Meressa K Dessu, ISS/TfP Researcher and Training Coordinator, visited ISS/TfP partners based in Nairobi, Kenya, from 14 - 18 July 2014. Since March 2013 ISS/TfP has not had a representative at the ISS Nairobi Office responsible for direct engagement with partners based in Nairobi. As most of the ISS/TfP staff is new, the visit proved a significant opportunity to address future engagements with the partners in Nairobi. The visit sought to strengthen cooperation and collaboration in the field of TfP in Africa and the East African Region in particular. Five partners were targeted for meetings during the visit, namely, Eastern Africa Standby Force (EASF) Police Component; the Interpol Sub-Regional Bureau for Eastern Africa that is also a Secretariat for the Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation (EAPCCO); International Peace Support Training Centre (IPSTC); Africa Peace Support Trainers’ Association (APSTA); and the Kenya Police Service Peace Support Operation (PSO) Desk. The visit also provided an opportunity to meet the newly appointed Senior Police Advisor to Eastern Africa Standby Force Coordination Mechanism(EASFCOM) from the Norwegian National Police Directorate (POD), Assistant Commissioner, Finn-Tore Pettersen.  

The visit aimed to get to know one another and identify key individuals; familiarisation of the broad structures, activities and expectations of partners; understand the wider area of intervention and areas of cooperation with each partner/stakeholder; and identify possible ISS/TfP areas of intervention and support. The visit was constructive and the following recomondations were shared with ISS/TfP for consideration.

• Regular engagement and closer collaboration with EASFCOM. Goals, objectives, activities and needs of the EASFCOM police component are highly relevant to the ISS/TfP program. As the Norwegian POD supports EASFCOM, ISS/TfP views its continental and regional contributions as valuable opportunities for further engagement with the AUC and the RECs.

 

• UNPOC Pre-deployment training. The EASFCOM Police component plans to conduct three pre-deployment trainings for African IPOs (60 police officers in each course) in 2014. EAFSCOM has requested ISS/TfP’s support in conducted such pre-deployment training. ISS/TfP should also share the recently reviewed UNPOC training package with EAFSCOM.

 

• Capacity Building Workshop. Police Rostering is a key challenge for the EASFCOM Police component as well as for the police organisation in the Member Countries. ISS/TfP developed a Policy Paper in 2013 on Police Rostering as an input for the ASF rostering system. EAFSCOM should revisit this paper for its own rostering purposes.

 

• Standards for African Police Pre-deployment Training. ISS/TfP has done much reviewing and development of the UNPOC pre-deployment and UNPOC ToT courses since the end of 2013. APSTA’s police pre-deployment training Harmonization workshop report of June 2014 requested for a standard police pre-deployment training for Africa. With some changes and integration of inputs from key stakeholders and approval of APSTA, ISS/TfP’s UNPOC pre-deployment training Participant Manuals (‘Readers’) and Facilitator Manuals (‘FM’s) are recommend to serve as a standard of training for the Police pre-deployment training in Africa.