Uganda Wildlife Authority has embarked on a strategy of building an effective, efficient and professional work force through provision of adequate training to staff. The institution has kick started the development of a curriculum for Wildlife crime, intelligence, Investigations and law enforcement.

The curriculum will help UWA have its own standard to train its force right from the initial stages of entry into the organization. The other training component of the curriculum being considered is the professional angle which will look at how an ordinary ranger becomes an intelligence and investigations staff/officer. Further development of the curriculum will include promotional courses and other relevant courses for different levels which will be incorporated in the UWA training policy

UWA executive director Sam Mwandha describes the process as a journey towards the transformation and eventual professionalization of UWA workforce. He says that in years to come, UWA will have the best workforce in wildlife protection and fighting wildlife crime in the region. “This process will result in us having a highly skilled workforce in the East African region which will help the country in fight wildlife crime. Once we have a highly skilled force, criminals will hate their trade and wildlife numbers will increase to higher numbers” says Mr. Mwandha.

The exercise is aimed at undertaking training needs assessment (TNA) of UWA and the National Wildlife Crime Coordination Task Force (NWCCTF) member institutions on wildlife crime intelligence, investigations & law enforcement, identifying the training gaps for UWA & NWCCTF member institutions in wildlife crime intelligence, investigations & law enforcement and developing a training curriculum, manual & guide in wildlife crime intelligence, investigations & wildlife law enforcement.

According to the Investigations Manager – UWA Major Joshua Karamagi, this is the start of a long journey of ensuring that adequate capacity is built for the intelligence, investigations and law enforcement cadres in the institution. “We are moving towards ensuring that we have a professional force capable of handling wildlife crime intelligence gathering to persecution, this will enhance our fight against wildlife crime”.

The process will start with the training needs assessment which will be preceded by an impact assessment of the previous training that UWA personnel have undergone in order to form a strong foundation for the development of the training curriculum.

The exercise has drawn participants from Uganda Wildlife Authority, Uganda peoples Defense Force and Uganda Police. Others are local and international facilitators from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

The curriculum development process is being undertaken with the generous support from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.