Senior Enlisted Leaders Across Africa Meet At ASELC 2024 to Strengthen NCO Corps

ADF STAFF

The 2024 African Senior Enlisted Conference in Lilongwe, Malawi, brought noncommissioned officers from across the continent for four days of sharing best practices, networking, and professional development.

“NCOs are the backbone of the military all over the world,” Warrant Officer Sally Mussa of the Malawi Defence Force told the gathering. “We have cultures that prevent Senior Enlisted Officers from being empowered, and we need to change those cultures. We need to develop a deliberate strategy to develop our NCOs.”

According to the organizers, the September 9 to 13 conference brought together military leaders from 29 nations to nurture NCOs to think strategically, act decisively, and inspire ethically while emphasizing the military’s role in supporting the rule of law. The theme for the conference was Competent, Capable, Credible.

U.S. Africa Command co-hosted the conference with Malawian Defence Forces, as part of a long-term effort to collaborate with African partner nations to assist in developing professional enlisted leaders who are proficient in addressing African security needs.

“AFRICOM and its partners are committed to long-term investments in one of the continent’s greatest assets — its enlisted leadership,” said Sgt. Maj. Michael Woods, AFRICOM’s senior enlisted advisor. “Together, we’re building a future where African military forces are empowered, respected, and ready to face the challenges of tomorrow.”

Since the first conference in 2017, the partnership has created regional centers for excellence across the continent with the goal of developing Africa’s noncommissioned officer corps through its existing military academies.

“Surely such vital experience from long service coupled with education, this is the only way to create competent, capable, and credible non-commissioned officers,” Mussa said. “Having centers of excellence will assist all of us with producing such NCOs.”

Gen. P.V. Phiri, commander of the Malawi Defence Force, said that historically, senior enlisted officers’ roles in advising commanders and training troops in skills such as weapons and drills have been limited.

“This lack of exposure to mission-oriented thinking led to a gap in leadership development between senior enlisted leaders and commissioned officers,” Phiri told the gathering.

In response, the Malawi Defence Force developed a program to train sergeant majors to better understand their role in the military’s command structure so they can contribute effectively, Phiri said.

Phiri added that the conference events, including both formal sessions and informal get-togethers, provided a forum to share knowledge, outline best practices and build connections among NCOs across the continent.

“By working together, by learning from one another, and by championing the role of the senior enlisted corps, I am confident that we can meet the challenges we are facing head-on and build a more stable, secure, and prosperous Africa,” he said.