African Police Officers undergo training on Mentoring and Advising at KAIPTC

Accra, October 2, 2017: A two-week Pilot Trainer of Trainers’ course on Mentoring and Advising, organized by the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), in collaboration with the European Police Service Training (EUPST), has opened with fifteen (15) police officers from seven (7) African countries in attendance.

The programme seeks to accomplish a number of objectives. It aims at building the capabilities of Police and Gendarmerie of the European Union, the United Nations, the African Union and other international organizations. Participants will also be equipped with operational capacity and law enforcement skills and knowledge, and receive information on ways to deepen personal relations and teamwork in diverse cultures, to foster a common understanding of international policing in the contexts of conflict resolution.

Most importantly, participants will be fully empowered to replicate the training for personnel to be deployed on peacekeeping operations. Some topics to be treated include mentoring, negotiation and mediation, communication in multicultural context, challenges in peace operations, among others.

The training is in accordance with the International Standards Training Modules for Peace Support Operations. Seven experienced officers from the European Union (EU) will be the lead facilitators for the course.

Since its initiation in 2008, the programme, has been conducted in 21 European countries and is currently in its third year in Ghana.

The Commandant of the Centre, AVM Griffiths Evans, in his address stated that the training programme would provide participants with in-depth knowledge into policing philosophes and working methods deployed by participants from the EU and African Union.

Colonel Frans Van Veenendaal, the Chairman of EUPST, on his part, urged participants to exchange their knowledge and experiences to enrich their training experience. .