25th Staff Course concludes at the OSCE Border Management Staff College in Dushanbe
The OSCE Border Management Staff College (BMSC) concluded its 25th Border Management Staff Course in Dushanbe on 1 November 2019.
The one-month course focused on the OSCE principles and standards of the OSCE Border Security and Management Concept, which covers all three dimensions of security: the politico-military, economic and environmental, and human aspects.
It covered seven overarching modules presented through a variety of training and learning methods, reflecting the success stories and best practices from the 57 OSCE participating States and 11 Partners for Co-operation.
Jonathan Holland, Director of the BMSC, said: “It is symbolic for us at the BMSC to host the 25th Staff Course during the 25th year of the OSCE’s presence in Tajikistan”. We have a group of 25 individuals from 15 different countries, representing a multitude of different agencies. This represents a distinct blend of different cultures and levels of experience”.
The participants included mid-to-senior ranking border security and management officials from Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Moldova, Mongolia, Portugal and Tajikistan.
Evangelos Anastasiou, a graduate of this Staff Course from Greece, said that he especially enjoyed the diverse representation in the course noting that: “The multinational group enabled me to engage in networking and exchange experiences and views on various important border-related issues with my peers from fifteen different countries”.
Within the framework of the Staff Course, the participants had an opportunity to partake in a roundtable discussion to exchange views on gender-related issues in border security and management. Subject area experts, representatives of relevant governmental agencies as well as international organizations and diplomatic missions working in this field participated in the discussion.
Nadzeya Masevich, a participant of this Staff Course from Belarus, underlined that the experience and knowledge she gained during the course is invaluable: “I particularly liked doing the group research project, which involved all of us debating, analyzing, and exchanging opinions. We learned how to work in a team and produce a well-developed paper,” she said.
As a part of the Staff Course curriculum, participants visited the Tajik-Uzbek and Tajik-Afghan borders to gain a practical understanding of the routine activities and procedures followed by the related border security and management agencies.