GoGIN – Gulf of Guinea Inter-Regional Network
Improving maritime safety and security in the Gulf of Guinea in order to favour blue economy and economic development of the countries.

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Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo
Global threats and organised crime
International security, stability and peace
Published on 02/10/2019
© French Customs

Objective

GOGIN+ aims at enhancing maritime security and safety in the Gulf of Guinea through the operationalisation and sustainability of the YARIS maritime information-sharing and coordination platform
  • 9,285 M€
    BUDGET
  • 20/10/2016
    PROJECT START
  • 48 months
    DURATION
    PROJECT FUNDED BY
  • European Commission
  • Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (phase 1)

Logo GoGIN
GoGIN’s main objective is to contribute to improving safety and maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea especially through the development and deployment of the YARIS plaform which support exchange of maritime information and coordination at national, regional and inter-regional levels in case of maritime incidents in the Gulf of Guinea. This region is becoming one of the major concern in terms of maritime security (pirat attacks, IUU fishing...)

This project is in line with United Nations resolutions on maritime security and the fight against piracy, the Maritime Strategy of the European Union for the Gulf of Guinea, the Maritime Strategy of the African Union, the 2013 Yaoundé Process and the Lomé African Union Summit (October 2016).

It also follows actions carried out under the CRIMGO project - Critical Maritime Routes of the Gulf of Guinea, implemented by Expertise France from 2012 to 2016. It is part of a group of maritime security projects implemented by Expertise France and with support of the European Commission, such as CRIMARIO and WeCAPS.

Enhancing inter-regional dialogue and coordination in the maritime sector

 

GoGIN provides direct support to the implementation of the conclusions of the Yaoundé Summit and Code of Conduct, and to the empowerment of the regional architecture coming from these conclusions.

GoGIN’s support is brought through the development of technical tools and methods, as well as the reinforcement of common knowledge and know-hows necessary to ensure effective implementation of cross-sectoral information sharing, steering and coordination mechanisms between all relevant state actors within the Gulf of Guinea.

More specifically, GoGIN aims to:

• Improve the collection, analysis and sharing of maritime data, in compliance with the needs of each country and supranational maritime centres;

• Provide dedicated support to various national organisations in charge of maritime subjects to accompany them in defining and implementing their national maritime strategy and improve cooperation between the administrations;

• Provide dedicated support to the transnational maritime centres coming from the Yaoundé architecture to make sure they are fully operational on the missions they have been given.

The Yaoundé architecture gathers 19 countries and 3 regional organisations. It includes an Inter Regional Coordination Centre and two Regional Maritime Security Centre, one for West Africa in Abidjan, the CRESMAO, and the other for Central Africa, based in Pointe Noire, the CRESMAC.

Information-sharing, coordination and capacity-building

GoGIN’s activities are organised in 5 main categories:

• Process and organisation: support to volunteer centres to improve their process and internal organisation and therefore increase their efficiency;

• Training sessions and practice: lessons on maritime security and issues within partner maritine universities for several administrations; practical exercises on subjects such as illegal fishing, pollution and management of crisis at sea, to develop a culture of cooperation between the administrations;

• Information systems: development of software and tools for maritime centres to have a better knowledge of what is occurring at sea and be able to respond collectively to maritime incidents. IT equipment may also be provided to complement these software.

• Legal studies: in collaboration with the UNODC, the project can carry out an evaluation of the national legal frameworks in the maritime sector and make recommendations;

• Analyses of national needs: the project offer to draw up an overview of the specific needs of each country in the maritime sector.

GoGIN+ : a secong phase to keep up with YARIS deployment

The action implemented by Expertise France between 2016 and 2021 was extended with the GoGIN+ project, a second phase which started in October 2021 and will last 14 months in order to keep up with the deployment of the YARIS platform. With a €4m funding from the European Union, it will meet four objectives:

1) Support the deployment of the information sharing platform YARIS within the maritime centers and administrations of the Yaoundé Architectures and the GOG countries
2) Enhance technically the YARIS platform to fully meet the users’needs.
3) Promote and favour the participation of international partners to the operational work of YARIS
4) Support and prepare the transfert of YARIS to the regional authorities of the Gulf of Guinea

 

To this end, GoGIN+ will implement the following actions in the field:

• Provide capacity building of the YARIS platform to the IT administrators and operators in each maritime centre in the region.

• Improve and strengthen the current functionalities of the YARIS platform and test the inclusion of additional sources of datas and satellites based services

• Work towards the involvement of EU and international stakeholders (such as MDAT-GOG, EU MS, non-EU countries, UNODC, INTERPOL) in the use of YARIS

• Establish a YARIS Steering Committee with the regional organisations in the Gulf of Guinea to prepare the transfert of ownership and competences

A project run in coordination with regional organizations and beneficiary countries


This project is run in permanent coordination with regional organizations and beneficiary countries to ensure that their expectations are met and to contribute directly to regional undergoing dynamics.

It also coordinates with other bilateral, regional, European and international ongoing and upcoming projects on similar thematic in the Gulf of Guinea.
 

For more information: www.gogin.eu

Follow the project's news on social media: @GOGIN_project EU GoGIN

 

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