ACCORD’s support to the African Standby Capacity Roster

Recognizing that civilian expertise, which is often crosscutting, is required for an array of Peace Support Operations (PSOs), the African Union Commission (AUC), Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and Regional Mechanisms (RMs) established the African Standby Capacity (ASC). The ASC is a roster of civilian experts who are pre-identified, pre-screened, pre-trained, and put on standby as a mechanism for rapid deployment to PSOs under the African Standby Force (ASF). Prior to the existence of the ASC, recruitment of civilian personnel for PSOs was on an ad hoc basis. Interested civilians applied directly in their personal capacity to the AUC, resulting in numerous challenges related to the timely recruitment and deployment of the needed expertise at short notice. The AUC with support from ACCORD through the TfP Programme provides the RECs/RMs with the guiding tools of the ASC. ACCORD has been a partner of the AUC for the ASC since its conceptualisation in 2008, to its development from 2013 to 2015, and its implementation from its launch in 2015 to date.

ACCORD supported the 10th African Standby Capacity Coordination Meeting that reviewed the progress made in enhancing the operationalization of the ASC roster held in Kampala

In 2021, ACCORD became the AUC’s lead implementation partner for the ASC. ACCORD’s roles been but not limited to:

  • Offering strategic advisory services to the AUC by providing guidance on all Human Resources and roster management matters along established Human Resources rules and regulations, recruitment and selection procedures and quality standards;
  • Operational and technical support by maintaining and improving the technical infrastructure of the ASC project, in particular the ASC database, and taking the lead in coordinating database-related technical/functional issues with IT-service provider;
  • Capacity building of Roster Focal Points at the RECs/RMs and maintaining and updating all relevant capacity building and Roster Management guidance documentation; and
  • Managing external relations by coordinating stakeholder communication between the AUC and the RECs/RMs, Training Centres and other partners such as member states to organise ASC events.
ACCORD contributed to the SADC RPTC Civilian Foundation Course that enhanced the capabilities in the ASC Roster. ACCORD facilitated the session on “Dialogue, Mediation and Negotiation”.

In 2022, the Southern African Development Community Mission (SADC) deployed four civilian experts to the in Mozambique (SAMIM) from the ASC Roster. Through the TfP Programme, ACCORD continues to support the AU’s concerted efforts towards building a pool of ready-to-deploy civilian experts.