Twinning: Finland to strengthen training centres of Turkish Prison Service employees

The aim of the Twinning project starting in autumn 2019 is to develop the Turkish Prison Service in line with European standards. This can be achieved by strengthening the quality of the procedures applied in prisons and the activity of the persons working there. The joint tender of Finland and Estonia won the competitive tendering open to all EU Member States.

Suomella on Turkissa entuudestaan käynnissä yksi poliisialan Twinning-hanke, jota toteuttavat HAUS kehittämiskeskus Oy, Keskusrikospoliisi sekä sisäministeriö.
Finland already has one Twinning project on police education under way in Turkey, implemented by HAUS Finnish Institute of Public Management Ltd, the National Bureau of Investigation and the Ministry of the Interior.

In recent years, several Twinning projects have been opened for competitive tendering in the administrative sector of justice affairs in Turkey. There is a tight competition for the projects where success requires the ability to bring forward the expertise of those included in the project tender.

“The Criminal Sanctions Agency has been active in Twinning projects and there has been demand for our competence. We are happy that this is also the case in Turkey,” commented the project’s manager, Senior Lecturer Juha Lavikainen from the Training Institute for Prison and Probation Services.

The goals of the project are strongly linked to the development of prison service training and in its context, the aim is to plan a competence-based curriculum and an electronic learning platform for training centres. In addition to the Criminal Sanctions Agency and the Training Institute for Prison and Probation Services, the Laurea University of Applied Sciences will also take part in the project in Finland. In Turkey, the project will be coordinated by Anni Karnaranta, Director of Vaasa prison.

Twinning is a European Union instrument for the development of public administration and legislation in the European Union’s neighbouring areas. The instrument is part of the European neighbourhood and enlargement policy. The EU Member States are invited to submit their tenders on the basis of which partner countries select the tenderers to carry out the projects.

Twinning is based on close cooperation between the winner of the contract and the partner country in order to achieve the set objectives. Individual Twinning projects last approximately two years and the project budget ranges between EUR 1 to 2 million. In Finland, Twinning activities are coordinated by the Twinning team at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.