The EAAP held a focal points workshop for the EAAP member states in the Executive Committee of the Association in Kigali, Rwanda from the 18th to 22nd June 2023 to undertake development of the EAAP strategic plan and to be further trained on the case tracking tool to be embedded on the EAAP website.
The workshop which was hosted by the EAAP and the National Public Prosecution Authority (NPPA) Rwanda, was supported through the generous funding of TRAFFIC International East Africa and International Development Law Organization (IDLO) Kenya.
During the three (3) day workshop, focal points and prosecutors from the EAAP member states of Rwanda, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Uganda, developed a further draft of the EAAP strategic plan 2023-2027, deliberated on the functionalities of the wildlife case tracking tool and finalized on the wildlife case digest. This workshop was able to build up on the Nairobi, workshop held from the 25th to 27th April 2023 that developed the draft wildlife case digest.
The EAAP strategic plan is a 5 -year strategy and during this workshop the delegates reviewed and developed the strategic objectives and activities that would be the priority areas for the Association. The next steps would be to develop the implementation matrix, annual plan as the same are circulated to members for further comments. Further meetings are anticipated to finalize on the remaining areas of the strategic plan.
On the other hand, the wildlife case tracking tool is designed to monitor wildlife crime court cases. It is intended to contain records and information on the cases collected to enhance the capacity and knowledge of regional prosecutors on case monitoring, analysis, and act as a reference point for prosecuting the cases. The case tracking tool is to be linked to the EAAP website to enable easy access by prosecutors in the EAAP member prosecution authorities and in the region.
Finally, the wildlife case digest will undergo final edits and is expected to be uploaded to the website once completed.