulting in Management and Technology, which administers Prometric’s human resource exams in Ghana.

Having the tests in the country would ease the burden on Liberian human resource professionals, he said, as they would no longer need to travel out of the country to receive certification.

“It will be the first time in Liberia for an HR certification to be done here, and HR professionals will not have to travel to the U.S. to study for six months, and then do just four, five, six hours exams; it’s costly,” he said.

Jonah Soe Kotee, President of Association of Liberia Human Resource Professionals. Photo: Gbatemah Senah

Beyond curtailing the burden of traveling abroad to obtain an HR certificate, Kotee said the money paid for the program would now remain in the local economy.

Last Thursday, the association partnered with CITAM to organize a two-day training for nearly 100 human resource personnel from across Liberia.

The training was focused on talents management, leveraging human resource data for decision making and viewing human resource units as strategic business partners to organizations.

Kotee said the training was part of the association’s partnership with CITAM, and in continuation of previous trainings, ALHRP has organized.

Nelson Williams, a member of the association’s board, stressed the training was important, given the role of human resource professionals and the growing need to build Liberia’s workforce.

“HR is the one to build consensus to bring people on board [in order] to make the organization effective,” Nelson disclosed.

He encouraged leaders in both the public and private sectors to take the functions of HRs seriously.

Also speaking to The Bush Chicken was the training facilitator, Kojo Amissah of CITAM, who said the low capacity of organizations due to limited skills is a key challenge affecting human resource management in Liberia.

Kojo Amissah, Founder and Lead Executive of CITAM, Limited. Photo: Gbatemah Senah

Amissah, who is also a founder of CITAM, said to change the situation, human resource professionals must embark of extensive training and development programs, while at the same time partnering with academic institutions to influence their curriculum to include programs in the sector.

Michelle Comlan, a human resource assistant for Medica-Liberia, said it was her first time participating in a training organized by ALHRP.

She said she found the training “empowering,” adding that it’s a “new opportunity for networking.”

Michelle Comlan, Human Resource Assistant for Medica-Liberia; photo: Gbatemah Senah

Comlan praised the organizers and said she hopes to have more opportunities in the future for a continuous capacity building.

Featured photo courtesy of Martin Shields, Getty Images