Clingendael Academy, in cooperation with the EU Police Service Training (EUPST) and the ENTRi network,  organised the first joint conference of European training providers involved in training crisis management staff for missions abroad.

Improving EU crisis management missions

Projects in the framework of Europe’s New Training Initiative for Civilian Crisis Management (ENTRi) strive to enhance civilian and police capacities, inter-operability, standardisation of training curriculums and to create an international network. These capacities are aimed at improving the overall quality and readiness of European contributions for EU, UN, African Union, OSCE, and other crisis management missions. ENTRi consists of 14 training institutes. Clingendael has been a partner in ENTRI since its inception in 2011 and organizes several ENTRi training courses.

In the press room of the Ministry of Defence, the first joint conference was opened by Mr Wim Bargerbos – Principal Director for Policy of the Dutch Ministry of Defence – and Mr Jelte van Wieren – Director for Stability and Humanitarian Affairs of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The conference proved to be a very fruitful gathering.

‘More engagement needed’

While referring to the article of Minister Ploumen in The Guardian of 17 November, Mr Van Wieren elaborated on the nexus between security, development and conflict prevention. He underlined the need for engagement in strengthening the rule of law in fragile states, especially in the context of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

Character of missions

The opening words were followed up by an open discussion on the future outlook of Missions. Crisis management missions are likely to operate in the Ring of Instability around the European Union including the Sahel region. Missions will plausibly continue to have the character of monitoring, mentoring and advising (MMA) and training, whereas mission sizes are expected to be specific and tailored to support security sector reform and stabilisation processes. Yet, during the conference several suggestions for the improvement of missions and training courses were discussed.  

Civilian-Police inter-operability

Mission practice shows that civilian experts and police officers still prepare mostly in a stove-piped and national trajectory. One of the main issues identified was the pre-set perceptions civilians and police have of each other’s roles and mandates which impact on effective teamwork in the Mission.  Tackling these perceptions requires more attention in pre-mission preparation through mixed training groups, mixed (mobile) training teams, training of trainers, and the possibility of conducting civilian-police life exercises. At the end of the Conference, representatives from the Kofi Annan International peacekeeping Training Centre, ISSAT and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reflected on the outcomes.

E-learning

One of the common threads in new training approaches is the use of e-learning methods. At the Conference various practitioners shared their experiences, in particular those of the Dutch Army’s E-Learning Centre of Expertise, the International Security Sector Advisory Team (ISSAT) and the EU’s Security Department. It was concluded that there is great scope for more e-learning but not as replacement for face-to-face training courses; the answer lies in blended learning programmes. It was also discussed that a main challenge lies in making e-learning attractive and effective in  soft skills for missions, for example in mentoring, advising, policing and cross-cultural understanding.

Conference Conclusions

Within the remit that training staff for missions is primarily a responsibility of the sending national authorities, there is great scope for enhanced standardisation and exchange of trainings experts. The outcomes of the Conference will feed into the upcoming programming of both EUPST and ENTRi.  

The next ENTRi training courses organised by Clingendael are the Specialisation Course in negotiation and Mediation and the pre-deployment training Sahel (together with Egmont Institute) in December 2015. Please contact Mr. Bart Hogeveen for more information.

- 24 November 2015