ISS/TfP meets on Police Training at the International Peace Support Training Centre (IPSTC)
28 Sep 2015
From 6-8 July 2015, Ms Annette Leijenaar and Mr Onnie Kok, Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) specialist visited the International Peace Support Training Centre (IPSTC) to enhance their already existing collaboration in support of the preparation of Eastern Africa Standby Force (EASF) Police Officers to effectively execute their operational roles and responsibilities when deployed to missions. The IPSTC was visited to confirm that it meets the practical requirements of ISS/TfP police training. The cost-effectiveness of hosting training activities in Nairobi was once again confirmed with details regarding the August 2015 AMISOM Gender and SGBV course that was held at the centre.
The roles and functions of former Kenyan police officer, Mr Chege Gathogo, already proved fruitful after the EASF Mid-Level-Management (MLM) police course was conducted at the IPSTC. Chege’s role as the ISS/TfP Coordinator for all TfP training at IPSTC continues to contribute to the seamless execution of course administration, logistics and financial management during the course.
Mr Onnie Kok and Chege had an in-depth consultation to ensure that the evaluation of all ISS/TfP training courses at IPSTC are executed to meet current M&E standards. The role played by Mr Chege is vital in nsuring that all participant evaluations are captured and analysed before being submitted to the Pretoria office where the data is utilized both for the course report and for internal lessons learned and best practices. This contributes towards enhanced accountability to donors and stakeholders concerning the effectiveness and ‘value-added’ by ISS/TfP. Over time, the accurate capturing of M&E information and data will strengthen the ISS/TfP training theories of change. Mr Chege’s consistent and accurate application of ISS/TfP M&E tools and systems is important for determining the longer-term impact of training, both for police officers and at the beneficiary level in mission environments.
In addition, meetings were also conducted to strengthen collaboration between ISS/TfP and British Peace Support Team (Eastern Africa) BPST (EA), Mr Andre Grobbelaar (who also participates as an expert at PSSG technical task team meetings). Among the discussions was the upcoming African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) Police Advisors course, as well as the 2016 BPST-planned Police activities. Mr Grobbelaar’s expertise on policing in conflict and post-conflict environments in Africa is a value-added to the TfP policing efforts throughout Eastern Africa. The collaboration between these entities is therefore well positioned for this specific in-mission training for AU and potentially Somali Police Force Officers.
The established relationship between ISS/TfP and IPSTC once again proved to be cost effective and responsive to EASF and AMISOM Police preparedness.