The African Standby Capacity (ASC) Roster

The African Standby Capacity roster is a platform used to manage a pool of suitably qualified civilian personnel who constitute the civilian component of the African Standby Force and have been placed on standby for possible deployment to Peace Support Operations (PSO). The personnel on the ASC roster undergo a pre-identification, pre-screening process and receive training as part of their preparation to perform their tasks in African Union’s peace support operations. The roster, therefore, is critical in the rapid recruitment and deployment of civilians as part of continental and regional peace support operations, should a mission require civilians.

The ASC has 5 regional hubs residing with the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and Regional Mechanisms (RMs). The overall coordination of the regional hubs is done by the AUC which provides strategic guidance as to the continental Planning Element of the ASF. In addition to providing strategic guidance, the AUC provides technical assistance and capacity building to the regional rostering focal points to ensure the effective and efficient functioning of the roster.


Background

The Policy Framework for the Establishment of the African Standby Force (ASF) Military Staff Committee (2003) on paragraph 3.14 states that “the AU establish and centrally manage a roster of mission administration, plus a roster of civilian experts to fill human rights, humanitarian, governance, Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) and reconstruction component structure. Pursuant to this policy decision the African Standby Capacity (ASC) roster was established as a mechanism of the ASF to identify, prepare and rapidly deploy civilian experts to Peace Support Operations (PSOs) of the African Union (AU), the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and the Regional Mechanisms (RMs).

Subsequent to the ASF policy framework, The AUC together with RECs/RMs launched ASC in June 2015 as a tool to timely deploy civilian capabilities to contribute to PSO mandates The establishment of the ASC provided a systematic approach to the generation, preparation, and deployment of civilian capabilities for Peace Support operations. 

 Area of expertise in the Roster

The Areas of Expertise in the ASC Roster reflect the functional roles of the civilian component in a PSO as provided for in the African Standby Force Civilian Dimension Policy Framework (2008). The ASC is, therefore, open to a wide range of civilians with diverse professional backgrounds that are aligned to the over 140 job families from “A”, for Air Operations and Aviation Safety to “W” for Webmaster.

 Substantive Functions

  • Political Affairs
  • Public Information
  • Planning and Coordination
  • Human Rights
  • Humanitarian Liaison
  • legal Advice
  • Conduct and discipline
  • Child protection
  • Gender

Mission Support Functions

  • Human resource management
  • Financial management
  • Procurement
  • Engineering
  • Geographical Information services
  • Logistics
  •  Information
  • Technology and communications
  • Transport
  • Contingency owned equipment
  • Security and integrated training services to the military, police, and civilian components of the mission.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR REGISTRATION ONTO THE ASC ROSTER

  • Citizen of an African Union Member State living on the continent or the diaspora
  • Have a bachelor’s degree in respective fields or at least seven years of continuous work experience relevant for Peace Support Operations (in absence of a bachelor’s degree)
  • A minimum of three years working experience relevant to Peace Support Operations
  • Proficiency in at least one AU or REC/RM working language (Arabic, English, French, and/or Portuguese)

Information portal

How to join the ASC roster: https://africanstandbycapacity.org/