ACCORD’s successful partnership with the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) continues to support the United Nations to define and strengthen its work on the Protection of Civilians (PoC). In the partnership’s latest initiative, ACCORD and NUPI co-hosted a UN feedback session on current PoC training modules in Kampala, Uganda from 28-29 March 2011.
“The aim of the workshop was to give the UN feedback on their training modules developed on Protection of Civilians,” said ACCORD’s Peacekeeping Analyst, Gustavo de Carvalho, speaking after the event. He went on to say, “The workshop gave peacekeeping practitioners a forum where their points of view were heard.”
Protection of Civilian training modules were prepared and commissioned by the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) Integrated Training Service (ITS). As part of the process these training modules were expected to be reviewed by practitioners and possible end users of these training modules. The workshop in Kampala encouraged UN mission experts to talk about their experience with the modules and to give valuable input into scenario-based training exercises.
A number of experts, from UN Headquarters, missions and agencies, and African Union (AU) Headquarters and missions, attended the workshop at the beautiful Speke Resort Hotel on the shores of Lake Victoria. Their feedback, along with feedback obtained from member states, UN departments, agencies and programmes will form the basis for the review. “The diversity of the participants increases the legitimacy of the forum,” says de Carvalho. “It was an important forum to focus on the varying needs demanded from the field. Also, the fact that the African Union was actively represented in the event also feeds into the current regional processes that are being led on the continent.”
ACCORD has been largely involved with the civilian dimension of peacekeeping through our Training for Peace (TfP) Programme, funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Programme operates with the African Union and the United Nations and its primary purpose is to contribute towards capacity building within peace operations at the practical and conceptual level in Africa. The Protection of Civilians also falls within ACCORD’s Training for Peace goals and the workshop was an important step in ensuring that training modules are informed by the personnel who implement them.
Our Peacekeeping publications concerning the civilian dimension and Protection of Civilians can be found here.
