My mission is to pass on knowledge.

“I have been working at the Kostanay Training Academy since 2001. I studied here myself, and upon graduation I was invited to work as a teacher. Four years ago, I was promoted to the Head of the Probation Staff Training Center.”

In the four years since Raigul took on her new role, Kazakhstan has experienced one of the most significant challenges to its prison service, with the arrival of large numbers of high-risk prisoners, including returning foreign terrorist fighters (RFTFs) into their prisons. Left unmanaged, this can lead to serious safety and security threats and a heightened risk of radicalization towards violence in prisons.

To tackle this issue, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has been implementing the Returning Foreign Terrorist Fighters Detention Program in Kazakhstan from 2019 to 2023. This initiative, generously supported by the US Department of State Bureau of Counterterrorism, has been instrumental in enhancing safety and security measures in prisons, strengthening risk assessment and management tools, improving infrastructure and capacity, and promoting the adoption of best practices. The program, now in its second phase, has not only been active in Kazakhstan but has also made a positive impact in Iraq, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Crucially, the focus of this program on sharing and integrating best practices is where the Kostanay Training Academy and Raigul herself have played, and continue to play, a key role.

 

Listen to the story of Raigul Mukhtabayeva’s impressive career and how she is making a difference to the staff and prisoners at Kostanay Academy

 

“In my opinion, the Academy has changed since its partnership with UNODC. Thanks to this cooperation, we have been able to engage with many international experts who trained academic staff to develop and deliver in-service training programmes on a wide range of subjects. We have enjoyed the opportunity to have close and direct communication with the international experts from Slovenia, Germany, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Uganda and Tunisia and other countries on a variety of issues.

The training delivered at Kostanay Academy is informed by good practice from countries around the world but is also tailored to the local context. UNODC has worked closely with Academy leaders and trainers to adapt international strategies and practices for use in Kazakhstan, and to ensure that all training offers respond to the challenges, responsibilities and capabilities of different stakeholders to ensure that it achieves maximum impact. You can also see clearly that UNODC has assisted the Academy in upgrading its training facilities, and now we have new training classrooms equipped with the latest technology to enable trainees arriving from the regions to learn better. And generally, the infrastructure of the Academy is significantly improved with financial support from UNODC and partners.

We have worked together on prison and probation staff training, developing training modules, prisoner’s risks and needs assessment tool, and much more. Most of all I like that I have built up deep knowledge throughout my 25-year career. And I am now pleased to be able to share it with new and younger officers. This what inspires me the most.”

With thanks to the Bureau of Counterterrorism of the U.S. State Department for their generous funding of the Returning Foreign Terrorists Detention Program

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