"We will reach our greatest joint achievement when our teams replicate what they have learned from Guardia Civil and develop their own training modules"

The trainings of trainers of the CT Public Spaces project are successfully completed at the headquarters of the Rural Action Unit of Guardia Civil, in Logroño, which has welcomed members of security forces from Ghana, Kenya and Senegal. These activities are replicated nationally in the 3 partner countries, which helps to increase their reach. The equipment donated in the framework of the European project CT Public Spaces will be used, and later on be taken to the field.

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The EU-funded CT Public Spaces project started in 2020 with a view to prevent and reduce terrorist attacks and their effects in urban public spaces in the partnering countries, through strengthening security.

To date, a total of 183 members of different institutions dedicated to protecting citizen security in Ghana, Kenya and Senegal have been trained in 11 specific subjects by a multidisciplinary team of experts from Guardia Civil and the EU High Risk Security Network (EU HRSN). In the words of Diarra Faye, Superintendent of the Senegalese National Police and participant in the Command-and-Control training, the exchange of experiences allows to revitalize and strengthen national action plans, as well as planning strategies to deal with terrorist attacks.

Anna Athur-Yartel, emergency medical team expert at Ghana's National Ambulance Service, recently attended a training in Tactical Sanitary Police Assistance. Anna stresses the importance of protecting Ghana's public spaces based on recent attacks in the Sahel region, "which has made us understand that we are not immune to these events so close to our borders."

Police Superintendent Boakye-Ansah, from the operations department of the Ghana Police Service, who participated in the Response and Rescue training, explains how these trainings have expanded the knowledge, skills and confidence of those involved. This will help them to better protect their public spaces and to have an advantage, being the first to respond to any type of attack or challenge that arises: "we trust that our colleagues replicate what they have learned and can develop their own training modules, that will be our greatest achievement".  

Finally, Sebastian Andrew Maheru Wanga, Sergeant of the Kenyan National Police Service, who participated at the Immediate Neutralisation of Sudden Attacks training, explains that most of the lessons learned will be applied in Kenya, "we have a lot to share with our colleagues, we will do everything possible so that all we have learned reaches every police officer working in the country."

The completion of these courses is the finishing touch to a first stage of the project that will continue its path with the realization of exercises (Table Top and LIVEX) in which everything learned previously will be applied, simulating an alleged terrorist attack in a national public space. The material donated under the project to each of the partnering countries will be used during the exercises, as well as for future trainings and real operations for the protection of public spaces.