Burkina Faso Customs and the WCO Anti-Corruption and Integrity Promotion (A-CIP) Programme, organised a capacity building workshop from 29 November to 1 December 2023, for more than 25 customs officials from operational and support services.
The workshop focused acquiring best practices around the priority areas of Burkina Faso Customs' strategy to fight against corruption and promote integrity. It paid particular attention to staff training and skills development, collective action applied to gender equality and diversity, and relations with the private sector.
In addition to the technical support of experts from the A-CIP Programme, Burkina Faso Customs involved two of its managers who had taken the A-CIP training course last summer. During the workshop, they ran the module "The Revised Arusha Declaration in practice in your daily work as a Customs officer" for the benefit of the other participants. This strengthened the momentum for raising awareness and sharing best practices to meet the administration’s challenges in the fight against corruption and promoting integrity.
Discussions were based on sharing experiences relating to the integrity approach of the WCO, its West and Central Africa region and the Customs of Burkina Faso. The importance of collective action to promote integrity was emphasised, particularly in terms of gender equality and diversity and in the context of relations with the private sector. As underlined by the Director General of Burkina Customs, to continue and expand the deployment of the A-CIP Programme, "it is not possible to succeed alone. Collective commitment is a key success factor in implementing and achieving an action plan to combat corruption and promote integrity".
The WCO A-CIP Programme currently supports more than 20 countries in five WCO regions. It receives funding from Norad and Canada and focuses on fighting corruption and promoting integrity in Customs administrations. For more information, please contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org.