Under the auspices of the WCO/JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) Joint Project, a national workshop on Risk Management (RM) was held from 16 to 18 October 2018 in Bujumbura, Burundi. This is a part of the efforts made by the Burundi Revenue Authority (Office Burundais des Recettes (OBR)) to enhance its RM function under the Trade Facilitation and Border Control Project in East Africa that is jointly supported by the WCO and JICA. Considering the importance of ownership and the need for localized training on the customs key function, trainers for this workshop was invited from the pool of "Master Trainers". "Master Trainers" are the group of expert trainers developed within the OBR with the support jointly extended by the WCO and JICA to deliver more sustainable and self-contained training.
Considering the rapid increase of cross-border movements of goods, passengers, and means of transport, it is imperative for Customs administrations to apply RM strategies and techniques in their daily operations. This requires a more effective approach to the planning and implementation of Customs controls. The workshop was very timely as OBR has just adopted their first RM policy and Customs RM strategy.
The Workshop brought together 30 officials from the variety of departments/units of OBR and was conducted by the Master Trainers of OBR with the variety of valuable additional inputs given by the WCO experts, such as the information on the latest WCO instruments and tools relating to RM. The main objectives of this workshop were to improve the knowledge of OBR staffs on RM as well as to share information on the current practice, issues, and challenges relating to RM for further improvements. The workshop also aimed at enhancing communication and information exchange among the OBR staff.
Throughout the workshop, the participants actively participated in and took full advantage of the possibility to exchange views and share experiences among themselves and the facilitators. The subsequent presentations and discussions on the WCO Customs Risk Management Compendium contributed further to deepen their knowledge on risk identification and development of profiles.
OBR expressed its appreciation to the WCO and JICA for this opportunity. Both WCO and JICA welcomed the strong commitment clearly demonstrated by the OBR during the workshop and reaffirmed their support to the continuous efforts of OBR to ensure sustainable capacity development.