As part of efforts to enhance policing in Ghana, the Women, Peace and Security Institute (WPSI) of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) has been engaged by the Accountability Rule of Law and Anticorruption Programme (ARAP), a European Union-funded programme in Ghana, to assist in the development a Gender Policy for the Ghana Police Service.
The development of the Gender Policy forms part of a new strategic programme dubbed ‘Police Transformation Agenda,’ which aims at enhancing the image of the Ghana Police Service as a gender-sensitive security institution. Further, it is to boost gender-sensitive monitoring and evaluation of the Police Service’s achievements and results in line with the Transformation Agenda. The policy will seek to mainstream gender perspectives into policies, training courses and programmes to address inequalities and integrate gender perspectives into the organisational culture of the Police Service.
A team from the KAIPTC undertook a two-week engagement with the GPS across nine Regional Police Headquarters to gather data for the formulation of the Policy. This engagement was preceded by a desk review of existing documents, reports, training manuals and policies in the Police Service.
It is envisaged that the Gender Policy will be utilised by the police administration to integrate gender perspective into its operations which will strengthen professionalism, enhance internal control mechanisms and improve its complaints management systems.
About the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre:
The Ghana Ministry of Defence (MoD) established the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in 1998 and commissioned it in 2004. The purpose was to build upon and share Ghana’s five decades of internationally acclaimed experience and competence in peace operations with other states in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region and the rest of Africa. This was in recognition of the need for training military, police and civilian men and women to meet the changing demands of multidimensional peace operations. The Centre is one of the three (3) Peacekeeping Training Centres of Excellence mandated by the ECOWAS to offer training in peacekeeping and peace support operations (PSO) in Africa.
The Centre delivers training courses in three thematic areas; Peace Support Operations, Conflict Management and Peace and Security Studies and also runs Masters and PhD programmes in same. The KAIPTC has a world-class research department that undertakes research in the thematic areas in Peace and Security. Located in Accra, Ghana, the KAIPTC is an internationally recognised institution and has to date trained and tutored over 22,000 participants and students since its inception.
KAIPTC is a gender-sensitive organisation and committed to gender equality. Following the launch of its gender policy in 2014, the Centre has mainstreamed gender into its policies and programmes, and integrates same in its focal areas, namely training, research and postgraduate education. The Centre has developed a Sexual Harassment policy and fully oriented employees on same. It has also provided a Nursing and Childcare Centre and instituted a paternity leave policy, all with the aim to create a conducive work environment at KAIPTC.