One of the ways Born Free USA works to counter wildlife trafficking in West and Central Africa is by hosting trainings for wildlife rangers, border and customs officers, and judges and prosecutors.
One such training program is PROTECT-DETECT training, a pilot counter-poaching and counter-trafficking training course for rangers working in trans-boundary protected areas. It focuses on the acquisition of specialized counter-poaching and counter-trafficking skills necessary to carry out professional and thorough investigations that support successful prosecutions. By course completion, staff members are be able to better prevent, detect, and respond to poaching intrusions, and support single or multi-agency investigations and court cases. The trainings are organized in partnership with Freeland with funding from the United States Agency for International Development’s West Africa Biodiversity and Climate Change Program (USAID/WA BiCC).
These trainings typically take place on-site and in the field but, with the COVID-19 pandemic raging, Born Free USA moved the trainings online. From November 16 – 20, eight participants (two from Benin, two from Burkina Faso, and four from Niger) attended this online training along with trainers from Freeland, who tuned in from their locations in India, South Africa, and Mexico. The participants are currently replicating the training at the national level, using the materials provided during the training.
PROTECT-DETECT training modules include, among others, the fundamentals of field craft, silent field signals, patrolling operations, vehicle search, cybercrime, crime scene processing and raid planning, and ambush and track sits. Despite the virtual nature of the training, the trainers managed to make the training very lively and interactive!
More trainings are coming up soon, organized by authorities in Benin (December 6 – 18, 2020), Burkina Faso (December 10 – 24, 2020), and Niger (December 10 – 20, 2020).