PARWAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan -- Afghan National Army Maj. Gen. Marjan Shuja, Combined Joint Interagency Task Force 435 Afghan Commander, visited the Vocational Technical Facility at the Detention Facility in Parwan here, Jan. 28.
“I heard about how the facility was doing from the Reintegration Office, so I came to see the detainees and how they were doing for myself,” Marjan said.
The voluntary program at the Vocational Technical Facility provides certain detainees the chance to learn technical skills in areas such as plumbing, masonry and steel to help give them a marketable trade skill.
Many of the facility staff are local Afghans. Upon completion of a class, detainees are given a certificate of completion stamped by the Ministry of Education, and once determined for release, a job placement officer works with businesses in the detainee’s local area to help place the detainee in a job according to the trade they learned.
According to U.S. Army Maj. Renato Vieira, 43rd Military Police Brigade Rehabilitation Chief for the DFIP, detainees must meet several requirements to qualify for the program. Detainees must be assigned to the housing unit for low-threat detainees; have completed a literacy course; have interest in one of the programs; be screened through the candidate selection board; and be selected by that board to participate.
“There are those detainees who have good behavior with the guards and follow the rules, and we are sure they don’t do any bad actions inside the classrooms,” Marjan said. “Those are the ones we make sure learn the trades.”
Marjan, who has seen the program grow since its inception, was given a tour of the facility and classrooms and saw the skills detainees were learning and the other trades soon to be offered.
“We have the same training in other facilities, so we established that detainees at the DFIP shouldn’t go home without anything,” Marjan said. “They learn languages, but that’s not as effective. The skills they learn here can be used to provide for their families in the future.”
Marjan said he stresses to village leaders the DFIP is not a detention facility, but a rehabilitation and reintegration facility where detainees are taught new professions. He said he can already see how the training has been effective.
“I will come to the [Vocational Technical Facility] again and again to discuss possibilities and issues, so in the future we can help the detainees better,” Marjan said. “The program at the DFIP is one of the greatest in Afghanistan. This is where they can build their future.”
The facility opened in July 2011, beginning the first wave of classes, Dec. 26, 2011 that included five detainees per class. In the spring, two new classes – carpentry and welding – are scheduled to be added to the program and will allow 10 detainees per class.