OSCE concludes its second train-the-trainers course for Tajik Border Troops

On 15 December 2023, the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe completed its second train-the-trainers course for 19 staff officers of the Tajik Border Troops in Bokhtar, Khatlon Region. The course is a key activity of the Patrol Field Capacity Building of the Tajik Border Troops – Phase II (PFCB2) project which will run through 2023 and 2024. 

The three-week course was taught by two contracted international instructors with expertise in adult learning and curriculum development – one with an academic background in theories and practice of adult learning and another with a background in planning and conducting military collective training and field exercises. The course participants were Tajik Border Troops officers who are currently serving as trainers/instructors within their institutional training structure and those officers who have expressed an interest in becoming trainers/instructors. The course was developed to increase the internal training capacity of the Tajik Border Troops, instructing them on topics that included: training needs identification, adult learning theories, teaching methodologies, developing lesson plans and presentation materials, and evaluating learning. The course also covered planning and conducting field training and collective unit training for border security forces. To demonstrate their skills as trainers, each student developed and delivered training to other students on a topic of their choice.

Kelsey Harris-Smith, representing the Head of Mission Office, and the PFCB2 Project Manager, Jon Casey, delivered closing remarks at the graduation, emphasizing the importance of the course participants’ newly developed skills in helping to further professionalize the Tajik Border Troops. These new skills will help make the organization more adaptive to the dynamic border security challenges that Tajikistan faces, particularly along the Tajik-Afghan border. Following completion of the course, the students will return to their units within the Tajik Border Troops with an increased capacity to identify training needs, develop and conduct their training, and assess the learning of training participants.  

The event is conducted in the framework of the OSCE’s project “Patrol Field Capacity Building of the Tajik Border Troops through Promotion of Regional Co-operation”, financed by France and implemented by the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe. The course is part of the Office’s multi-year efforts to support Tajikistan’s border security response capabilities.