Afghan and Tajik border officers complete OSCE-supported train-the-trainer course

DUSHANBE, 2 December 2015 – Ten officers from the Afghan Border Police and 14 officers from the Tajik Border Troops completed a two-week train-the-trainer course today jointly organized by the OSCE Office in Tajikistan and the EU-funded Border Management Northern Afghanistan (BOMNAF) project.

The course was designed as an advanced training activity for a limited number of border officers who had already attended the basic patrol leadership course and have an ability to teach and transfer the gained skills to others.

The border police officers learned about developing curricula, programmes and lesson plans and how to conduct training sessions, managing train-the-trainer programmes, and an introduction to public speaking, programme planning and the principles of active learning. The participants also learned about the methodologies of delivery pathfinder, military topography and first-aid training as well as preparing for practical activities and delivering training courses with the appropriate technical equipment.

“The Office in Tajikistan, in co-ordination with other international stakeholders such as BOMNAF, is helping to improve the sustainable capacity-building of Afghan and Tajik border guards by focusing on providing high-quality training and supportive technical equipment,” said Fabio Piana, Deputy Head of the OSCE Office in Tajikistan.  “The course provided the necessary human and technical capacity, which is crucial for knowledge transfer and further growth."

The training course was delivered by an international expert from the US-based Law Enforcement Associates Development Educational Resources and by instructors from the Tajikistan-based Russian Border Advisory Group.

During this event the OSCE Office in Tajikistan organized a handover ceremony of IT equipment to Tajik counterparts in the frame of training activities of Border Management project in 2015 for the improvement of their operational capacity. The Office donated ten desktop computers and one printer to the Main Directorate of the Border Troops of State Committee for National Security, three desktop computers and one printer to the State Unitary Enterprise “Single Window System” of the Customs Service, four desktop computers and one printer to the State Service of Sanitary and Epidemiology control of the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of Population and three desktop computers and one printer to the State Service of Phytosanitary and Plant Quarantine inspection of the Agriculture Ministry.

BOMNAF representatives and also senior officials from the Tajikistan’s Ministries of Health and Agriculture, Border Troops, Customs Service and the representative of the Embassy of Afghanistan in Tajikistan attended the ceremony.