West Africa Capacity Building Working Group

Co-chaired by Algeria and Germany, the West Africa Capacity-Building Working Group promotes regional and international cooperation and provides a venue for experts to discuss capacity-building gaps specific to the West Africa region and identifying solutions.

The current areas of focus of the West Africa Capacity-Building Working Group are:

  • Enhancing International Police Cooperation
  • Border Security Management
  • Countering Terrorist Financing
  • Preventing/Countering Radicalization and Violent Extremism National Action Plans (P/CVE NAPs)
  • The integration of gender and youth perspectives in counterterrorism efforts: Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTFs)
  • Preventing Terrorists from Acquiring Weapons, IEDs, Ammunition and UAS (unmanned aerial systems)
  • Legislative Frameworks

Additionally, the West Africa Capacity-Building Working Group is:

  • Encouraging the implementation of the Rabat Memorandum on Good Practices for Effective Counterterrorism Practice in the Criminal Justice Sector | Arabic | French (Rabat Memorandum), specifically those good practices relevant to the criminalization of terrorist activities and the use of legal frameworks to promote rule of law-compliant responses to terrorism in the West Africa region.
  • Promoting regional and international cooperation and providing an avenue for civilian counterterrorism capacity-building coordination.
  • Providing a forum for networking and cooperation among a variety of stakeholders to promote dialogue, understanding, analysis-sharing, lessons learned, and collaborative partnerships.

Furthermore, the West Africa Capacity-Building Working Group Co-Chairs seek continued cooperation with relevant regional organizations and the G5-Sahel, and alluded to enhanced cooperation between the GCTF and the African Union.

The GCTF West Africa Capacity-Building Working Group was established in September 2017 to broaden the scope of the previous GCTF Sahel Working Group. The Sahel Working Group was active between 2011 until September 2017 and was co-chaired by Algeria and Canada.

Explore the activities of the GCTF Working Groups here.