GFCE Clearing House

What is the Clearing House?

The Clearing House is a GFCE Tool which aims to facilitate matchmaking between GFCE Members who have cyber capacity needs with GFCE Partners and Implementers that can offer cyber capacity support. With an effective global clearing house mechanism, the GFCE hopes to improve efficiency on a global level in the delivery of capacity building programs through coordination, knowledge sharing and avoiding the duplication of efforts.  

How does the Clearing House work?

The Clearing House function is one of the GFCE service offerings that effectively matches actors (country, private sector, civil society) that have resources and expertise and can provide key capacity building services with countries (“recipients”) that require help in strengthening their cyber resilience.   

Recognizing that cyber capacity building can never be a one-size-fits all model and that tailored assistance to local contexts is a determinant of successful capacity building projects, each Clearing House request received is unique, and therefore a tailor-made approach is utilized to evaluate each case. During the preparatory phase, for instance, GFCE Member countries to submit requests for support in one, or more, of the CCB areas. The requests are shared with the GFCE Working Groups who serve as a marketplace for the most up-to-date offers of support on the respective themes and topics.  

Following the process of identifying existing resources and expertise, the GFCE may convene a “Friends of (requesting country)” meeting, a coalition of GFCE partners and members with the necessary capacity to support. During this coordination phase, requesting countries are given the autonomy to choose implementers, as well as the responsibility for decisions relating to the process and results. In the final phase, implementation phase, requesting countries work directly with GFCE partners and members to implement chosen initiatives, and are awarded the responsibility for decisions relating to the process and results.  

Added Value of the Clearing House

The GFCE has supported several member countries build cyber capacity through the Clearing House tool, including, Tunisia and Sierra Leone with the drafting of their National Cyber Security Strategy, Senegal with setting up a CSIRT (Computer Security Incident Response Team) and their national CIIP framework, and The Gambia with cybercrime legislation.  

  • Avoid duplication of efforts by leveraging existing initiatives and expertise in cyber capacity building
  • Improve efficiency of cyber capacity building delivery programs through coordination.
  • Increase knowledge sharing on cyber capacity building best-practices between stakeholders.
  • Deploy tailor-made approaches that respond to the local context of requesting countries.
  • Promote a demand-driven approach for the implementation of cyber capacity building initiatives.

Engage with the Clearing House

Mr. Sanusi Drammeh, Principal ICT Officer, The Gambia
“The GFCE provided The Gambia an opportunity to connect, network and contribute to the global cyber capacity building community. The GFCE facilitated the Gambia’s Clearing House request by playing a matchmaker role and plays an instrumental role in informing the Gambian Representatives on global expertise and developments. This positively impacts how the Gambian Representatives are leading and coordinating cybersecurity activities in the country.”

Contact

For further enquiries about the Clearing House, please reach out to Jaqueline Pateguana, Clearing House Coordinator, at contact@thegfce.org.