In June 2021, with support from the Government of Denmark, the IIJ delivered a new course under the online Counter-Terrorism Academic Curriculum (eCTAC) to 24 francophone practitioners from West Africa, including the Sahel and Maghreb regions.
The eCTAC is designed to ensure investigators, prosecutors, and examining judges are better equipped to proactively investigate terrorist plots before attacks occur. The eCTAC expands practitioners’ knowledge on gathering electronic, telecommunication, and financial evidence to prevent attacks, lawful and proportionate use of special investigation techniques, efficient inter-agency coordination, and effective international cooperation.
This third eCTAC course, delivered in French, 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 an expert on counter-terrorism investigations.
Practitioners were highly engaged throughout the course and remarked how the eCTAC was immensely valuable and relevant to their work. Mr. Abdoulaye Maman Mijinyawa, Chief Police Commissioner in Niger, remarked “I must admit that I have not yet had the opportunity to follow such a captivating, motivating, and – above all – ‘real’ training course because the case studies are so well thought out that one forgets that they are exercises. The tools are also well adapted to our contexts.”
For more information on the eCTAC, please contact Programme Manager Dallin Van Leuven.
