The Countering Terrorist (CT) Travel Programme delivered its first online training course on the detection of terrorists and their travel movements using travel information including Advance Passenger Information (API) and Passenger Name Records (PNR) from 12 to 16 October 2020. Twenty participants from Botswana, including focal points and airport staff, participated.
Mr. Lakidzani Sole of the Counter Terrorism Analysis and Fusion Agency (CTAFA) of Botswana noted that, “the online training will help to broaden my knowledge and expertise in the investigation and detection of terrorist cases”.
The week-long online blended learning course covered all aspects of the new training syllabus. Participants were able to engage through a mix of live sessions and prerecorded lectures by Programme Partners.
The course was organized around six key modules: (1) the threat environment, (2) an introduction to the CT Travel Programme, (3) international legal and regulatory framework related to API and PNR data, (4) the operationalization of a Passenger Information Unit (PIU), (5) state and industry engagement, and (6) technological support and the goTravel software.
This was the first blended learning training course delivered by UNOCT. The course was hosted by the UNODC e-learning platform, which gaves course participants the opportunity to watch prerecorded lectures at their own pace and even come back to the information once the course was finished.
The course also established a Community of Practice (CoP) for API and PNR practitioners in Botswana. Knowing stakeholders in the country and possibly other PIUs is a key ingredient for an effective PIU, as course participants were told by international PIU members, who joined the interactive sessions to share their experiences in setting up a PIU.
The audience was close to full gender parity amongst registered participants, and a third of experts facilitating the course and international experts attending were women.
The course was preceded by an initial deep-dive mission from 13 to 17 July 2020 with the Programme and its Partners. After the one-week course, Botswana will be ready to initiate implementation of the API and PNR programme in the country. Tweets on the online training course were posted daily on the UNOCT Twitter account, with retweets from Programme Partners and donors.
The course was made possible with the support of Programme Partners, CTED, ICAO, INTERPOL, UNODC, and UNOICT, and generous donor contributions from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the European Union, the United States of America, the State of Qatar, Australia, Japan, and the Republic of India.