a responsibility to ensure its protection at all levels. Effective maritime security strategies could provide a unique framework for attaining this. What remains crucial then, is to ground relevant maritime practitioners and policy makers in the theoretical and practical underpinnings necessary either to develop purposeful and targeted maritime security strategies, or to successfully implement existing ones within national and regional contexts. This course is intended to provide such grounding. By exposing participants to key principles and best practices for developing maritime security strategies, the programme will expand expertise necessary to ensure that African states have the strategic guidance they truly need to address their peculiar mix of maritime threats and challenges.