In January 2015, the World Customs Organization (WCO) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC), followed by the launch of the "WCO/JICA Joint Project", based in the WCO Headquarters in Brussels whose main objective is to enhance the economic development of developing countries by assisting the efforts of Customs Administrations in trade facilitation, revenue collection, protection of society and Customs modernization. The project initially focused at that time on strengthening its support to customs administrations in 5 countries in East Africa. Thanks to the tangible success in East Africa, the Joint Project expanded its cooperation in 2018, especially through the Master Trainer Programme (MTP), the flagship programme of the WCO/JICA Joint Project, to mainly 16 countries in East, Southern, and West Africa. The objective of MTP is to work with Customs administrations to build more sustainable training capacity on key Customs topics through the development of a pool of highly experienced trainers, tailor-made training materials and training programme/course curricula. For this purpose, the MTP trains the same participants over 2-3 years through 5 working groups and intersectional activities.
With these activities and wide recognition of the MTP among WCO Members, the MTP on Rules of Origin (RoO) started in July 2021 in 16 African WCO Members in East, West, and Southern Africa, namely Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo to smoothly and effectively implement the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Then, in August 2022, five more WCO Members, namely Ethiopia, Cameroun, Madagascar, Senegal, and South Africa, joined the MTP on Rules of Origin. In addition, the MTP was expanded to cover 6 Pacific Islands WCO Members, namely Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Timor-Leste, Tonga, and Vanuatu, in the field of HS classification and Customs Valuation in July 2021, which also contributes to implementing the WCO Small Island Economies (SIEs) initiative. These programmes were successfully concluded in February 2024 for the Pacific Islands and in June 2024 for East, Southern and West Africa with remarkable results.
Under the MTP, a pool of approximately 210 Master Trainers (MTs) has been developed in East, Southern, and West Africa and the Pacific Islands by June 2024 in the following areas of customs expertise: HS classification, Customs Valuation, Post Clearance Audit (PCA), Risk Management (RM)/intelligence analysis and RoO.
Between 2018 and 2023, 150 MTs developed by June 2021 in Africa have trained more than 49,000 people from Customs Administrations, other government agencies, and the private sector, not only in their own countries but also in other countries. It is worth noting that a significant number of MTs, with their accumulated expertise and knowledge, also become WCO Accredited Experts (ACE) and assist WCO capacity-building activities even beyond regional boundaries, particularly in Africa. Hence, MTs are a valuable asset for the participating Customs administrations, their regions, and the entire Customs community. In addition, The MTP cooperates with other WCO programmes to make the best use of the limited resources available. For example, some MTs have been utilized as expert trainers in the EU-funded RoO Africa Project. Also, MTs are utilized to contribute to the training organized by RECs and development partners including EU, USAID, and GIZ.
In July 2024, two new WCO Members of the Pacific Islands, namely Plau and Samoa, and eight WCO Members in Central Asia and the Caucasus joined the Joint Project, and new activities were launched such as the MTP on RM and PCA for 8 Pacific Islands WCO Members; the GEOINT (geospatial intelligence) program for 5 West African WCO Members in cooperation with the West Africa Security Project (WASP), which contributes to the implementation of WCO Action Plan on Fragile Borders and will be followed by an MTP on GEOINT for 3 West African WCO Members. The MTP on RM and a programme on Time Release Study were also launched for 8 Central Asia and the Caucasus WCO Members, namely Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
The project will also support capacity-building activities such as national workshops held by the participating Members of past MTPs by utilizing MTs and provide refresher courses for MTs developed by past MTPs in 2024/2025.
Reflecting the broad scope of cooperation, the Terms of Reference (TOR) of the WCO/JICA Joint Project Team in the WCO Secretariat does not only focus on the implementation of the MTP, but also on the implementation of other technical assistance activities and supporting JICA projects.
For more information, please contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org.