Participants from 10 Countries benefit from KAIPTC’s Humanitarian Assistance in West Africa training Course
Accra, October 2018: The Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre’s (KAIPTC) Humanitarian Assistance in West Africa Course, among others, aims at meeting the strategic objectives of the Plan of Action of the ECOWAS Humanitarian Policy, which focuses on building capacities, increasing awareness and knowledge, and meeting training needs in support of effective humanitarian assistance.
Since 2015, KAIPTC and the Austrian Study Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution (ASPR) jointly organize the course funded by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and supported by the Austrian Ministry of Defence.
The 6th training session held in October 2018 was in partnership with Ghana’s National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO). The two-week course, consisting of Military, Civilian and Police personnel, had a balanced gender composition and a hybrid intellectual learning environment to enrich the learning experience of participants.
Mr. Seji Saji, Deputy Director General in charge of Technical operations at NADMO represented the Director General, Hon. Eric Nana Agyeman-Prempeh. He noted that relevant knowledge on humanitarian assistance in West Africa was necessary to ease the impact of prevailing emergencies “which have mostly resulted into loss of lives, massive displacements of affected victims and movement of persons, destruction of property and key socio – economic infrastructure, food insecurity and malnutrition, culminating in the weakening of state capacities to manage these challenges.” He highlighted vulnerabilities within the sub region, and entreated participants to take the training seriously.
Brigadier General Professor Dr. Alois Hirschmugl, a representative from the Austrian Ministry of Defense expressed his appreciation to the Commandant of KAIPTC and the officials of NADMO for being great collaborators and wished for the excellent co-operation to continue.
The participants for the 2018 Humanitarian Assistance in West Africa (HAWA) training course were drawn from selected Anglophone and Francophone African states such as Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Senegal.
The course was delivered by a team of facilitators and trainers from Europe and West Africa, including representatives of international organizations like The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), among others.
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For further information, please contact the Corporate Affairs Unit of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) on 0302-718200 ext. 1104/1203 or 0550-303030. You can find the KAIPTC on Facebook and twitter as: @Kaiptcgh. You can further find out more about the KAIPTC on our website: www.kaiptc.org.
About the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre:
The Ghana Ministry of Defense (MoD) established the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in 1998 and commissioned it in 2004. The purpose was to build upon and share Ghana’s five decades of internationally acclaimed experience and competence in peace operations with other states in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region and the rest of Africa. This was in recognition of the need for training military, police and civilian men and women to meet the changing demands of multidimensional peace operations. The Centre is one of the three (3) Peacekeeping Training Centers of Excellence mandated by the ECOWAS to offer training in peacekeeping and peace support operations (PSO) in Africa.
The Centre delivers training courses in in three thematic areas; Peace Support Operations, Conflict Management and Peace and Security Studies and also runs Masters and PhD programs in same. The KAIPTC has a world-class research department that undertakes research in the thematic areas in Peace and Security. Located in Accra, Ghana, the KAIPTC is an internationally-recognized institution and has till date trained and tutored over 15,000 participants and students since its inception.
With the aim of the course seeking to improve effectiveness of humanitarian assistance by providing participants with thorough knowledge and skills of the humanitarian sector and enhancing interaction and mutual understanding between civilian, police, and military actors involved in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief in West African region.