The WCO conducted a Leadership and Management Development Advisors (LMDA) pre-accreditation workshop from 12th to 16th December 2022 at the WCO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, under the sponsorship of the WCO Reserves Fund. The workshop was attended by 14 participants selected from 14 countries, namely Australia, Angola, Bangladesh, Brazil, Ireland, Jordan, Netherlands, Seychelles, Saint Lucia, South Africa, Tanzania, Turkiye, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.

This activity corresponds to the second phase of the WCO accreditation process’ three-phase approach.  During the first phase of the LMD Advisors accreditation process, WCO member administrations nominated candidates who met the LMD facilitators’ pre-selection criteria.

At the workshop’s opening, Mr. Taeil  KANG, Capacity Building Director, congratulated the participants on their selection and underscored the fact that successful participants will significantly boost the current pool of WCO Accredited experts. He further informed the participants that due to the centrality of leadership and management competencies required by Customs Administrations to effectively execute their mandate, the WCO has been expanding the LMD programme to address Top, Senior and Middle managers via face-to-face, blended and e-learning activities. He urged the participants to be good ambassadors of the LMD programme in their respective Administrations and wished them a productive week.

Throughout the week, participants were introduced to the LMD Programme, its philosophy, concepts, principles and tools. Participants were also familiarized with the LMD Programme’s specific approach to facilitation and exposed to various exercises and assignments where they were able to demonstrate their skills as facilitators, personal attributes,  knowledge of leadership and their passion for impacting others.

Successful participants will be invited to the next stage of the WCO expert accreditation process, where they will conduct an in-field mission. It is expected that those participants who successfully complete the accreditation process will be added to the expert pool as LMD Advisors and work together with the WCO for the benefit of Members who require support from the WCO in enhancing leadership and management competencies and skills.

For more information regarding the WCO LMD Programme, please, contact: capacity.building@wcoomd.org.