Under the framework of the West Africa Security Project (WASP), a partnership between the WCO and the German Central Customs Authority, funded by the German Federal Foreign Office, the WCO successfully delivered a sub-regional workshop on Implementing Gender Equality and Inclusion in Customs in Lomé, Togo, from the 3rd to the 7th of July 2023.
The workshop provided an opportunity for participants from the Customs Administrations of Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Togo to enhance their knowledge of the concepts of gender mainstreaming and inclusion and how this could be implemented in internal and external policies to the benefit of Customs employees and stakeholders.
The 5-day interactive workshop enabled delegates to increase their knowledge of the WCO tools promoting Gender Equality and Diversity (GED) in Customs, particularly the Gender Equality Organizational Assessment Tool (GEOAT) to assess current gaps in their organizations and the Blended Training Package that includes two e-learning modules.
The workshop was built on the recommendations from the GED organizational assessments conducted under the framework of the same project in February and March 2023.
Participants were also provided with the opportunity to share experiences of initiatives that their respective administrations have implemented. It is worth noting that all three administrations have established ‘Women Associations’ within their administrations to support female officers in their career development.
On the last day of the workshop, all three Customs administrations presented draft action plans for strengthening their work on GED for the upcoming years.
This sub-regional workshop constitutes an important milestone, as it was the first time training on GED was organized for Customs administrations in the West and Central Africa region. The WCO looks forward to continuing working with its Members to drive the GED agenda forward.
For more information about this activity and the WCO’s work on GED, please contact: capacity.building@wcoomd.org