Barcelona, Spain, 8-12 November 2010. The Police Platform for Urban Development hosted its second training from 8-12 November 2010 in Barcelona, Spain at the police training facilities of the Catalan Institute for Public Security (ISPC). The platform was launched in November 2009, and has now hosted its second training for African cities and national security officials for the development of more democratic and human rights based policing of public spaces and demonstrations in the region and the integration of community policing concepts into urban security policy.

Involving PPUD members such as Montreal and Swedish police services,  African participants had the chance to exchange, compare and learn between their experiences in policing strategies and innovations across developed and developing country contexts.

This second training was targeted to francophone African institutions, with the overall obective of changing perceptions among participants and their institutions on changing policing institutions from police "forces" to police "services," especially among community perceptions. The training also equipped participants with practical cases and how tos on developing multi-stakeholder partnerships to change police services in their countries into a community-linked institutions. The training hosted over 20 participants from eight countries with delegations composed of mixed institutions, such as local and national governments, journalists, UN field personnel, and civil society. This created a comparative space for dialogue among participants across sectors and differing perceptions on urban security and the way forward for  safety and security priorities in Francophone cities.

UNITAR also participated in the 2010 Steering Committee Meeting of the PPUD, held in parallel to the training on November 9th, to develop the PPUD's strategy in 2011 and beyond. In 2011, the Platform aims to expand trainings to other regions and languages, increase thematic coverage in the areas of urban safety and security and integrate new methodologies such as E-learning into its training delivery.

Hosted under the UN-HABITAT's Safer Cities Programme, the aim of the PPUD is to support and facilitate dialogue between the Police and other urban development actors, particularly decision makers and key stakeholder groups, including youth and women, to enhance the co-production of security through the reduction of social and situational factors of crime, violence and fear of insecurity.

For more information on the PPUD see: www.unhabitat.org