On 20 October 2026, the World Customs Organization (WCO) said that, through the European Union (EU)-WCO Rules of Origin (RoO) Africa Programme, it had trained 200-plus trainers who can autonomously train their peers and other stakeholders involved in managing and applying preferential Rules of Origin (RoO).
To ensure experts follow a standardised approach to training delivery, the programme is releasing a training strategy and a training package.
The initiative aligns with the new WCO training approach, which aims to establish a centralised, accessible pool of training materials to promote consistency, transparency and quality across all training initiatives.
In December 2021, the WCO Secretariat and the European Commission (EC) signed a partnership agreement to implement and apply rules of origin in Africa, commonly dubbed the EU-WCO RoO Africa Programme. Five years in, and as it comes to an end, the programme is releasing a training strategy and package to promote a standardised approach to rules-of-origin training delivered by WCO experts.
The result of a proven strategy and methodology
Over the last five years, the programme team organised more than 150 capacity-building activities, benefiting more than 2,000 individuals from Customs administrations, other government agencies, international organisations and the private sector in Africa.
To build sustainable, autonomous training capacity, it also developed a pool of more than 200 RoO trainers capable of training peers and key stakeholders in their country and region in all the African Union’s official languages. This was primarily accomplished through training-of-trainers sessions that paired WCO Secretariat staff and WCO-accredited RoO experts with trained trainers selected for their ability to transfer knowledge among those who had completed the Programme’s Competency Development Cycle from basic to intermediate, advanced, and train-the-trainer through a blended approach.
Trained to teach conceptually dense and complex material, the trainers also received ongoing support from the programme team through mentoring and coaching. This peer-led model revealed significant gaps. Without shared reference materials, each trainer relied heavily on their own memory and teaching style, leading to significant variability in how classrooms interpreted foundational concepts such as cumulation.
In response, the programme team developed a training package to streamline knowledge transfer through a comprehensive approach. Selected experts are then trained in knowledge-transfer methodologies to ensure consistent training standards while building on the process they went through under the cycle.
Streamlining the capacity development approach
The strategy defines four learning stages, with participants advancing from basic to intermediate, then to advanced, and finally to the train-the-trainers level. Each of these cycles is presented in detail in the Training Strategy on RoO released with the training package.
The basic level relies on a self-paced e-learning course through the WCO CLiKC! (for Customs and Other Government officials) or the WCO Academy platform (for the private sector). This course provides an overview of RoO, with priority on practical topics that help learners understand and apply the regulations in their country’s preferential trade regime. At the end of the course, each participant should be able to explain the meaning and importance of RoO concepts.
The intermediate level builds on the basic level. It focuses in depth on the conceptual and theoretical underpinnings of how trade preferences function and how RoO are applied. By the end of this level, each participant is expected to explain RoO concepts and apply them to determine the originating status of goods.
The advanced level deepens the context-specific insights uncovered during the intermediate level, anchoring the training in the audience’s situational realities. To do so, the training is conducted in situ, combining stylised mock cases with study visits to the premises of partnering economic operators and Customs administrations. By the end of this level, each participant has attained enough mastery to explain the meaning of RoO concepts.
From the first three (3) stages, participants who demonstrate the strongest knowledge and the ability to synthesise and transmit their newly acquired skills are hand-picked to attend an intensive train-the-trainer workshop. After this last stage, each participant has developed the expertise to propose solutions to RoO challenges facing their Customs administration or economic operations.
Promoting a standardised delivery
In addition to the strategy, a package was developed for the intermediate level that explores the relationship between WCO legal instruments and other trade and Customs instruments, such as the linkages between the Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA).
The package contains:
- A standard agenda for a workshop of 5 full working days to deliver an introductory course on all the main principles and concepts of RoO that a participant needs to master to determine and justify whether goods qualify for preferential tariff treatment,
- A facilitator’s guide including lesson plans to guide the trainers,
- A full set of Microsoft PowerPoint slides to be used throughout such a workshop,
- A learner’s pack to facilitate the learning process, as well as gamified training tools.
Whereas it focuses on laying a strong foundation on the general concepts of RoO, the training material gives particular focus, as a case study, on the general RoO provided for in Annex 2 of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement Protocol on Trade in Goods and product-specific rules (PSRs) of origin provided for in its Appendix IV. As the AfCFTA RoO continue to evolve, with several product-specific rules yet to be finalised, trainers must take active ownership of the material and adapt its content. Those covering other regions and countries must adapt the package content to align with their national and regional legislation.
In line with WCO curriculum development efforts
In June 2025, the WCO Council approved a new Capacity Building Paradigm to ensure capacity-building activities are relevant, evidence-based, timely, measurable and impactful. Building on this paradigm, the WCO Secretariat has been developing a Curriculum Development Framework (CDF) to provide a coherent structure to guide the design, development, delivery and evaluation of training curricula.
By adopting a curriculum-centred methodology, the WCO Secretariat is shifting its training approach toward a more systematic, learner-focused, and harmonised framework. Next, the Secretariat will pilot the curriculum-centred approach and further refine the CDF through practical application, including developing supporting guidance documents and templates.