A team of United Nations Police Division staff members from the Standing Police Capacity (SPC) and the Strategic Policy and Development Section developed and conducted two virtual workshops on professional development for UN Police (UNPOL) officers serving in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) from 24 to 28 August 2020 and in the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) from 14 to 18 September 2020. Over 80 UN Police officers from both missions, 70% of whom were women, participated in the workshops.
The workshops were designed to strengthen police officers’ professional capacities and equip them with relevant knowledge and leadership and management skills in accordance with Organizational rules and regulations and guidance for UN Police developed by the Police Division and Member States under the Strategic Guidance Framework for International Policing (SGF) initiative. The workshops’ specific objectives included strengthening participants’ understanding of broader perspectives on UN policing centred on the SGF and their role in the effective implementation of their missions’ mandates and police concepts of operation. Participants also covered other important topics, including mainstreaming gender-responsive policing and the Department of Peace Operations’ Uniformed Gender Parity Strategy, managing stress in the field of law enforcement, building and managing teams, identifying opportunities, applying for positions and developing their careers with the United Nations.
Considering the positive feedback received from the participants (examples below), the UN Police Division aims to organize similar training programs to strengthen policing capacities in other missions as needed.
“An eye opener to my career development!”
“I was truly fortunate to be among the participants of this workshop; the facilitators and speakers worked their best to be able to come up with very interactive discussions through this medium.”
“This was really an eye opener because it highlighted the common mistakes that most people make during this assessment which often cost them the opportunity to be employed by the United Nations.”
“I feel empowered and I will definitely share this with my colleagues back home.”