On 14 October 2024, the World Customs Organization (WCO) Secretariat announced that member administrations could now have access to new e-learning modules that introduce Customs officers to geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) and demonstrate how it can be used to assist customs in managing national borders, in particular fragile border areas. The Geospatial Intelligence Training Course consists of seven modules. It introduces the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to store, visualise, analyse and interpret geographic data from a range of sources of relevance to specific border control scenarios.
The development of the course, initially released in French, resulted from a collaboration between the WCO and the Institute for Advanced Studies in Sustainable Development (IHEDD), the training institute of the Foundation for Studies and Research on International Development (FERDI).
The WCO Director of Compliance & Facilitation welcomed the release of the new training course. “The use of GEOINT to map and analyse a range of data sources, including satellite imagery, is a key element of the WCO Fragile Borders Action Plan and provides Customs with a valuable capability to tackle the challenge of fragile border areas”, he stated.
The Director of Development and Innovation at IHEDD-Ferdi noted, "The content of this training is the result of close collaboration between the academic research community, geo-intelligence expertise, and the experience of Customs administrations. It offers new tools to support administrations in achieving their objectives.”
The WCO expressed it appreciation to the German Federal Foreign Office and German Customs for their generous support of the West Africa Security Project, which made the development of an English-language version of this training possible. The Project has trialled the e-learning modules with Customs officers from five West African countries who are now using GEOINT to develop specific use cases related to border control scenarios in their countries, focusing on addressing risks associated with fragile borders.
The Head of International Affairs for German Customs stated, “I welcome the creation of the English version of this e-learning module with funds from the German 'Enable and Enhance Initiative'. The training, which is in response to a request from the beneficiary countries in West Africa for an additional mechanism to monitor national land borders in remote regions, will be of assistance to all WCO Members, ensuring sustainability and added value beyond the project boundaries. It gives me great pleasure to contribute to enhancing security in fragile border regions through the funding of this component of the West Africa Security Project.”
The GEOINT Training Course is now available on the WCO’s e-learning platform CLiKC! CLiKC in both French and English.