Report of the African Standby Force Civilian Dimension Technical Rostering Workshop

The African Standby Force (ASF) Civilian Dimension Technical Rostering Workshop was held from 1 to 3 July 2009 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The workshop was organised by the African Union (AU) with support from the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD). The workshop was funded by the Government of Norway under the auspices of the Training for Peace in Africa (TfP) Programme. The aim of the workshop was to generate clear recommendations to the AU and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and Regional Mechanisms (RMs) as to which civilian standby roster model is best suited for the needs of the ASF. Participants at the workshop included representatives from various AU Commission (AUC) departments, RECs/RMs, members of the African Peace Support Trainers’ Association (APSTA) – which includes a number of training centres of excellence and civilian training service providers – and regional and international institutions that specialise in civilian training and/or rostering. The workshop recommended that an integrated ASF and REC/RM civilian standby roster be established. However, due to the current lack of civilian ASF Planning Element (PLANELM) staff in the AUC and most RECs/RMS, the workshop recommended that the ASF Civilian Standby Roster be established in two phases. In the first phase, the AUC and RECs/RMs should harness the support of a specialised service provider that could assist them in creating the roster system, while concurrently training the required number of AUC/REC/RM personnel needed to manage and maintain the roster system. The personnel trained to maintain the roster will then serve as the focal point for the roster system and will be able to take over the management of the roster on completion of the capacity-building phase. The recommendations provide for a capacity-building phase for a period of three years. In the second phase, the AUC and RECs/RMs shall take full responsibility for the management of the civilian standby roster. This two-phased approach should allow for quick operationalisation, borrowing from the capacity of established rosters whilst providing for the building of capacity within the AUC and RECs/RMs, as well as full ownership and control by the AUC and RECs/RMs of the process and mechanisms needed to establish and manage the roster. 6 The workshop agreed on a number of principles that should inform the establishment of an ASF Civilian Standby Roster. These included ownership of the roster by the AUC and the RECs/RMs, that the roster should be transparent and user-friendly, and be responsive to the requirements of the ASF, that it should be merit-based, and that it should take into account regional and gender balance. The workshop also generated a number of operational recommendations, including: • The roster should be professionally maintained, updated and compatible with other roster systems. • The roster should collaborate with other international roster systems, to avoid overlap and to increase experience-gathering opportunities for candidates to serve in other missions offered by other organisations. • There should be close collaboration with the AUC Human Resources Department in setting the selection criteria for candidates for the roster. • The roster should be interactive and dynamic in order to retain candidates through the provision of pre-deployment and leadership training for middle/senior level management, as well as specialised training to keep candidates ready and prepared for deployment. • The roster should have a minimum of 300 candidates for each REC/RM, with the aim of ensuring that 60 deployable personnel can be generated at any given point.