Training Government Officials in the Great Lakes Region

A Regional Training Programme for Officials from the Great Lakes Region organised by the Centre for International Governance in collaboration with the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) was launched on 9 November in Bujumbura in the presence of Mrs Mulamula, ICGLR Executive Secretary, Mr. Jean-Marc Clavel, Country Director, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Mr Venerand Bakevyumusaya, Minister of Information, Communication, Relations with Parliament, Government Spokesman and Vice Foreign Affairs Minister of Burundi, and Mrs. Valerie D’Hoedt Meyer, Head of Training Programmes-Africa and the Mediterranean, Centre for International Governance.  

This two-week long seminar welcomed 22 officials from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania, as well as ICGLR staff members. The programme built on the training sessions organised for young diplomats from the Ministry of External Relations of Burundi in 2007 and 2008.  Following discussions with ICGLR secretariat in 2008, the decision was taken to enlarge the participation of the training programme to neighbouring countries and focus on challenges and opportunities offered by the Great Lakes complex regional setting.  

The regional approach was adopted this year for two main reasons.  First, regions have become increasingly efficient in solving common challenges, and secondly, they are key players in negotiations and discussions in international fora. Key sessions were devoted to the concept of regional integration and welcomed renowned experts, such as Professor Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, native from the DRC, professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and currently Director a.i. of the African Institute for Governance (IAG) in Dakar,. Representatives from regional organisations gathered for an afternoon roundtable to compare the dynamics of regional integration of the Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries (CEPGL), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC), the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).  

Themes developed during the training were considered through the spectrum of regional integration and encompassed all stakeholders (private sector, public sector, international organisation, civil society and academia).  Along international lecturers, regional experts were invited to discuss with the participants the impact of regional integration on negotiation, investment, migration, environment and diplomacy.  The former President of the African Court on Human and People’s right, Professor Gerard Niyungeko, also intervened in the programme to introduce the concept of transnational justice and the role of the Court in the Great Lakes Region. 

Networking opportunities arising out of such regional programmes represent an additional argument in favour of this approach. Participants discussed with Centre’s representative the possible creation of an alumni network. Such networks have been implemented for other trainings organised by the Centre (such as CABIR in the South Caucasus) and have proven very useful to encourage the dissemination of good practices and maintain close linkages between the ministries of participating countries. Alumni network schemes also guarantee the sustainability of training projects over the years.