The September 'Training the Trainer', programme was delivered in Bangladesh by NPIA trainers to 15 Bangladeshi Police officers including 4 female officers who will be deployed to training roles, training UN Peacekeepers.

The initial days of the course included lectures on presentation skills, lesson delivery and addressing training needs and the learning cycle. The students were asked to deliver a 40 minute presentation on one topic of the UN peacekeeper training syllabus, that they might deliver to a class of UN peacekeepers. This presentation was assessed and presentation notes where shared to enable all students to be able to deliver any topic from the UN peacekeepers training syllabus at the end of the course.

Tactical training commenced on the 12th September. The first week was held in the parade ground at Rajarbag and the military firing range in Dhaka. This focussed around risk assessment, avoidance of danger, maintenance of kit and firearms, weaponry skills, and dealing with checkpoints and ambushes and counter kidnap skills. The final days of the training were viewed by the UN inspectorate who were impressed by the level of skills the students had attained during the week. Frank discussions were held between the trainers and inspectorate regarding the need for similar training to be provided to all countries deploying to mission areas.

The second week of the training was based in the training centre in Tangail and utilised scenario based training around minefields, ambush, first aid and injured officers, and irregular checkpoints.

As a result of this course there are now 15 qualified trainers who will be able to deliver classroom based training to Bangladeshi officers deploying on international missions, along with 15 tactical trainers and the staff of Tangail training facility, who are now able to deliver tactical training. Bangladeshi peacekeepers have recently undertaken SAT tests and so this training will be able to commence immediately for those who were successful in the SATs.

Bangladesh are due to supply 30 peacekeepers to the United Nations mission in Darfur ( UNAMID) at the end of October, and these students will be the first to go through the classroom and tactical training UNAMID programme prior to deployment. As this is likely to become a compulsory aspect for police officers deploying to mission areas, the ability for the Bangladeshi officers to deliver this training to their own staff will have a great impact on the Bangladeshi police services continued contribution to international missions.

Those deploying to international Missions from Bangladesh will now receive training to not only enable them to become more effective peacekeepers, but also with a greater overall security awareness and tactical ability, which will increase the safety of officers in mission.