From 24 to 26 February 2016, in Abuja, Nigeria, the 6th working session of the regional working group of HR and Training Managers of Customs Administrations of the West and Central Africa Region took place.
The importance of the HRM topic and its development in the West and Central African region becomes obvious when regarding the large number of participants. In effect, 35 delegates (including 8 women) participated in the last meeting. The participating countries encompassed 16 countries, namely: Benin, Burkina – Faso, Cameroun, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. Furthermore, the vice president (WCA), the Regional Office for Capacity Building for West and Central Africa (ROCB WCA), the three regional training centers of Ougadougou, Brazzaville and Abuja as well as a representative of the World Customs Organization (WCO) participated.
The meeting has been jointly organized by Nigeria Customs and the ROCB WCA. The main objectives included:
- To share experiences and best practices identified in the field of HR.
- To explore possible regional synergies.
- To raise awareness of the new activities and initiatives developed under the West African Customs Administration Modernization (WACAM) Project.
During this meeting, each administration was asked to present their current state in the HR modernization process, challenges as well as future perspectives. Here, a clear advantage was noticeable for the Customs Administrations which had been befitting from the support of the WCO – WACM Project, financed by Sweden.
Therefore, many delegates of the participating Customs Administrations showed interest to benefit from the support of the WCO – WACAM project on a regional level as soon as possible. The official requests for national support will be sent to the WCO in the upcoming weeks. In order to respond to these needs, it has been agreed to involve regional HR experts from Customs Administrations who have already benefitted from WCO – WACAM support as much as possible.
For more information, please feel free to contact the WCO – WACAM Project Manager, M. Richard Chopra (richard.chopra@wcoomd.org)