The Zimbabwe Republic Police recently hosted a Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Co-operation Organisation (SARPCCO) workshop on Curriculum Development and Evaluation of Training in Morris Depot Harare. The aim of the workshop was to develop a uniform curriculum that will help enhance cohesion and effective policing standards for the region.

Representatives for the workshop were drawn from the Republic of South Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mauritius, Zambia and host country Zimbabwe.

In his remarks, Commissioner Training and Development, Commissoner Dr Eric Magejo emphasised the need for police officers to exchange ideas and develop networks for the good of the region.

“There is a growing awareness to develop the curriculum that will cope with the rapid growth of Information and Communication Technologies. The police chiefs have entrusted the future of the SARPCCO programme into your hands and to develop competence among our police officers,” he said.

The senior officer added that identifying training needs and proffering remedies should be a continuous process which must be informed by scientific research. He challenged participants to give their best in scrutinising the SARPCCO curricular and to draft an improved blueprint that would be ratified by the Service Chiefs in their next meeting.

The Outpost also learnt that the review of the curriculum was necessitated by short comings noted during joint operations, where member states often revert to their domestic systems, thus creating conflict on way forward in terms of the standard procedure.

Chief Superintendent Shepherd Madhiko (Staff Officer Training and Development at Police General Headquarters) who was part of the curriculum development experts said it was essential to synchronise standards of identifying training needs and conducting evaluations.

“The whole idea is premised on the assumption and belief that before any training session can be conducted, there should be a process called Training Needs Analysis. We must be able to identify the deficiencies prompting particular training to be conducted. In this regard, training becomes a change factor. After the training has been conducted, we must also measure and establish whether we have met the objectives,” he said.