Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09OUAGADOUGOU1129
2009-12-07 15:15:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Ouagadougou
Cable title:  

BURKINA FASO: GENDARMERIE SCHOOL GRADUATES FIRST

Tags:  MCAP MASS PGOV PREL PHUM UV 
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VZCZCXRO9572
PP RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHOU #1129 3411515
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 071515Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY OUAGADOUGOU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5903
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE PRIORITY
UNCLAS OUAGADOUGOU 001129 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: MCAP MASS PGOV PREL PHUM UV
SUBJECT: BURKINA FASO: GENDARMERIE SCHOOL GRADUATES FIRST
CLASS WITH WOMEN AND INAUGURATES A NEW CURRICULUM.

UNCLAS OUAGADOUGOU 001129

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: MCAP MASS PGOV PREL PHUM UV
SUBJECT: BURKINA FASO: GENDARMERIE SCHOOL GRADUATES FIRST
CLASS WITH WOMEN AND INAUGURATES A NEW CURRICULUM.


1. SUMMARY: In November the National School for Gendarmerie
graduated its first ever class with women. Of the nearly 500
students who were schooled and trained over the last two
years, 10 percent of those graduating were women. Another
innovation for this class was the lengthening of the training
period from one to two years and a diversification of its
curriculum now including training on preventing violence
against women and children. END SUMMARY.

Innovations: Women graduates and a two year curriculum
-------------- -------------- -


2. On November 30, the National School for Gendarmerie
(Ecole Nationale de la Gendarmerie - ENP),based in the
Western city of Bobo-Dioulasso, graduated its first ever coed
class. The 35th graduating class, baptized "Equity Class",
counted among its 499 class graduates 49 women, a first for
Burkina Faso. According to the Director of the school, Major
Djibril Lale, the female students did not benefit from any
preferential treatment and underwent the same training as
their male counterparts. He admitted that the women had shone
and that the exam results demonstrate their hard work and
physical preparedness: women ranked top three in the first to
second year exam, and a woman graduated fifth in the final
standing.


3. During the graduation ceremony Minister of Defense Yero
Boly spoke directly to the female gendarmes: "It is not an
easy task to be pioneers for a cause. I ask you to serve as
role models, and to be a reference point for generations to
come." In order to illustrate the changing tide within the
military, the graduating class mentor was the Minister for
the Promotion of Women Mrs. Celine Yoda. With the inclusion
of women in the Gendarmerie school comes the need for new
infrastructures such as separate dormitories, shower and
latrine facilities, but also the need to hire female medical
staff.


4. This 35th graduating class not only set itself apart by
counting women among its graduates, but also for having
inaugurated a new and longer training curriculum. The
gendarmes students now undergo 48 months, (previously just 24
months) of rigorous physical and scholastic training. One of
the new courses added to the class curriculum is a module on
the protection of women and children from violence (Note: As
graduates of the ENP, the new gendarmes qualify as NCO's
(Sous-officiers de gendarmerie) with the rank of Sergeant
--"Grade de marechal des logis".)
HANKINS