Twenty-six women leaders complete OSCE Border Management Staff Course

Participants of the '21st Staff Course for Women Leaders' working on a group exercise on leadership and management, Dushanbe, 22 May 2018. (OSCE/Shamsi Myadyeva)

The OSCE Border Management Staff College (BMSC) concluded its 21st Border Management Staff Course for Women Leaders on 8 June in Dushanbe.

Twenty-six mid to senior-ranking border security and management officials from Afghanistan, Armenia, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, FYRoM, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Moldova, Mongolia, Netherlands, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunisia graduated from the course.

The course targeting female participants aimed to further empower women working in the field of border management and security by developing their professional skills, building capacities, establishing working ties with counterparts and promoting gender- sensitivity in the respective professional environment.

Jonathan Holland, Director of the BMSC, noted that “women’s perspective on border security and management always differs from men’s and it is our honour and privilege to be able to witness and nurture it. Since our inception in 2009, the College has been able to offer five staff courses exclusively for women leaders. We look forward to increasing this number and further contributing OSCE’s gender mainstreaming efforts”.

Comprised of seven study modules, the course curriculum covered border security and management in the context of the OSCE’s tri-dimensional comprehensive security concept. In addition to classroom activities, participants took part in two study trips to Tajik border crossing points on the borders with Uzbekistan and Afghanistan..

“We had an opportunity to exchange experiences and establish strong interpersonal connections with counterparts from 16 different countries,” said Daniela Ivanovska, a participant from Macedonia. Ivanovska added that she especially liked the diversity of the topics covered during the course: “Customs control and vehicle search techniques were completely new to me. I am a part of an Integrated Border Management working group in my agency and feel that I now am much better equipped to make a meaningful contribution to its work”.

Topics covered during the four-week course included promotion of border security and management in the OSCE area, border security and management models, elements of border control and co-operation, economic, environmental and human aspects of border security and management, organizational management and leadership as well as basic learning and teaching skills.

A roundtable discussion on co-operation in the management of mixed migration flows was conducted in the framework of the course, bringing together subject area experts, representatives of diplomatic missions, international organizations and participants of the 21st Staff Course. Preceded by a debate on countering transnational threats, the roundtable meeting will be followed by a discussion on trade facilitation at borders in October.