IMO supports Women in Ports management capacity building

January 27, 2022

IMO is continuing its efforts to support the careers of women in the maritime sector through delivery of a two-week online course from 17 – 28 January 2022. The ‘Women in Port Management’ course, which has been running for 18 years in France, is open to women officials from maritime and/or port authorities of developing countries in Francophone Africa. It aims to help attendees improve their skills for management and operational efficiency at the ports they work in.

WIPM, held at Institut Portuaire d’Enseignement et de Recherche (IPER), includes lectures on port management, port security, port environment, facilitation of maritime traffic, the ship/port interface, concession contracts, as well as port marketing, tariffs and logistics. They also learned about IMO’s Member State Audit scheme.

Attendees usually undertake a study visit to gain first-hand knowledge of the day-to-day operations of an overseas port. This will allow them to look at implementing similar operating practices back in their respective countries.

This year’s course was attended by participants from 11 French speaking countries: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Lebanon, Madagascar, Senegal, Togo, Tunisia. A visit to the Port of Le Havre and the Port of Rouen (both of which fall under HAROPA Port) is being organized in the spring.

The WIPM course is organized under IMO’s gender and capacity-building programme, in collaboration with IPER and HAROPA PORT and held at Le Havre (pictured). It is part of IMO’s ongoing efforts to support the UN Sustainable Development Goal number five: achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.