14. 3. 2022 | EUCTI, PR
Last week, on 10 March, European Union Civilian Training Initiative (EUCTI) Secretariat, located at CEP premises at Jable Castle, hosted the first in-person partner meeting. Representatives from seven partner organizations and a representative of EU structures joined us at Jable for a day of intense discussions on the past, present and future of the project activities.
Besides CEP, representatives of ASPR, Clingendael, CMC and ZIF contributed to the discussion in-person. Representatives of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna and Egmont Institute joined the discussion remotely. The Consortium was also joined by one of its steering group members, the representative of European External Action Service, Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI.2).
Head of EUCTI Secretariat, Markko Kallonen, and Head of Peace and Security Programme at CEP, Nina Čepon, opened the meeting. Busy agenda included project updates from partners, working groups developments, brainstorming ideas for 3rd country activities, goals and plans for 2022 training delivery and discussion on the future of the project. In the end many open questions were balanced out by new ideas for the visibility and broadened scope of our project. But most importantly by the reignited commitment of all partners to the success of the project and wish to continue with the important work.
We at CEP are already looking forward to the next partner meeting. Until then we will continue with our activities, with the first one happening soon, in the end of March. More will follow!
9. 3. 2022 | EUCTI, PR
The Centre for European Perspective (CEP) is proud to host the Secretariat of the European Union Civilian Training Initiative (EUCTI). EUCTI is a three-year long project (2021-2023) which is co-funded by the European Union, Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI.2), instrument contributing to Stability and Peace, Conflict prevention, peacebuilding, and crisis preparedness component.
EUCTI’s main objective is to provide need-based training courses for experts working in international organisations and missions active in the field of civilian crisis management worldwide. Course topics vary and aim at enhancing knowledge and skills of the deployed personnel. This, in turn, will help the organisations in delivering their mandates which, ultimately, will improve the living conditions of the conflict-affected people.
During the first project year, we dedicated time to develop concepts and frameworks to allow sound planning of the upcoming training activities (e.g., on evaluation and on methodology and standardization) in cooperation with seven other EUCTI partners. Furthermore, EUCTI contacted several important stakeholders in the field of civilian crisis management (all EU CSDP missions, EU Delegations, UN, AU and OSCE headquarters and several related missions to name some). EUCTI successfully delivered five training courses; 57 participants (32 females and 25 males) from 22 countries benefited directly from our activities. On top of that, we believe that many other people have indirectly gained new knowledge and expertise related to civilian crisis management thanks to EUCTI.
Check out the video below for the highlights of our work in 2021!
8. 3. 2022 | POTC, PR
The Peace Operations Training Centre – POTC is organizing an online training on Gender Equality and Gender Mainstreaming in Peace Operations for police and military personnel who plan to join international peace operations or missions. The training will take place online in the period from the 21th to the 24th of March 2022.
Violent conflict disproportionately affects women and girls and intensifies pre-existing gender inequalities and discrimination. But women are also active agents of peace in armed conflict although their role as key players and agents of peace is still poorly recognized. Acknowledging and integrating different understanding, experiences and capabilities of women into all aspects of peace operations is essential for the success of any peacekeeping efforts and for sustaining peace.
The course’s online lectures, workshops and participatory activities will cover the basic topics from gender equality and mainstreaming in peacekeeping to peacebuilding environments. Participants will gain skills and knowledge that will help them engage all possible stakeholders regarding gender equality and include the perspectives of women in their efforts to build sustainable peace.
As there are several vacant seats still available in the online training, we encourage everyone interested to apply here regardless of the application deadline. Contact [email protected] for any additional questions you might have.
3. 3. 2022 | POTC, PR
In February, the third session of the Peace Operations Training Centre (POTC) Program Council took place virtually with representatives of the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defence, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
CEP Executive Director Katja Geršak presented the role of POTC and pointed out how POTC’s results already contribute to a higher level of international recognition and influence for Slovenia. She pointed out that POTC is the only training centre in Europe that caters to the army, police, and civilian personnel’s training needs. The Secretaries of State confirmed the 2021 Activity Report as well as the implementation plan for 2022. They expressed satisfaction with the completed activities and the plans for 2022.
The program for 2022 includes regular POTC activities like coordination of POTC members, monitoring training development, conducting cross-cutting research activities and the following training activities:
- Gender Mainstreaming and Gender Equality in IOM Training
- Pilot implementation of the course Protection of Civilians
- Pilot implementation of the course Cooperation with the Local Communities and the Populations (CIMIC/CMCoor)
- Assistance to Bosnia and Hercegovina (pre-deployment training, preparation of European project proposals)
- Hostile Environment Awareness Training
- International Humanitarian Law Course
- International Training in Support of the African Security and Defence Architecture in the Sahel Region
- Stabilization and Reconstruction for Civilian Functional Experts
The first training to be carried out in 2022 is the Gender Equality and Gender Mainstreaming in Peace Operations Training starting on March 21st, 2022.
16. 12. 2021 | EUPCST, PR
Centre for European Perspective successfully concluded the hybrid hosting of the third European Union Police and Civilian Services Training (EUPCST) Steering Committee meeting. The meeting taking place between 14 and 16 December in hybrid format enabled 18 project partners to discuss and network in-person at Jable castle, Slovenia, and with the rest of the partners via the Zoom platform online.
During the two-day programme the discussions between all partners focused on the results of the EUPCST activities implemented from 2019 to 2021 (which resulted in high satisfaction of participants, referring to the conducted evaluations), challenges faced during this period (mostly referring to COVID-19 pandemics), and proposed improvements for future engagements so that they can enable staff in civilian crisis management and stabilisation actions to work in a more efficient, effective, and sustainable manner and to achieve their mandates.
Partners also worked on the complementation of the tentative plan where they coordinated amongst each other the future activities that will be implemented in 2022. The plan for 2022 is ambitious and there will be many different opportunities provided for the transfer of knowledge and skills to the personnel deployed to international missions and operations through training programmes, knowledge sharing congresses, and workshops.
