Zambia
Africa
The Scottish Government provided Police Scotland with funding to support specialist training with the Police Services in Malawi and Zambia for tackling gender-based violence (GBV) and improving child protection.
Expanding on previous work, additional funding was awarded for the delivery of specialist training to senior investigating officers who manage responses to GBV and child protection matters. This provided an opportunity to identify and streamline a national cadre of officers in both countries, to help improve responses to serious crimes.
This capacity building programme built upon work that Police Scotland started with the Malawian Police Service as part of the Government of Malawi's Food Insecurity response plan in 2015. The project’s outcome focused approach for victims, examined their journey and improved touchpoints where they engage in the Criminal Justice sector. The benefits of the project were two-way: police officers in Malawi and Zambia are better equipped to deal with GBV and child protection issues in country and Police Scotland Officers gain new perspectives which contribute to better community policing in Scotland.
The work also resonates with the aims of the UN Global Goals, with the global north and south working in partnership to achieve - in this instance - Global Goal: 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls; and Goal 16; Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels.
Approach
This programme aims to improve the lives of the most vulnerable people living in Zambia. The programme is funded by The Scottish Government. Police Scotland has developed a strong working relationship with the Zambia Police Service. The programme has improved the police response to victims of gender based violence, children and vulnerable people, A few examples of our many activities are described below.
Zambian police officers have been taught how to train other police officers through a ‘Train the Trainer’ course. The police officer trainers then delivered specialist training such as first responder and crime investigation training.
Further Information
A Global Citizen Challenge was designed to build positive relationships between the police and young people. Through this activity, we empowered youths in Scotland and Zambia to become global citizens. This Challenge focussed on actions to help deliver the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Activities
Specialist crime training for senior investigating officers managing complex gender based violence and child protection matters have provided the opportunity to professionalise a nationwide cadre of officers and improved responses to serious crimes.
We worked with charities, the Scottish Ambulance Service and Zambian police officer trainers, whom we had trained, to deliver much needed first aid training. This approach made sure the first aid training delivered could be practically used across Zambia.
Scottish police officers worked side by side with senior Zambian police officers in police stations. Sharing their experience, the Scottish police officers helped guide the development of services in the local police stations.