WILLY McCOURT is a Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management at the Institute for Development Policy and Management at the University of Manchester, UK. He started his career as an assistant lecturer in the National University of Nepal. In the UK, he worked for the Voluntary Service Overseas, and in adult education and local government before joining the University of Manchester in 1994. His research and consultancy interests are in public management and governance in developing countries, and in human resource management.