From late October through November 2021, with support from the Governments of France and the United States, the IIJ Academic Unit delivered a new course under the online Counter-Terrorism Academic Curriculum (eCTAC) to 20 English-speaking criminal justice practitioners from across Africa.
This seventh eCTAC course – the third to be delivered in English – included two weeks of online learning guided by the Academic Unit’s online learning management platform as well as two subsequent weeks of live sessions. These live sessions included six small-group, interactive tutorial sessions on ‘Effective Coordination Between Investigators and Prosecutors’, ‘Collection of Evidence for Successful Prosecutions’, and ‘Cross-Border Investigations’. The course was delivered with the support of the IIJ Investigations Advisor, seconded to the IIJ thanks to the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
Practitioners actively engaged in the live sessions and worked effectively through the course materials. They reported their appreciation for the rigour and depth of the course. “There are grey areas that we have never identified and this course has raised many issues for us to address,” reported Mr. Ayuba Usman, a detective and intelligence analysts officer from Nigeria. “It has helped to change our mindsets and we will share what we have learned with our colleagues.” Overall, the feedback from participants was overwhelmingly positive. Mr. David Wasswa, the Head of the Counter-terrorism Intelligence Division with the Uganda Police Force, remarked that the eCTAC “is a very unique training given my last 20-years of experience.” He continued, “This course is in its own class [….] I am really proud that I was able to complete this course.”
For more information on the eCTAC, please contact Programme Manager Dallin Van Leuven.