GoGIN pursuing the deployment of YARIS
The GoGIN team pursue the deployment of the YARIS system, in close collaboration with the centres of the Yaoundé Architecture. In the last three monts, different trainer teams travelled to 11 countries in the region and trained more than 280 maritime specialists in the use of YARIS. All the people involved recognise the importance of YARIS to sustain inter-administration coordination at national level and its role to support the Yaoundé Architecture. These progresses are appreciated by the EU, which is currently working towards an extension of GoGIN until the end of 2022.
The plenary session of the G7++, co-chaired by Senegal and United Kingdom, allowed for fruitful exchanges with partners and stakeholders (military and civilian administration, private sector, civil societies, external partners). Several times, YARIS was mentioned as a concrete solution to share information and coordinate operations at sea. As such, YARIS will be used as primary communications tool during GANO 2021.
Further discussions are ongoing in order to integrate YARIS in operational processes and continue its deployement.
YARIS Advanced Training YARIS trainings are ongoing in different countries. Between April and June, the GoGIN team organised 11 training sessions in Gabon, Cameroon, at the MMCC Zone D, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Benin, Guinea, Sao Tomé & Principe, Sénégal, Gambia and Congo. Beside these in-person sessions, four other sessions on YARIS IT administation took place remotely.
The results are very satisfying: more than 600 users in 19 centres of the Yaoundé Architecture (68% of the centres) are connected to YARIS.
YARIS Advanced Training are organised by teams that gather together GoGIN trainers and trainers coming from different centres of the Yaoundé Architecture (ICC, CRESMAC, ARSTM). By the end of 2021, this pool of trainers will be strengthened in order to remotely and continuously support the users and refine the training programme in the countries and centres that are not yet connected to the system.
Presentation of YARIS to external partners The YARIS platform is becoming well-known not only among national and regional partners in the Gulf of Guinea, but also among external partners that cooperate with regional organisations or the different countries in the region. Two recent events had positive outcomes for the evolution of YARIS.
- During the plenary session of the G7++ Friends of the Gulf of Guinea (23-25 June), the MDA working group recommended the use of the YARIS platform to improve maritime domain awareness in the region. The next G7+++ meeting will take place in Dakar in November 2021
- Moreover, on 28 June Jean-Philippe Picquart and Sergio Bryton introduced YARIS during the main planning conference (MPC) of the Grand African Nemo exercise, coordinated by France. The participants to the meeting concluded that the YARIS will be the primary communications tool during the exercise. As a matter of fact, partner navies of Gulf of Guinea countries are interested in view of cooperating with the Yaoundé Architecture through YARIS.
August-October Agenda The agenda might be modified taking into consideration the evolution of the COVID 19 pandemic.
9-17 August: 2-day training on YARIS IT management (organised according to the language of the users)
23-31 August: team meeting in Brest, France (2 days), followed by the induction of the new YARIS trainers
13-24 September: YARIS advanced training for Sierra Leone, Liberia, MMCC Zone E, COM Banana (to be confirmed
11-22 October: YARIS advanced training for Togo, Nigeria and Angola (to be confirmed)
27 October-7 November: participation in Grand African Nemo