About
Our approach
We organise capacity building activities in the field of civil aviation security for the benefit of our Partner States in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, to help strengthen their capacity to fight the threat of international terrorism.
Our resources
Seven dedicated staff work on the Project Team, and their roles are described on the Team page.
As part of the European Civil Aviation Conference, we draw from the pool of expert gathered from 44 ECAC Member States and, to date, from 61 Partner States.
The financial resources of the Project consist of an EUR 8 million grant from the European Commission’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments.
Our partners
We provide such support in close coordination and cooperation with relevant international, regional aviation organisations and institutions including (but not limited to):
- International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
- Arab Civil Aviation Organization (ACAO)
- African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC)
- West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU)
- Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
Objectives
The overall purpose of the CASE II Project is to counter the threat of terrorism against civil aviation by supporting the Partner States’ own efforts and therefore by improving their level of aviation security where necessary. The main objectives are:
- to improve quality control processes applied to aviation security in Partner States;
- to enhance Partner States’ capacity to actually meet the Standards and Recommended Practices of ICAO Annex 17;
- to foster a security culture in Partner States (i.e. a workplace culture of collectively held responsibility for security); and
- to review and adjust their national aviation security regulations and procedures.
Organisation
The Project is financed by the European Union (EU) and implemented by ECAC. The entity in charge for the EU is the Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) of the European Commission. The Secretariat of ECAC is responsible for the Project, through a dedicated Project team, comprising five persons dedicated exclusively to the Project and recruited for its duration. The Project team is led the Project Manager under the supervision of the Project Director, who is Deputy Executive Secretary of ECAC.
Governance
The Programme Management Committee (PMC) ensures that the Project is run in conformity with its objectives and principles. The PMC is made up of ECAC and EC representatives.
The Steering Group acts as the “Advisory Board” of the Project. In addition to ECAC and the EC, it is made up of representatives of Member States, officials of international organisations (ICAO, AFCAC, ACAO, and other sub-regional organisations) and representatives of Airports Council International (ACI) and of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Scope
Partner States located in the target regions of Africa, Asia and the Middle East are eligible for participation in the Project’s activities.
The Project delivers both large-scale regional activities (multilateral workshops, focusing on key-topics for aviation security) and national activities on a country-by-country basis. The latter are on-site, operational activities adapted to the specificities, priorities of a given Partner State. National activities comprise the following components: mentoring (specifically for counter-MANPADS), training (e.g. of national auditors), coaching and risk management activities (e.g. cargo security audits and landside vulnerability assessments).
Overall, the Project has a strong focus on actions aimed at reinforcing the quality control of aviation security processes in the Partner States, by striving to make this crucial activity more effective, sustainable and comprehensive.
Implementation
The Project team is typically approached by prospective Partner States interested in participating in the program and, based on the Partner State’s needs, activities will be chosen from the Project catalogue.
The capacity-building activities are mainly delivered by the CASE II Project’s in-house team of aviation security experts and a pool of experts released by ECAC Member States, who are selected in response to the needs of each activity (experience, field of expertise, language).
Activities
The activities of the Project cover the following key domains of aviation security:
- security culture and insider risks,
- landside security,
- other existing/emerging threats, such as MANPADS or IEDs,
- use of available resources (assessment and improvement),
- quality control,
- overall support to the aviation security regime of a Partner State.