1. European Coast Guard Functions Academy Network Project II ECGFA NET II
ECGF Training Network Governing Board meeting
14th September, 2017
Gijón
Aleksi Mallea
Finnish Border Guard

2. Notices Changes in FBG's project personnel
As of June 1st, Mr. Aleksi Mallea acts as deputy project manager.
As of June 16th, Ms. Sofia Härkönen acts as project assistant.
As of September 1st, Mr. Pietari Vuorensola acts as project manager.
Former ECGFA NET II deputy project manager Johanna Terva at European Maritime Day. Ms. Terva has taken up an another post in the FBG.

3. WP1: State of Play Interim progress report approved
EASME has approved the intrerim progress report covering the project from October to April on June 19th.
Changes in the composition of the contributors
French Customs (DGDDI) has withdrawn from the project as of June 1st, The Spanish Customs and Guarda Nacional Republicana (GNR Portugal) took up their tasks related to the SQF work.
The prepayment made for French Customs has to be claimed back. Their share of the budget will be allocated to Spanish Customs and GNR.
These changes have been approved by EASME.

4. WP2: State of Play WP2 – ECGF Training Network: recruitment is ongoing
Important goals have already been met by establishing a Governing Board and adopting a Terms of Reference, annual Work Plan and Communication Guidelines of the GB.
The Work Plan of the Governing Board needs to be updated – the tentative activities of the Governing Board for the year 2018 should be revised to be in line with the concept paper of ECGFA NET III.
Two letters have been sent to expand and enhance the Network. The letters were sent to prospective members identified in the Feasibility Study. A third letter has been prepared for existing members to send forward to potential new members in their countries.
Four applications need affirmation of the GB
It was agreed in the project's third working meeting in Rome that the contributors would promote the Network actively as "ambassadors"
The acquisition of new members has not yielded much result. At this point in time the project's means to attract new members have been exhausted.
For this we are happy to provide you with a business card of the Network

5. WP2: State of Play
The effective use of the Training Portal is a key part of enhancing the Network.
The IT-support for the Training Portal has been acquired – unfortunately the service provider managed to crash the Portal.
24 training courses listed – attendance?
Due to the malfunctioning the Portal was running on an old back-up version, and the information in the library as well as most of the courses were missing for a few weeks after mid-August.

6. WP3: State of Play
WP3 – ECGF Pilot Exchange Programme: main exchange period from June to August
Most of the exchanges have already taken place
The UK MCA will host a course in November
Altogether 15 (TBC) persons will participate in the ECGF Pilot Exchange as exchangees
The feedback has without exception been positive
The lack of common SQF has been identified as one factor behind the low amount of applications. The same applies to the courses: if participating in another organisation's course does not give the participant a qualification or certificate that is recognized in his/her country, there isn't much reason in participating in the first place. I believe this will change once the SQF is finalized and implemented, since then the learning outcomes should be the same.
An unforseen problem was the low amount of applications (19)

7. ECGFA NET II – Important dates
ECGFF Plenary in Lisbon, 27th-29th September
Frontex Annual Training Conference "Educational Technology for Border and Coast Guard Training", 3rd-4th October 2017 in Frontex HQ, Warsaw
ECGFA NET II Closing Seminar in Helsinki, 28th-29th November
Both the project and the ECGF Training Network's chair will give presentations in the Plenary.
A conclusion statement has been prepared for the Plenary to approve
(FX registration by 22. september)
The closing seminar will present the assessment report of the Exchange, the SQF results and host a workshop on the ECGFA NET III.

8. ECGFF Plenary Conclusion Statement
ECGFF Plenary Conference in Lisbon from the 27th to 29th of September
FBG and ITCG have drafted a conclusion statement in which the ECGFF Plenary…
Agrees that the ongoing ECGFA NET II project will provide concrete results and valuable benefits for the improvement of cooperation, coordination and collaboration between European Coast Guard organisations and authorities, and the EU agencies with responsibilities in these sectors.
Strongly encourages EU member state Coast Guard Functions organisations and authorities to be fully involved in the project and assist its progress to successful completion.
Invites the EU Agencies (EFCA, EMSA and Frontex) to support the ECGFF in pursuing the project’s goals and in ensuring long term sustainability to the achieved results.
Agrees that a third phase of the project will be implemented - ECGFA NET III – in order to finalize the work on the development of the CGFSQF, and in order to ensure the sustainability of the project results by developing cooperation modalities between the ECGF Training Network and the sectoral EU agencies − Frontex, EFCA and EMSA − to identify an “Apex Body” for adopting, managing and maintaining the CGFSQF, and in order to secure the continuity of the Network's activities after the end of the ECGFA NET III project.
Rajan varaus aloitusajankohdasta, ts. heti toisen vaiheen jälkeen!!!

9. Q & A ?

10. ECGFA NET III – State of Play
A concept paper was submitted to DG MARE in June
No official confirmation, the work plan of EASME to be approved by December
The scheduled beginning would be in March-April 2018, implementation time 15 months
The Finnish Border Guard is willing to continue in charge of the project. We have emphasized the need to continue the work directly after the end of the current project.
The SQF work has been scheduled accordingly, the other activities can be rescheduled quite easily but the SQF needs careful coordination.

11. ECGFA NET III: Run-through of the tentative objectives
The concept paper was prepared by FBG and ITCG and revised on the basis of comments from EMSA, EFCA and Frontex.
General objective: to enhance educational cooperation in the field of (CGF) amongst national educational institutions and CGF related EU agencies – Frontex, EFCA and EMSA and, consequently, to facilitate the interoperability and cooperation amongst different bodies carrying out coast guard functions in order to enhance the coherence and effectiveness of CGF activities.
The following are the objectives that were planned in the Concept Paper outlining the ECGFA NET III that has been submitted to DG MARE. According to these, the work plan of EASME, and subsequently the Terms of Reference will be published.
The concept paper had some tentative activities, which we have worked on since.
However, since the work plan has yet to be approved, the objectives can be further defined.

12. ECGFA NET III: Run-through of the tentative objectives
1st specific objective: to ensure the sustainability of the Training Network's functions by developing cooperation between the Network and the Agencies in order to bring the CGF actors closer together and subsequently merge the Network and its activities into the agency cooperation as much as possible. In addition, together with the Agencies, to find a sustainable and functioning platform for the contents and functions of the ECGF Training Portal.
We have tried to define the obectives further, and have come up with the following proposition.

13. ECGFA NET III: Run-through of the tentative objectives
1st specific objective:
To launch a common CGF course, based on the SQF
Together with a number of ECGF Training Network Member Academies and the participation of the Agencies.
Combining both e-learning and onsite training.
Focus group mid-level staff
Implementation towards the end of ECGFA NET III, in the spring of 2019
We have tried to define the obectives further, and have come up with the following proposition.
We would like to invite the Agencies to participate in supporting the course

14. ECGFA NET III: Run-through of the tentative objectives
1st specific objective:
FOR EXAMPLE (based on existing courses on the portal and courses that were provided in the Pilot Exchange, NB. Not actual plan)
Module 1
FBG
International course for maritime OSC
Module 2
ITCG
International safety management
Module 3
GNR
Border control

15. ECGFA NET III: Run-through of the tentative objectives
2nd specific objective: to facilitate the second phase of the ECGF Expert Exchange Programme and in consultation with the Agencies and existing expert exchange initiatives to plan and develop a ECGF Expert Exchange programme, which is to be launched in non-EU countries after the project. The aim of the non-EU Exchange programme is to increase the sharing of knowledge, skills and best practices in the CGF sector amongst European CGF authorities and CGF authorities of EU’s third / neighbouring countries.
To develop a project manual for the expansion of the ECGF Exchange Program to non-EU countries, based on previous projects and the Agencies' experiences and lessons learned.
Identification and contacting with partners
Identification of possible funding mechanisms
Pilot an e-learning course that prepares the participants for the ECGF Exchange
The goal is to have a project proposal – or at least as close to one – prepared as a result. That could be used by the ECGF Network to further fund the exchange

16. ECGFA NET III: Run-through of the tentative objectives
3rd specific objective: to achieve the development of the Coast Guard Functions Sectoral Qualifications Framework (CGFSQF) by finalizing the structure of the CGFSQF and by completing the last four stages (stages 4-7 out of a total of 7) of the CGFSQF development process.

17. ECGFA NET III - Next steps
The conclusion statement to be approved in the ECGFF Plenary
The work plan of EASME will be confirmed by December  Terms of Reference after this
Planned starting in the beginning of 2018
In practice the earliest possible starting date would be in March But I repeat: there is no date set as of yet, since the starting date depends on DG MARE and EASME.

18. Thank you for your attention!
ECGFA NET Project , Finnish Border Guard,
ECGF Training Portal: