Short training on counter-narcotics and EDSON software

On the 17th of November ACBC conducted a short two hours  training on counter narcotics and the use of EDSON software to detect suspicious/fake passport to the Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA/JRO) Immigration staff.
ACBC also installed a computer with the EDSON software at the Airport
All this was made possible with a remarkable support from Kilimanjaro Head of Immigration (RIO) Mr Msumule.

Assisted Voluntary Returns and Reintegration (AVRR) Workshop at ACBC

From November 19 to 21 IOM Organized the Assisted Voluntary Returns and Reintegration (AVRR) Workshop/Training at the African Capacity Building Center (ACBC).
The workshop covered a range of topics including:
-Set-up and implementation of MAD (AVRR/AVM) Projects
-Assisting vulnerable migrants: considerations & challenges
-Communicating AVRRs: Media, migrants and civil society
among many others.

IOM Leads Study Tour to Tanzania for South Sudanese Immigration Officials

IOM has completed a six-day study tour bringing South Sudanese immigration officials to Tanzania to learn about best practices in border management and meet with Tanzanian counterparts.

Six representatives from the Government of South Sudan’s Directorate of Nationality, Passports and Immigration (DNPI), including the Director-General and the Director of Immigration, participated in the study tour, which took place from 3-9 November.

Training sessions for the delegation on integrated border management and regional cooperation mechanisms were held at IOM’s African Capacity Building Centre (ACBC) in Moshi. Established in 2009, the ACBC works with African states to enhance their migration management capacity, promote comprehensive migration governance, and facilitate a diverse range of immigration and border management projects and training courses.

During the tour, the delegates visited the Holili border between Tanzania and Kenya, in order to see the practical implementation of a “One-Stop Border Post”. The delegation met with immigration officials from both the Tanzanian and Kenyan sides of the border to discuss their experiences.

The delegation also met with counterparts from the Government of Tanzania’s Immigration Services Department (PCIS) at the department’s headquarters in Dar es Salaam. The Principal Commissioner of Immigration Services, Sylvester Ambokile Mwakinyuke, received the delegation and arranged a series of presentations on Tanzanian immigration activities, as well as a tour of the department’s passport issuance and printing units. 

“The study tour was very useful,” said DNPI Director-General Maj. Gen. Augustino Maduot Parek. “We have gained a better understanding of the latest trends in immigration policy, and established a good connection with our counterparts in Tanzania that we hope to build upon in the future.”

IOM has developed a strong partnership with the DNPI, and helps South Sudan to manage its borders by constructing and equipping border posts, training immigration officers and providing technical and policy advice. These initiatives foster trade and economic development, while at the same time strengthening national security. To date, IOM has constructed and equipped six border posts at land crossings with Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic.

ACBC/TRITA Premises (Left tower)

Visit at the Holili/Taveta One Stop Border Post (OSBP) at the Tanzania Kenya Border

A snapshot of  Delegates at ACBC/TRITA

Orientation at the Tanzania/Kenya Border

A snapshot at Tanzania Immigration Headquarters 

A training session at ACBC with the RTS Marcellino Ramkishun

ACBC's MIDAS/PIRS Lab.

A visit at The Tanzania Principal Commissioner of Immigration office in Dar es Salaam

Migrants crossing DRC borders to benefit from humanitarian borders trainings

On 4 December 2013, the IOM African Capacity Building Centre (ACBC) from Moshi, Tanzania, completed a seven day Training-of-Trainers on humanitarian border management (HBM) in Kisangani, the capital of Province Orientale of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).  DRC is the first country in Africa to pilot the HBM capacity building model developed by IOM.

HBM addresses border management operations before, during and after humanitarian crises which trigger cross-border migration of affected populations. Therefore, the HBM concept encompasses both preparedness, as well as response of border agencies, such as immigration and border police, to mass influx of persons fleeing natural or man-made disasters.

In September 2013, the ACBC and IOM in DRC carried out a joint HBM assessment exercise at the border regions between DRC, South Sudan and Uganda. One of the recommendations arising out of this assessment, and discussed during a workshop that introduced the HBM concept to the provincial authorities, was to elaborate and pilot a specialized HBM training curriculum that would prepare DRC border agencies for potential migration crises.

Inspired by a similar training already developed by IOM’s Regional Office in Vienna and piloted in October 2013 in Tajikistan, the ACBC designed a seven-day Training-of-Trainers package which encompasses an introduction to relevant international migration legal frameworks, techniques for interviewing vulnerable migrants, biometric registration of displaced populations, search and rescue, camp security, migration health, as well as elaboration of humanitarian response plans.

“The HBM course teaches how to protect borders while at the same time protecting human rights of migrants fleeing a natural or man-made disaster. It is increasingly becoming recognized as a concept that can importantly assist States to prepare for potential migration crises,” says Laurent de Boeck, Chief of Mission of IOM DRC. 

Participants in the pilot Training-of-Trainers included representatives of DRC immigration, border police, border health and quarantine service, customs, as well as representatives of the provincial government. Through presentations, group work, case studies and roles plays, border officials had the opportunity to learn not only theory but also practice their new skills on specific scenarios, themselves based on concrete migration crises that took place in Province Orientale in the past and which were researched during the HBM assessment.

“This training comes at a point when humanitarian border management is a matter of great importance to the Government of DRC. Province Orientale itself has repeatedly appealed to development partners to assist the border management sector in the Province. I hope that the participants will put in practice their new skills to serve populations in the border areas who, more than ever, are in need of humanitarian assistance, security and peace,”said H.E.Mr. Pascal Mombi Opana, Vice-governor of Province Orientale, in his closing speech.

HBM initiatives in Province Orientale are one of the components of a comprehensive border police capacity building programme funded by the Government of Japan