Test Drive | Page 9

Federation of East African Freight Forwarders Associations (FEAFFA) CIC was to convene later in the year to review the status of national sustainability action plans but was constrained by lack of resources. • EACFFPC Graduations 2014 was a year of EACFFPC graduations. It was the climax of years of great work in all countries. All countries except Kenya had at least one graduation ceremony. The Ugandan Busia and Malaba border class also graduated 185 students. The event was graced by the former Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) Commissioner General, Ms Allen Kagina among other key guests. • Translation of EACFFPC training to French A consultancy firm was enlisted to translate the EACFFPC training materials into French. The exercise was concluded with the validation of the translated materials by a team of experts drawn from the industry and revenue authorities of Burundi and Rwanda. The translated materials are expected to significantly improve the quality of training in Burundi and partly in Rwanda. • Partnership with revenue authorities on programme implementation FEAFFA together with the National associations continued to engage with revenue authorities on EACFFPC matters. This centered on continued support towards delivery of training as well as ensuring enforcement of the EACFFPC as a mandatory requirement for customs agency licensing. The certificate is now a requirement across the region but efforts to make this requirement fully operational continue. • Sustaining the EACFFPC program 2014 presented the litmus test as direct TMEA funding towards training delivery finally ended. Training continued in four of the five countries although under somewhat difficult conditions including having no substantive coordinators in most countries, closing of some of the training facilities etc. Most countries increased fees in ANNUAL REPORT 2014 an attempt to close resource gaps occasioned by the end of TMEA support. Only Burundi had completely stopped training by end of the year but is expected to restart soon. In the long term, the Federation is still firm on rolling out training delivery through distance and E learning, establishing a logistics institute and going into strategic partnership with specialized training institutions to deliver EACFFPC training. All national associations are urged to take full ownership of the programme and ensure its continuity. • Trainer’s guide for the EACFFPC FEAFFA secured additional resources from TMEA to develop a Trainer’s Guide for the EACFFPC program. The guide was developed by a select team of experts drawn from both the National associations and revenue authorities including trainers, managers, and coordinators among others. The team was guided by a consultant. The Trainer’s Guide was validated by CIC in Mombasa and has since been deployed in delivering training across the region. The guide is however not printed and trainers are yet to be oriented on using it in delivering training. • Accreditation and mainstreaming of EACFFPC training program under the EAC Directorate of Customs. Efforts to mainstream EACFFPC within the EAC continued within the year. The development of the regional accreditation framework for customs clearing and freight forwarding agents continued. The draft framework was concluded, adopted by the EAC Committee on Customs and forwarded to partner states for review and consideration within the normal EAC adoption process. The EAC secretariat continued to work closely with the Federation on EACFFPC training matters. 9