POTC is developing Community and People Centered Approach training

POTC is developing Community and People Centered Approach training

23. 3. 2021 | POTC, PR

Peacekeeping operations have changed over time. Since the nature and mandate of operations have transformed, we can say that they have become more complex. A significant difference can also be seen in the type of participants, which have altered from international to national actors, and from military to civilian actors.

The NATO Summit in Washington in 1999, defined the concept of civil-military cooperation for the first time. This cooperation has also been one of the seven strategic goals of NATO’s long-term programs until 2025. The concept was developed by all countries and can be implemented by members of the military with civilian knowledge or with the participation of civilian experts without military knowledge.

In Slovenia, this concept is called “civilian functional experts” or CFS. CFS are specially trained professionals in a variety of fields that link the military and civilian environment. Their main task is to establish good relations with the local population, as well as with civilian, non-governmental, governmental, international, and other organizations in the field of peacekeeping missions. At the same time, they work in their field with the aim of stabilizing, restoring, or developing the civilian environment. CFS must have a good knowledge of both civilian and military thinking and action and are specially trained for this. Through their work, CFS make an important contribution to the overall military objective of the operation, which is to ensure a secure and stable environment while creating better conditions for the stabilization and reconstruction of society and the state.

POTC, together with the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Slovenian Police, Slovenian Armed Forces, Administration for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief, and Slovenian Red Cross is taking a comprehensive approach towards developing Community and People-Centered Approach training for CFS.

Today’s workshop was the first one in the series, to familiarize with the activities in the field of various stakeholders. It will set the basis for identifying the needs for civilian-military cooperation by involving all relevant stakeholders in the process.

Community and People Centered Approach Workshop

[Webinar recording] Radicalization and Violent Extremism Across Borders: An Ongoing Threat

[Webinar recording] Radicalization and Violent Extremism Across Borders: An Ongoing Threat

21. 3. 2021 | PR, Security

 [Webinar]: Radicalization and Violent Extremism Across Borders: An Ongoing Threat

The persistent threat of radicalization and violent extremism is highlighting the vulnerability of our societies today to the challenges of intolerance, hatred and fear. Radicalization is a reflection of societal polarization, as well as a reflection of deep and rapid changes of perceptions, values and behaviour, where violence is becoming an acceptable tool for solving conflicts.

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗼𝗻 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘁𝘆?

 

The Euro-Atlantic Council of Slovenia, the Politics and Society Institute in Jordan and the Centre for European Perspective in Slovenia have joined together in order to open up a discussion on the threat of radicalization and violent extremism in Slovenia, Kosovo and Jordan and their wider regions.

The experts aimed to:

• Underline potential similarities, differences and connections between violent extremism in these countries and their respective regions;

• Address how to reduce the risk of individual indoctrination to violent extremism and radicalization; and

• Proposed ideas on how to deal with these challenges.

 

Missed our event? Watch it here:

 

SPEAKERS 🗣️:

◾ Dr Mohammad Abu Rumman, Politics and Society Institute, Associate Expert and Writer on Political Islam and Violent Extremism

◾ Dr Florian Qehaja, Kosovar Center for Security Studies, Chair of the Board

◾ Dr Iztok Prezelj, Euro-Atlantic Council of Slovenia, President & Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, Vice-Dean

🔹 Moderated by Katja Geršak, Centre for European Perspective, Executive Director

 

For more about the event, follow CEP on Facebook and Twitter, you are also invited to follow the Euro-Atlantic Council of Slovenia on Facebook and the Politics and Society Institute on Facebook and Twitter.

Learning compass booklet is now available

Learning compass booklet is now available

19. 3. 2021 | Learning compass, PR

Klikni tukaj za branje prispevka v slovenskem jeziku. Slovenia on Apple iOS 11.2

Learning Compass is a regional project aimed at improving the situation of elementary children with special needs through the education of primary school teachers in more remote places of four Western Balkan countries (Albania, Kosovo, Northern Macedonia, Bosnia and Hercegovina).

The project that was implemented in two years and took place in four countries was formed to reach the following goals:

  • Contribute to improving the situation of children with special needs in primary education;
  • Contribute to the development of the school systems of the countries involved;
  • Strengthen links and cooperation between teaching staff and educational institutions (involved in the project) of the Western Balkan countries and contributed to the peaceful coexistence in the region.

The project implemented all the envisaged activities and involved the members of the current Learning compass community in the following events:

  • Implemented 3 day training for experts from Albania and Kosovo (organised in September 2019 in Drač, Albania)
  • Implemented informative meeting for decision makers (ministries, responsible authorities, school directors, headmasters and other representatives) in Pristina, Kosovo
  • Implemented three day virtual training for Experts in North Macedonia (organised in September, 2020)
  • Implemented a three day virtual training for Experts in Bosnia and Herzegovina (organised in November, 2020)

The Learning Compass project successfully reach the initially set goals, and contributed to:

  • 160 trained profesionals (teachers, special educators, other ecperts) in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Bosnia and Hercegovina in the field of education for childreen with special needs, achieved through the mutual exchange of best practices.
  • Additionally trained experts, as workshop participants passed the received knowledge and experience to more than 400 coworkers (in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Bosnia and Hercegovina) in a structured learning process training of trainers, implemented in their schools.
  • Establishment of a virtual platform in cooperation with the institution Arnes.si. The established platform enables the sharing of knowledge established within the project and further enlargemen of the Learning compass network.

The final activity within the project envisaged the preparation of a project booklet, that would at the same time offer an insight in the most pressing challenges educational systems for children with special needs are facing in the Western Balkans. The publication presents the learning compass project, covers the sharing of best practices on different topics related to education of childreen with special needs and offers the sharing of best practices discussed and developed within the Learning compass training. The publication is available on this web connection Booklet Learning compass

The project is part of programme activities of Slovenia’s Development Cooperation Programme supported by the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs / Ministrstvo za zunanje zadeve RS. 

17. 3. 2021 | Bled Strategic Forum, PR


 

British Embassy Ljubljana, Centre for European Perspective – CEP and Bled Strategic Forum – BSF are pleased to invite you to the fourth event in the FUTURE PERFECT series titled:

 
How Western are the Western Balkans? The path to Euro-Atlantic integration
 
Tuesday, March 23, 12:00 (CET)
 
 
The future of the Western Balkans will shape the future of Europe. But during the pandemic, actors with competing values and principles have actively pursued their own agendas in the region. Have Europe and the West missed an opportunity to bring the Western Balkans closer?
Is there political will in Europe for effective strategic engagement with the region? And how can the region, with the rest of Europe, renew momentum for Euro-Atlantic integration – in the face of the influence and interests of other global players?
As the pandemic’s horizon comes into view, we invite you to join the latest episode in our “Future Perfect” series. The British Embassy Ljubljana and Centre for European Perspective will host a discussion with leading British, Slovene and regional experts to explore potential paths for the Western Balkans – and what this means for the future of Europe.
 

PANELLISTS: 

  • Mr Matt Baugh, Director, Political & Security at the UK Mission to the EU in Brussels
  • Mr Peter Grk, National Coordinator for the Western Balkans, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia
  • Mr Zoran Nechev, Head of the Center for European Integration, Institute for Democracy/Senior Researcher, Member of BiEPAG

Please join us via Zoom at the link below.

This will be the fourth event of the FUTURE PERFECT event series, organized by the British Embassy in Ljubljana, in cooperation with CEP and BSF. The FUTURE PERFECT series will gather experts to ask big questions about our post-COVID future. For more about the series, follow CEP on Facebook and Twitter or Bled Strategic Forum on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram or follow the hashtag #FuturePerfectSeries.
EUCTI’s Kick-off Meeting

EUCTI’s Kick-off Meeting

12. 3. 2021 | EUCTI, PR

The official kick-off meeting of the EU Civilian Training initiative (EUCTI) project virtually took place on 11 March 2021. The meeting welcomed eight project partners as well as representatives of EU structures, OSCE African Union, UN and EU CSDP missions. The meeting provided a platform for intense knowledge exchange through past and present experiences in the field of civilian crisis management and cooperation strategies that will provide guidance for the project.

The EUCTI project, co-funded by the European Commission through under Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI.2), Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace, Conflict prevention, peacebuilding, and crisis preparedness component. The overall budget of the project is 2,5 million EUR. The EUCTI project consortium consists of eight partners: Austrian Study Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution (ASPR), Clingendael – the Netherlands Institute of International Relations, Crisis Management Centre Finland (CMC), EGMONT – The Royal Institute for International Relations from Belgium, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies (SSSA) from Italy, Center for International Peace Operations (ZIF) from Germany, Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA) from Sweden and CEP from Slovenia as its coordinator.  All consortium partners participated previously in the Europe’s New Training Initiative for Civilians Crisis Management (ENTRi) activities and the EUCTI will draw on this experience.

The kick-off meeting was opened by the welcome speech of Markko Kallonen, Head of the EUCTI Secretariat, Katja Geršak, Executive Director of Centre for European Perspective, Matej Marn, Head of the Department for Security Policy at the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Marc Fiedrich, Head of Unit, Service for Foreign Policy Instruments at European Commission. They emphasized the importance of training and capacity building for effective CSDP missions. The project can build on ENTRI legacy, harmonize the actions and ensure close collaboration among all stakeholders.

After presentations of project partners: Austrian Study Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution (ASPR), Clingendael – the Netherlands Institute of International Relations, Crisis Management Centre Finland (CMC), EGMONT – The Royal Institute for International Relations from Belgium, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies (SSSA) from Italy, Center for International Peace Operations (ZIF) from Germany, Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA) from Sweden and Centre for European Perspective (CEP), the meeting touched upon how the initiative fits into larger EU CCM (training) framework and on TRAs and their importance in training design and for EUCTI. EU CSDP Training Missions, OSCE, African Union, and UN representatives contributed to the meeting with their valuable insights about the current training needs, the impact of COVID-19, and the training delivery.

Over the next three years, 30 training activities, developed and designed specifically for the mission that will voice a training need, and implemented in the mission or in the region. Several other project activities, related to the development of new pedagogical approaches to the training, evaluation, and standardization, as well as support for 3rd country training institutions, will also be accomplished.

EUCTI Kick-off Meeting

ANNOUNCEMENT: Kick-off of a new civilian crisis management project – EUCTI

ANNOUNCEMENT: Kick-off of a new civilian crisis management project – EUCTI

5. 3. 2021 | EUCTI, PR

Centre for European Perspective has been active in the field of civilian crisis management since its establishment. In 2008 it was proud to be nominated as the Slovene member of the European Group on Training (EGT) that in a couple of years evolved into a Europe’s New Training Initiative for Civilian Crisis Management (ENTRi) project. 13 partners from the EU have, in a period of nine years, implemented numerous training activities, developed sophisticated certification system and contributed to the harmonization and standardization of training that professionals are receiving before their deployment to the field. CEP took over different training activities, from generic such as pre-deployment or train the trainers training, to the specialized courses, such as hostile environment awareness training (HEAT), mentoring in CCM and gender equality and gender mainstreaming course. On top of that, several e-learning and off-the-shelf training packages were delivered. With great honour, CEP was appointed as a coordinator of the new training project that will build on the above mentioned ENTRi legacy – European Union Civilian Training Activities.

EU Civilian Training Initiative (EUCTI) is an EU-financed project that commenced with its activities in January 2021 and is planned to last for three years. Its main objective is to contribute to an enhanced position of the EU as a peace actor through better-prepared professionals that are supporting the EU CSDP missions in achieving its mandates. This will be reached through almost 30 training activities, developed and designed specifically for the mission that will voice a training need, and implemented in the mission or the region. Several other project activities are foreseen, mainly related to the evaluation, development of new pedagogical approaches to the training as well as support for third-country training institutions.

The EUCTI project consortium consists of eight partners: Austrian Study Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution (ASPR), Clingendael – the Netherlands Institute of International Relations, Crisis Management Centre Finland (CMC), EGMONT – The Royal Institute for International Relations from Belgium, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies (SSSA) from Italy, Center for International Peace Operations (ZIF) from Germany, Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA) from Sweden and CEP from Slovenia as its coordinator.  All consortium partners participated previously in Europe’s New Training Initiative for Civilians Crisis Management (ENTRi) activities and the EUCTI will draw on this experience.

As organizing demand-driven training activity in current times is not the easiest task, a virtual kick-off meeting will be held on Thursday, March 11, 2021. It aims to bring together all key stakeholders that will support, shape and streamline the EUCTI activities. On one hand, it will give the floor to the European Union institutions (the European Commission and European External Action Service) that will explain how they see the EUCTI activities fit in the bigger picture of the Common Security and Defence Policy. On the other hand, project partners will be invited to present their experiences and adaptation to the COVID-19 reality that affected greatly the training actions. Last, but not least, EU CSDP missions, the project’s most direct beneficiaries, and other international actors present on the ground (the UN, OSCE and African Union), will get the floor to share their training needs, practical insights from their side of the world.

 

Further information about the project can be found here, you can follow EUCTI on Facebook & Twitter or on the new EUCTI web site – coming soon so stay tuned!