On 22nd January 2010, two officers from the United
Kingdom concluded a 10 day intelligence training course at the Institute
of Tax and Customs Administration. The event was designed to help
twenty officers from across ERCA improve their skills in applying
modern intelligence techniques and approaches to a range of customs
and tax cases.
Feedback from the course was extremely positive
and over 90% of participants said that the course had met their
expectations.
The two officers , Brian Collins and Andy Hoskins, came from the
UK’s HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). This training course formed
part of the on-going ERCA-HMRC twinning program which has been in
place since 2006. Since that time, the twining program has seen
a number of experience sharing and training visits between Ethiopia
and the UK. The intelligence training course was the most recent
in a series of training courses which has seen HMRC officials come
to Ethiopia to help build the capacity and capability of ERCA through
the delivery of training to more than 100 ERCA staff in subjects
as diverse as Train the Trainer, HR management and Customer Services.
HMRC’s In-Country Advisor to ERCA, Peter Diston, said that
“the delivery of targetted, high quality and bespoke training
courses in Ethiopia has been one of the highlights of the partnership
program so far.
Feedback from the courses so far has indicated that students and
trainers alike have benefited greatly from the opportunity to exchange
ideas, share experiences and learn about different approaches to
tax and customs administration.”
The next three months are set to be a busy time for the ERCA-HMRC
twinning program. In addition to on-going technical support in areas
such as Information Technology, Research and Development and Tax
Audit, a number of training courses are planned in the following
subjects:
• Tax fraud and Evasion Investigations.
• Taxpayer Education.
• Project Management.
• Strategic Human Resources Training.
• Health and Safety Training for Managers.
If you would be interested in participating in one of these courses,
please contact your Branch Manager or Ato Kahsay (ERCA’s Training
Manager). For more information about the ERCA-HMRC twinning program,
please contact Peter Diston at peter@deltapartnership.com
