The Secretariat of the World Customs Organization (WCO) participated in the 11th (hybrid) meeting of Training and Human Resources Managers of Customs Administrations in the WCO West and Central Africa Region (WCO-WCA) from 12 to 14 October 2022 in Abuja, Nigeria.

This meeting is part of the WCO-WCA region's roadmap and was held under the theme: "Resilience and Human Capital Well-Being as a Driver of Performance for Customs Administrations in the WCA Region".

Fourteen (14) of the twenty-four (24) Member administrations of the WCO-WCA region took part in the meeting, which aimed, among other things, to update the participants' knowledge on the developments of the regional capacity building strategy; to identify the challenges, obstacles and prospects for the modernisation of human resources management (HRM) within the region; to promote the exchange of experiences between training institutions at regional and national level; and to update knowledge on work organisation and human capital management.

The Director of ROCB, Mr Abdel Kader SANGHO, after thanking the Government of Nigeria for hosting this meeting and the World Customs Organization for its support in the implementation of this activity, came back, in his speech, to the expected results of this workshop, hoping that the commitment of all will allow the appropriation and implementation of the Regional Strategic Plan 2023/2027 

During the round table discussion on the challenges of human capital management in the process of modernising the region's Customs Administrations, the meeting also saw the intervention of WCO Secretariat officials via videoconference. First, Dr. Si Mohamed EL Hail, the WCO's People Development Programme Manager, briefed participants on the implementation of effective welfare and resilience programmes within Customs. Then, Ms. Johanna Tornstrom, Assistant Programme Manager, presented the WCO's work and perspectives on advancing gender equality and diversity in Customs.

At the end of the meeting, participants developed recommendations for the WCO Secretariat, the WCA Vice Presidency, ROCB and Customs Administrations in the region on the implementation of the Regional Strategic Plan, with commitments at the national level, capacity building of stakeholders within Member administrations, and the implementation of relevant programmes with a particular focus on human capital well-being.

For more information, please, contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org.