The draft training materials for the updated curriculum for clearing and forwarding agents in the East African region has formerly been presented to the Technical Committee of the Curriculum Implementation Committee (CIC). The meeting, which was held online, provided the technical committee an opportunity to review the draft training materials and share their input.
The technical team comprised of representatives from EAC Directorate of Customs, East African Revenue Authorities, National Associations of customs agents in the region and FEAFFA.
The new curriculum is a competency-based and will offer both the certificate and Diploma programs; with an additional Module on Warehousing.
The training materials development is part of the larger East African Community Logistics skills Enhancement Program supported by Trademark East Africa (TMEA).
“This is a significant milestone in our journey to professionalize the sector through capacity building and other key initiatives the Federation is currently engaged in,” Blenda Nakkazi, CIC chairperson said.
The need to update the curriculum was as a result of a market survey conducted by FEAFFA, which assessed the appropriateness of the East Africa Customs and Freight Forwarding Practicing Certificate (EACFFPC) in addressing the needs and requirements of modern-day customs agents, freight forwarders and warehousing operations from the perspective of the employers, customers, and principals. The survey also focused on bench marking the curriculum in its current form with other professional training and capacity building initiatives in other field and regions.
The curriculum has been redesigned to address the challenges revealed by the market survey.
Since 2007, when the EACFFPC training programme was started, over 7000 customs agents and freight forwarders have qualified from the program in the region.
