Over the past two years the Comoros Customs Administration has been fully committed to wide-ranging reform and modernization. Since then, management has made it a strategic priority to develop staff competencies across the board, both in technical and managerial areas. As part of this process and thanks to support from the Finnish Fund, an LMD Workshop was organized by the World Customs Organization (WCO) and co-facilitated by two experts from Canadian Customs and the WCO Secretariat. The workshop was held in Moroni from 3 to 14 December 2018 and was offered to 20 managers (five women and fifteen men) representing the operational and central Customs departments.
The workshop’s objective was to equip Comoros Customs with a pool of dedicated leaders. The managers will be responsible for working with their colleagues to drive the modernization process already under way within the Administration. With that in mind the workshop facilitators held an extracurricular session on the main priorities of the strategic plan which is currently being finalized, in order to enable participants to take ownership of the plan and think strategically about any pillars they may wish to add.
The workshop was also a unique opportunity for all the participants to reflect in order to gain deeper self-awareness and further team spirit. The participants were also able to perfect their strategic management skills and deepen their understanding of leadership, people management, different management styles, promoting diversity and integrity in the workplace, communication, negotiation, change management and how to create a vision for the future. The workshop allowed participants to work on projects deemed strategic for their Administration, such as Human Resource Management, gender equality and the Single Window.
The Minister of Finance, who chaired the closing ceremony, the Director General of Customs and all the participants gave their heartfelt thanks both to the Finnish Fund and the WCO Secretariat for their unwavering support.
To find out more about the LMD Programme, please contact: Capacity.Building@wcoomd.org.