Recruitment of Technical Assistance Team for the Safe Seas Africa programme

The Western Indian Ocean (WIO) and the Red Sea/Horn of Africa region is of critical importance, as these waterways serve as vital chokepoints connecting the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal. The region has been particularly exposed to maritime threats with direct repercussions on global trade flows and energy security. Most countries of the region are not appropriately equipped and staffed to properly manage their maritime domain or to ensure the monitoring and the security of their national maritime zone of interest and ports' infrastructure, nor do they have the relevant national legislation finalised and updated jurisdictional clauses in place. The region lacks effective maritime surveillance capacity and relies heavily on outside actors to protect maritime commerce and shipping.
As a result, much of the WIO regions’ maritime domain remains vulnerable to numerous maritime crimes and threats to port security. European Union (EU) remains the largest partner in the region that is supporting the Coastal States of the WIO region in the combined effort for peace, stability and maritime security. EU is committed to further support the region to strengthen national maritime coordination mechanisms, port and maritime law enforcement capacities and maritime domain awareness, while promoting regional information-sharing and operational cooperation. Emphasis is placed on addressing trafficking networks, enhancing legal frameworks, ensuring effective “legal finish” and aligning actions with regional and international frameworks such as the Djibouti Code of Conduct and relevant IMO conventions. For the smooth implementation of the programme, it is proposed to recruit a Technical Assistance Team (TAT) with the objective to contribute to enhance maritime security and safety of navigation in the WIO and Red Sea/Horn of Africa regions.
Overall objective: To support the effective, coherent and results‑oriented implementation of the Safe Seas for Africa programme (SSA) and the Red Sea/Horn of Africa programme, thereby contributing to enhanced coordination of activities to improve maritime security and safety of navigation in the WIO and the Red Sea/Horn of Africa regions.

Specific objectives:
1. Programme coordination and coherence: To ensure effective coordination, supervision and coherence of actions implemented under the SSA programme and Red Sea/Horn of Africa programme, including complementarity and synergies among implementing partners (IOC, UNODC, IMO, INTERPOL and others).
2. Ownership and engagement To strengthen monitoring of implementation at country level and support national stakeholders in addressing challenges and enhancing ownership.
3. Links with the regional maritime security architecture To strengthen coordination and cooperation between regional and national partners and the RCOC and RMIFC and support Red Sea/Horn of Africa partner countries in establishing and strengthening links to the two centres, when and if possible.
4. Results‑based management and reporting To ensure results‑based management and strategic oversight of both programmes through systematic monitoring of the logframe indicators, analysis of progress at country and regional level, and provision of evidence‑based recommendations for decision-making and programme steering.
5. Strategic support to the EU To provide continuous technical and strategic support and guidance to the EU in the implementation of the SSA and Red Sea/Horn of Africa programmes, ensuring coherence with wider EU initiatives and policies in the region.
The Contracting Authority will be the EU Delegation in Mauritius. Tentatively, the TA team is expected to comprise of a Regional Coordinator / Team Leader, two Coordinators (Indian Ocean and Red Sea/Horn of Africa regions respectively), an Assistant Coordinator. The core Team will be based in Mauritius while the Coordinator of the Red Sea/Horn of Africa region will be based in Nairobi.