HAWA WPS CC: Building capacity of Humanitarian Assistance professionals key for Africa’s development – Lt. Col. Ortwin Gammer

Course Director of the Humanitarian Assistance and Women, Peace, Security in West Africa Core Course (HAWA WPS CC) at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), Lt Col. Ortwin Gammer has advocated for continued capacity building of practitioners.

According to him, this is the surest way of ensuring a peaceful and safer Africa.

Speaking at the Opening Ceremony of the 12th Humanitarian Assistance and Women, Peace, Security in West Africa Core Course on Monday, September 25, Lt Col. Ortwin Gammer said Humanitarian Assistance remains crucial amid conflicts, flooding, and other challenges on the continent.

“Humanitarian Assistance we think has become important because when you see all the challenges in the region including climate change, the impact of climate change, conflicts, malnutrition, and flooding, all of these happenings require Humanitarian Assistance and we try to build the capacity of course participants so that by the end either themselves will be retooled or their organizations are better equipped to do Humanitarian Assistance wherever it is needed and by the end it is important to help people who are suffering and who are in crisis to make their living better,” Lt Col. Ortwin Gammer told the media on the sidelines of the opening.

Lt Col. Ortwin Gammer

Speaking at the ceremony to open the course, Chief Coordinator at KAIPTC, Col. Christian Yao Dagadu commended the Humanitarian Assistance professionals taking part in the course from various parts of the continent.

He said it is thanks to their hard work and effort that Africa has made considerable progress in the pursuit of peace, development, and stability in the last decade.

Col. Christian Yao Dagadu disclosed that to ensure the course will help to foster human capacities, institutional interaction, and civil-military cooperation, the KAIPTC is introducing a team of regional and international facilitators, comprised of very experienced practitioners who will share the summary of their best practices, lessons learned and experience gained in the field.

In his address, the KAIPTC Chief Coordinator expressed appreciation to the Austrian Government, in particular, the Austrian Centre for Peace and the Austrian Federal Ministry of Defence for the generous support in the joint effort to strengthen peace and security in Africa.

The Humanitarian Assistance and Women, Peace, Security in West Africa Core Course has been organised by KAIPTC and the Austrian Study Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution (ASPR), supported by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and the Austrian Ministry of Defence (MOD) 2015.

The course contributes to several strategic objectives of the ECOWAS Humanitarian Policy and Action Plan, the ECOWAS Disaster Risk Reduction Gender Strategy and Action Plan 2020-2030, as well as the EU Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security among others; through capacity building and awareness creation. In so doing, we are meeting the training needs in support of effective and well-coordinated humanitarian assistance in the region.

The two-week course, which now runs for the twelfth time, but the third after its recent review, covers an array of content-rich and relevant topics for your work; with these ranging from; the root causes of disasters, to the protection of civilians and human rights standards, guidelines for the use of armed escort, negotiation of humanitarian access, as well as cultural awareness and gender and diversity concerns in humanitarian action.

Main Activities:
The HAWA Core Course.
The HAWA Core Course will provide a thorough introduction to Humanitarian Assistance; including Humanitarian Actors and their mandates, roles, and modes of operation; the Disaster Risk Management Cycle, Typology of Disasters, Components of Humanitarian Action, Humanitarian Principles, Standards and Codes of Conduct, the Do no harm approach and International Humanitarian Law.

The Women Extension Empowerment Workshop.
The workshop aims to equip women in the humanitarian industry with the necessary resources, knowledge, to enhance their career prospects, break through barriers, build resilience, build solidarity networks, and offer a space to project and plan for personal and professional leadership positions within the sector