UNODC continues enhancing analytical capabilities of the Tajik border officers

On 06-14 December, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) conducted analytical course for fifteen border officers from analytical divisions of the units of the Border Forces of the State Committee for National Security of the Republic of Tajikistan (BF SCNS RT).

The course aimed to enhance the analytical skills of border officers to effectively collect, analyze, and process information mainly using the i2 software and contribute to strengthening the capacity of the information-analytical system of the Border Troops of Tajikistan.

In the opening ceremony, Ms. Madina Rakhmikhudoeva, Programme Manager, the United States Department of State’s Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) Office at the United States Embassy in Dushanbe, expressed her gratitude: “I would like to thank the officers for their active participation in these trainings. I would also like to thank the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, for all the work they have done to successfully complete the project. Despite all the obstacles due to the pandemic, we are glad that it was delivered in a timely manner.”

“We are grateful to the UNODC and the INL for organizing and funding similar courses to enhance the Border Troops’ daily analytical operations through using specialized software programmes,” noted Colonel Umarzoda Umar, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Border Troops’ HQs.  

“The course has improved the analytical skills of border guards to collect, analyze, import and export information on the border situation using the specialized software products, in particular IBM i2, to ease their analytical report preparing and sharing with other agencies. We hope this will also help analytical experts of the Border Troops of Tajikistan to be represented especially by the female officers at the Central Asian Regional Information and Coordination Centre (CARICC) like analysts of the Drug Control Agency under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan (DCA) and the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Tajikistan,” said Mr. Mustafa Erten, UNODC Head of Office in Tajikistan, in his concluding speech. 

The feedback received from the participants at the end of the course was very positive. They thanked the UNODC for organizing the course and noted that such courses would improve the efficiency of their daily analytical work. The trainees highlighted their need for technical equipment and computers at the workplaces to further develop the received skills in practice.

The course was delivered by the national and regional experts, involved from the CARICC, the DCA and Border Forces of the State Committee for National Security of the Republic of Tajikistan, who have outstanding expertise in using the analytical software products in their daily works and delivering similar courses for many years.

The course was organized as part of the UNODC Initiative on Strengthening Control along the Tajik-Afghan Border funded by INL, to support the Border Forces in improving border intelligence capacity. The initiative is in line with the National Border Management Strategy of the Republic of Tajikistan for 2010-2025 and is focused to ensure the sustainability of intelligence collection methods and analytical capabilities.

The initiative is funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.