To strengthen inter-mission collaboration and coordination for signals training, the United Nations Signals Academy (UNSA) organized a first-of-its-kind workshop for missions’ training focal points (representatives from missions collaborating with UNSA). The workshop was held on 22 to 24 November 2017 at the Regional Service Centre-Entebbe, Uganda, and was attended by ten participants from the UNSA partnership missions MINUSCA, MINUSMA and UNMISS and UNSOS, current UNSA collaborating partners, as well as UNSA team members from both UNHQ New York and Entebbe.

The three-day Missions’ Training Focal Points (MTFP) workshop is a follow-up to the recommendations from the training needs assessment carried out by the UNSA New York team between April and September 2017. The results highlighted the need for enhancing synergies and promoting integrated approaches.

The workshop sought to identify the different challenges, lessons learned and opportunities for supporting active and sustainable trainings for signals and other relevant uniformed personnel through mobile training, both in-house at RSCE and in the represented missions.  It included presentations from the missions and from the UNSA team followed by discussion sessions, a tour of UNSA training facilities, and a visit to a pre-induction training class in session.

As the outcomes of the MTFP workshop, participants agreed on the following action points: develop a consolidated inter-mission training plan; streamline course catalogue and curriculum contents across missions; standardize data collection, reporting formats and tracking systems, and other knowledge management tools across missions; create a roster of trainees; and share resources. Emphasis was placed on being proactive in carrying out these initiatives as a joint effort, as well as accountable reporting.

There was a general acknowledgement of the benefits of holding such a workshop on a regular basis. This would provide an additional platform for dialogue between UNSA and the missions to facilitate exchange of information and discussions on the implementation of joint initiatives. For the upcoming editions of the workshop, it is envisaged that other missions will be participating in the event as they join the partnership.