The OSCE Border Management Staff College (BMSC) concludes its eighth All-Women Staff Course in Dushanbe

On July 1, 2022, the OSCE Border Management Staff College (BMSC) concluded its 32nd Staff Course for Women Leaders in a blended format. Twenty-six mid to senior-ranking security and management officials from border, customs, migration, internal affairs, maritime security, and drug control agencies attended.  They represented twelve OSCE Participating States and Partners for Cooperation, namely Algeria, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Portugal, Romania, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkiye and Uzbekistan.

The four-week event represented the eighth course designed and delivered by the OSCE BMSC exclusively for women leaders of various border security and management agencies. The gender exclusive course aimed to further empower women working in the field of border security and management by further developing their organization-level competencies and professional skills, establishing working relations with counterparts, and promoting gender-sensitivity in the respective professional environment.

In his speech at the closing ceremony, Ambassador Vuk Zugic, Head of the OSCE Program Office in Dushanbe (POiD), noted that the College has been in service for more than thirteen years and continues to provide the highest quality of education and training for senior border security officers from across the OSCE region. All-women staff courses, which are organized once a year, aim at enhancing the involvement of more female border officers and addressing gender imbalance in the border security sector. 

In her closing remarks, Tea Jaliashvili, Deputy Head of the OSCE POiD, encouraged participants to stay in touch with the College, their instructors, and their counterparts to enhance a multi-agency networking to promote interchange of information and best practices among them, to support development of their leadership potential, and to help to advance their training delivery skills.    

Ezgi Arslan, a participant from Ministry of Interior’s Border Management Department of the Republic of Turkiye, thanked the college for the unique opportunity to acquire valuable knowledge in the respective field, which is further augmented by the exploration of other represented countries’ experience(s). Also, the opportunity to be able to contribute to her country’s efforts in border security as she intends to apply the gained knowledge in her professional field.

Irina Turturean, a graduate from the General Inspectorate of Border Police of Romania, noted that the course represented a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for her to enrich her professional knowledge on a wide variety of border-related subjects. She claimed that everyone who completed the course gained invaluable skills and knowledge. Finally, she noted the value of establishing professional connections and friendships that will last for many years to come.

The BMSC’s Staff Course is comprised of seven study modules. The core course curriculum covers border security and management in the context of the OSCE’s three-dimensional comprehensive security concept. Topics covered during the course included the promotion of border security and management in the OSCE area, border security and management models, organizational management and leadership, as well as basic learning and teaching skills. Participants of the course were also engaged in group research projects related to and covering the OSCE’s three dimensions of security.         

A roundtable discussion entitled “Best Practices in Gender Mainstreaming in Border Security and Management and Governmental Section,” was also conducted in the framework of the course. The event focused on the best approaches adopted by the States of the OSCE region in promoting gender mainstreaming to create more representative and inclusive border management and government institutions.