Recognizing the importance of integrating Gender Equality and Diversity (GED) in Customs work to improve organizational performance and efficiency and contribute to sustainable development, the WCO has made significant efforts in the last years to advance its GED agenda.  Among the latest initiatives is a train-the-trainer workshop organized at the WCO Secretariat from 13 to 17 March, to promote GED in Customs. The workshop, targeting a group of 20 pre-selected Customs delegates from 15 countries and 3 WCO regional entities, forms the first step in creating a pool of recognized experts on GED. This initiative has been launched to enhance the WCO’s capacity to respond to an increasing interest from Members to develop policies and practices on GED and was possible thanks to funding from the Trade Facilitation and Customs Modernization Programme for Sustainable Development in Sub-Sahara Africa funded by the Swedish Government through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and the Accelerate Trade Facilitation Programme funded by the Government of United Kingdom via His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

Through a 5-day interactive workshop, delegates were able to increase their knowledge of the WCO tools promoting GED in Customs, in particular the Gender Equality Organizational Assessment Tool (GEOAT) and the Blended Training Package, which also includes two e-learning modules. Participants enhanced their skills in implementing gender mainstreaming through a project cycle management approach. The workshop laid emphasis on the importance of making a diagnostic to identify strengths and gaps and designing and adopting a framework, such as an action plan, with a robust monitoring and evaluation system, to continuously follow up on whether targets are met according to set objectives. Delegates also shared experiences from their respective Administrations on how they work to implement GED.

Following the workshop, delegates deemed most capable of assisting fellow Customs Administrations will be invited by the WCO Secretariat to deliver capacity building support to complete the process of becoming Recognized GED experts. The WCO looks forward to collaborating closely with the new WCO GED Champions to advance this agenda.

For more information about this activity and the WCO’s work on GED, please contact: capacity.building@wcoomd.org