Rwanda Peace Academy joins international body

The Rwanda Peace Academy (RPA) officially joined the Association for Security Sector Education and Training (ASSET) as a step forward towards boosting its professionalism among the security sector reformers and policy makers within member states. The revelation was made by RPA Director, Colonel Jill Rutaremara, in a media release. RPA is a project of the Ministry of Defence that offers training and research programs relevant to post-conflict challenges in Africa. To qualify for ASSET membership, one must have a proven track record in training and education for Security Sector Reform (SSR) and a willingness to develop such a curriculum and undertake research activities that are directly linked to developing training and education curricula. The organisation or institution must also agree to utilise a shared set of SSR principles and methods. An institution must also be nominated by at least two members of the association and circulated to the members of the ASSET Coordinating Committee at least three months before the Annual General Meeting (AGM). In line with the Cooperation Statement of ASSET, the RPA was nominated by two members; the Geneva Centre for Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) and the Cranfield University at Shrivenham, United Kingdom. The meeting at which RPA was admitted to the ASSET group was officiated by Ghana’s Deputy Minister of Defence, Ebenezer Okletey Teilarbi. It also attracted forty-four delegates from Africa, Europe, Americas and Asia. ASSET’s Annual General Meeting was co-hosted by the Kofi Anan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) and the African Security Sector Network (ASSN), both based in Accra, Ghana. It also admitted the African Union (AU) as an observer.