For almost two weeks, German police instructors trained the management of the Ethiopian Federal Police, the heads of the 13 regional police forces and the police commanders responsible for major operational situations in the Ethiopian Federal Police and regional police forces. The German Police University (DHPol) supported the training in the democratic Federal Republic of Ethiopia with three instructors on site.

At the beginning of September 2023, the DHPol welcomed a high-ranking delegation from the Ethiopian Police University (EPU) to the campus in Münster-Hiltrup. The return visit to the Ethiopian partners followed at the end of 2023, planned and carried out by Lars Wagner, former Senior Criminal Director and long-standing Head of Department at DHPol, and Thomas Bruns, Liaison Officer of the Federal Police at the German Embassy in Addis Ababa. The main objectives of the training were: How can the role of the Ethiopian police be strengthened at the political-strategic level?  How are operations conducted at an operational-tactical level? What are the advantages of a "special organizational structure"?

Stefan Mayer, Head of DHPol’s Unit Leadership in the Police, imparted knowledge of modern leadership and organizational theory. "The framework that was created on site in Addis Ababa and the appreciation that we were able to experience were remarkable. The week was opened by the German Ambassador Stephan Auer and ended on the last day with the ceremonial awarding of certificates to the participants. The participants from Ethiopia were particularly interested, for example, in the question of how the police of the GDR were integrated into Germany in 1990, but also in the question of how members of Generation Z can be kept in the organization in the long term - despite very low pay," explains Stefan Mayer.

Nurhan Brune from DHPol’s Unit Police Operations Management and Robert Linke from DHPol’s Unit Police Leadership trained the Ethiopian police officers in operations management. "In terms of content, Robert Linke and I, with the excellent support of Lars Wagner, introduced the experienced Ethiopian police leaders to our operational processing in a BAO with guidelines, decision-making reservations, orders, interfaces and the special features of the formation of territorial or functional operational sections. I hope that I was able to make a small contribution to 'police empowerment' in Ethiopia," says Nurhan Brune.  

The coaching team was completed by Senior Police Officer Tobias Giesbert. As a certified project manager, the head of the Hanover-Südstadt police station was tasked with presenting the basic principles of modern project management in the police force to the Ethiopian police chief and the Minister of the Interior. At the request of the hosts, his training focused on the key success factor for projects, stakeholder management: How can stakeholders, i.e. interest groups, be identified, analyzed and prioritized? And how does stakeholder strategy-based, standardized communication work?