The Master Trainer Programme or MTP is a programme conducted under the WCO/JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) Joint Project. The aim of MTP is to develop sustainable training capacity by 1) developing a pool of well-experienced trainers and 2) developing regionally featured training materials and programs to be used by these trainers. Upon completion of the MTP, successful alumni are expected to become a common asset of their region and the entire Customs community and contribute to the sustainable economic development of the region through Customs modernization.
The MTP on Rules of Origin (RoO) was launched in September 2021 with the participation of 6 Customs Administrations in West Africa namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo, and 10 Customs administrations in East and Southern Africa namely Botswana, Burundi, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe for the effective implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
To achieve these objectives, a series of progressive activities are scheduled until its fifth working group (WG). Following WG1 on RoO for West Africa in November 2021 where designated WG members (participants) from 6 Customs Administrations improved their knowledge on RoO, identified their needs and the challenges faced by the 6 Customs Administrations in the area of RoO and developed a comprehensive work plan for the MTP, WG 2 for West Africa was held in Cote d’Ivoire in cooperation with Cote d’Ivoire Customs in January 2022 which provided the WG members with the opportunity to understand and apply the fundamentals of competency-based training and aimed at equipping them to play their role as a competency builder in the area of RoO, while they had learned technical aspects of RoO though the sessions with WCO experts and Japan Customs experts.
In order to encourage and monitor the learning application by the participants in their work environment, the MTP promote an innovative learning approach that puts importance on the follow up sessions.
This two day intersessional session is part of such follow-up sessions and they were held virtually from 2 to 3 March 2022 where Day1 was focuses on the follow up on WG members’ work after WG1 with WCO People Development Programme Manager especially in terms of WG members’ knowledge sharing activities at their respective administrations after WG1; and Day2 was dedicated to various case studies session on RoO provided by Japan Customs experts for the application of AfCFTA’s preferential tariff and verification of Certificate of Origin with WCO lead officer on RoO. Through the 2 day session, WG members learned from each other for better misethods on knowledge sharing activities and deepened their legal and practical knowledge on RoO.
In addition, since WG2 on RoO for East and Southern Africa is scheduled to be held in late March 2022 in Uganda, an online preparatory session was organized on 1 March 2022 where WG members of East and Southern Africa expressed their expectation and determination to be quality trainers.
For more information, please, contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org.