Curriculum Development
Consultations with the National Prosecution Service Support Staff
HSF
As part of the process of developing a training curriculum for its non-legal support staff, the Department of Justice-National Prosecution Service (DOJ-NPS) organised a two-day consultative activity to which selected support staff were directed to attend, led by representatives from the department’s Special Projects Division (SPD). Held in Manila from 26 to 27 November 2019, the activity gathered thirty-two participants, including support staff from the DOJ Main Office and from select regions deemed to reflect the nuances of job responsibilities vis-à-vis work culture in different areas.
The questionnaires focused mainly on five areas, namely: (1) Functional Competencies; (2) Technical Competencies; (3) Advanced or Additional Competencies; (4) Work Tools; and, (5) Learning Preferences. Coming from Regions I, V, VI, VIII and XI, and from the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), the Support Staff participated in the Delphi Interviews conducted by the curriculum development expert as well as the consultations held, and shared their first-hand experiences, opinions and recommendations on their specific job responsibilities.
HSF
The expert pointed out that, “in order for NPS to become a Center of Excellence, it is important to develop a work culture and a healthy work environment within the NPS. This is possible only if the staff work is done by people who understand their roles and responsibilities vis-à-vis the mission of the NPS.” The information gathered during this activity will be used to help finalise a proposed training curriculum for the support staff that is harmonised with the NPS’s training curriculum for prosecutors.
The discussions on the different job competencies for each non-legal staff position revealed that most positions with specific job descriptions had added responsibilities that were absent from the approved job descriptions. In conclusion, the table of both functional and technical competencies that was presented was discussed one-by-one and validated by the participants.
The proposed curriculum was then presented and comments were entertained as the group went through each proposed module. A revised version of the proposed training curriculum will be presented for validation by the NPS in a separate activity scheduled to be held in December 2019.
This activity was held with support from the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) as part of the partnership between the DOJ-NPS and the HSF on the development of a training curriculum for the NPS support staff.