Liberia Academies of Excellence Program

Strategic Capacity Group (SCG) implemented a comprehensive training and mentoring program in Liberia for the Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL). The project worked closely with the Liberia National Police Training Academy and used SCG’s Academies of Excellence design framework to assess and address fundamental structural, institutional, content, and capacity gaps of Liberia’s three primary policing and security services—the Liberia National Police (LNP), the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA), and the Liberia Immigration Service (LIS).

Strategic Capacity Group implemented the Liberia Academies of Excellence Program, Liberia Law Enforcement Advancement Program (2021-2023), to strengthen the  capacity of the Liberia National Police, the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency, the Liberia Immigration Service, and other civilian security agencies to deter crime and maintain citizen security and public order through a comprehensive training and mentoring program across executive, mid-level, and rank-and-file personnel. Working closely with the National Police Training Academy, SCG utilized its Academies of Excellence design framework to assess and address fundamental, structural, institutional, content, and capacity gaps of Liberia’s three primary policing and security services, including establishing a high-level Law Enforcement Education Working Group (LEEWG) comprised of senior officers and other leaders from the three agencies and led by the Deputy Inspector General of Police. The following are among the key program activities and results:

• Analyzed 40 sets of training curricula, 17 Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs), formulated an Action and Priorities Plan, and secured three agencies’ commitments to following the Action Plan.
• Developed three new programs of instruction for executive, mid-level, and rank-and-file level courses. Facilitated 13 one-day workshops with the Curriculum Development Working Group (CDWG) to develop comprehensive teaching and training modules and materials.
• Designed and conducted a series of five-day Instructor Professionalization courses to help overcome a lack of experienced instructors, resulting in 30 instructors trained, mentored, and mobilized to sustain the program. 
• Delivered training to 1,361 law enforcement personnel from LNP, LDEA, and LIS, including six one-week courses for 156 executives and 22 one-week courses for 657 mid- level/first line supervisors, with the result that 44 percent of Liberian law enforcement managers received SCG-led training.
• Provided 31 two-day refresher courses for 550 rank-and-file officers.
• Held four Communities of Practice (COP) mentorship sessions at LNP’s Headquarters for 53 participants from LNP, LDEA, and LIS, with 14 senior members forming a COP Working Group, which, along with the Education Working Group, served to further institutionalize and sustain project results. 

In the end, Liberian training institutions from the three separate security forces began to work cohesively with a common approach to instructor professionalization, curricular content development, training delivery, and training impact measurement for dynamic adaptation to operational requirements. This enhanced much-needed coordination and interoperability, while maximizing efficient use of scarce resources available to the Liberian law enforcement training academies.

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• Mali Academies of Excellence Program.
• Professionalizing the Next Generation of Law Enforcement in the Central African Republic.
• Tunisia Academies of Excellence Program.
• International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) two-week study tour and international exchange to implement responsive police practices, adopt effective community engagement, and promote interagency coordination for 17 senior Sahelian law enforcement officials and 11 civil society leaders from Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Senegal.
• Needs Assessment of the Burkina Faso Police School.  
• Colombia Academies of Excellence Program.
• Tunisia Law Enforcement Academy Modernization.