The Training Implementation Workshop (TIW) is an annual African Union (AU) Commission stock-taking workshop, which was held virtually from 9-10 November 2020. The annually held workshop was originally scheduled to take place in Accra, Ghana 20 March 2020, however due to the outbreak of COVID-19 the AU Commission Peace Support Operations Division (PSOD) had to cancel and reschedule the workshop to a virtual platform. The purpose of the workshop was to coordinate and harmonize training activities with Regional Economic Communities/Regional Mechanisms (RECs/RMs), Training Centres of Excellence and Training Institutions (TCEs/TIs), and AU mandated operations in coordination with the ASF 2018-2020 Training Policy and Training Directives.
The workshop being held virtually was an unusual setting for the participants and the AUC, however this did not deter nor prevent the AUC from achieving its objectives for their annual meeting, which was to: assess the implementation progress from the 11th TIW that was held in 2019; review the progress on the implementation of the 2018-20 ASF Training Directives; assess the impact of COVID-19 on the implementation of the training directives, and; agree on ASF Training Directives for 2021-2023.
With the 2018-2020 ASF Training Directives drawing to an end, the TCEs/TIs in each of the African Regions presented the role they have played in ensuring that the Training Directives were well implemented in the last 3 years. In their discussions also came the need to further integrate online trainings with face-to-face trainings for the TCEs/TIs in the ASF Training Directives for 2021-2023.
The workshop was attended by more than 70 participants from RECs/RMs, TCEs/TIs, AU member states, AU Peace Support Operations Division (PSOD), African Peace Support Trainers Association (APSTA), subject matter experts and partners.
ACCORD, provided technical support in partnership with the AU PSOD to organise the event and was represented by Professor Martin Rupiya, Wandile Langa and Rumbidzaishe Matambo.
