The African Union, Peace and Security Operations Division (PSOD) with its technical partners, ACCORD and Germany Centre for International Peace Operations (ZIF), organised a coaching and mentoring visit to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat that was scheduled to run from 19-23 September 2016. The aim of the visit was to build capacity of the SADC roster focal points (RFPs) in using the African Standby Capacity rostering tool.
The development of the necessary knowledge and skills among the personnel operating the African Standby Capacity (ASC) roster at the continental and the regional levels, in this case both the roster focal points and the human resources personnel working with the roster focal points, is key to the success of the overall roster project. Since 2013 the AUC has offered training courses to ensure that roster focal points increase their knowledge and skills in operating the ASC efficiently and effectively in order for them to build up a pool or ready to deploy experts that will have undergone screening and trained.
In addition to the training courses, the AUC PSOD and its technical partners with ACCORD included have since 2014 embarked on onsite coaching and mentoring visits to regional economic communities to help RFPs manage problems or challenges they face in the implementation of their tasks. The coaching visits are designed to further provide support to RFPs on ASC tools, as well as rally political support and understanding from senior management on the value and work done by RFPs. The training covered the following main areas: Introduction to the ASC System; The ASC Basics; The ASC database; CV Screening and Selection Interviews.
Increasing the number of qualified civilian experts for the roster is currently a priority in all Regional Economic Communities. The visit was intended to comprehensively acquaint the new RFPs with all guidelines and tools in order to assume the responsibilities in the SADC region, and be able to independently utilize the ASC tools for screening and interviewing of candidates for the roster.
