The UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR)— in cooperation with the UN Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC) — held the second regional training-of-trainers workshop on the ISACS Assessment Tool on 19-20 August 2014 at the UN Office in Lima, Peru.
Thirteen staff members from UNLIREC, the Organization of American States (OAS) and the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) Colombia were trained on how to use the ISACS Assessment Tool and how to train others in its use. Sixty-two percent of workshop participants were female.
The workshop focused on using the ISACS Assessment Tool to guide operational work on small arms control in the Latin American region in areas such physical security & stockpile management, marking & record keeping, and border controls & law enforcement cooperation.
At the end of the course, participants exchanged views on the utility and applicability of the tool, including how it could support institutional and operational work on small arms control issues in the region. Participants appreciated in particular how the tool can assist with rapid priority setting and planning on small arms control measures, as well as with conducting comprehensive assessments of existing policies, programmes and operational practices.
An exit survey conducted at the end of the workshop indicated the potential use of the tool in strengthening the enforcement of existing CIFTA legislative frameworks, in particular through building capacity on small arms marking and recordkeeping. It was noted that the tool could be used to provide support to DDR processes, including on disarmament strategy, policy, and implementation.
This was the second in a series of six regional training-of-trainers workshops that UNIDIR is organising during the second half of 2014 in partnership with the ISACS Inter-Agency Support Unit. The first workshop was held in July in Belgrade, Serbia, for the Southeast Europe region, in cooperation with UNDP/SEESAC.
The remaining regional workshops will take place in the Caribbean (25-27 August in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, in partnership with CARICOM-IMPACS); East Africa (22-24 September in Nairobi, Kenya, in partnership with IPSTC, RECSA and UNREC); West Africa (November in Lomé, Togo, in partnership with UNREC); and Asia-Pacific (location and dates tbd, in partnership with UNRCPD).
For more information on UNLIREC visit (www.unlirec.org.) Please direct all questions or inquiries to: Ms Amanda Cowl, Political Affairs Officer, at (cowl@unlirec.org).