EUPCST - CEP

Peace & Security Team at the Final EUPCST Conference in Lisbon

24. 11. 2022 | EUPCST, PR

Part of our Peace and Security team attended the final EUPCST Conference in Lisbon, Portugal. Between 22 and 24 November representatives of 23 Consortium partners and their coordinator, Royal Netherlands Marechaussee gathered to discuss past activities, the evaluation process and to officially close the project.

After three years (2019 – 2022) EUPCST project is nearing its end. During these three years Consortium members, comprised of national gendarmeries, police forces, and civilian organisations, trained 768 training participants. Among them 537 or 70 % were male and 231 or 30% were female, 50% had a police background, 25% were gendarmes, and 25% were civilians.

The overall aim of the project was to enable civilian crisis management mission and stabilization actions staff to work in a more efficient, effective, and sustainable manner to achieve their mandates. It facilitated capacity building within different organisations active in the security sector. It also allowed for international knowledge exchange, as members of different organisations trained together, and shared their expertise at international conferences and various workshops.

CEP activities within the EUPCST

As a member Centre for European Perspective conducted various activities while also performing as Chair of the Evaluation Committee. In 2019 we conducted a Hostile Environment Awareness Training (HEAT) in Gotenica, Slovenia. A year later Covid-19 hit and all training activities were temporarily rescheduled. In 2021 we returned stronger and conducted three online courses: Training of Trainers, Cultural Heritage Protection Basic Training, and Gender Equality and Gender Mainstreaming in Peace Operations and Missions training. We also held a meeting of the EUPCST Steering Committee at our premises at Jable Castle. This year, when things returned almost back to normal, we conducted one of the last Consortium activities, another HEAT course.

In the meanwhile, we were also busy preparing evaluation forms, gathering relevant information, and sharing it with relevant stakeholders within the Consortium as well as preparing yearly evaluation reports. The final task remains to draft the final evaluation report.

We are proud we were able to successfully contribute to equipping staff of police forces, gendarmeries, and civilians with the necessary skills for their participation in international crisis management operations of the European Union, the United Nations, the African Union, and other international organisations. We hope all will be able to use this knowledge and expertise to make the world a better place.

Hostile Environment Awareness Training (HEAT) 2022: Aftermovie

14. 10. 2022 | EUPCST, POTC, PR

Centre for European Perspective (CEP) together with the Peace Operations Training Centre (POTC) presents

Hostile Environment Awareness Training (HEAT) 2022: Aftermovie.

Take a look at what 18 participants from different police and gendarmerie institutions across Europe have been up to during our HEAT course in Gotenica, Slovenia. Green forests and pristine nature provided an almost idylic backdrop for both theoretical and practical exercises where the trainees under a professional expert guidance honed their skills in orienteering, evacuation planing, 4×4 driving, negotiating, stress management and so much more.

Check out the video below!

Hostile Environment Awareness Training (HEAT) once again proves to be effective and essential training for anyone deployed on hazardous missions abroad

23. 9. 2022 | EUPCST, POTC, PR

From the 18th to the 23rd of September 2022, 18 participants from 10 countries participated in the Hostile Environment Awareness Training (HEAT) in the Police Training Centre of Gotenica in the lush forests of southern Slovenia.

The activities were carried out by the Centre for European Perspective (CEP), with support from the Slovenian Police and the Slovenian Armed Forces. The training was organised under the auspices of the projects Peace Operations Training Centre (POTC) and the European Union Police and Civilian Services Training (EUPCST).

This year’s HEAT was an intensive 5-day course that aimed to train professionals on how to effectively deal with risks-associated and emergency/critical situations while deployed in hostile environments abroad.

The courses in Gotenica were a unique opportunity for participants to:

improve their knowledge about multiple threats present in hostile field environments and learn how to deal with them effectively;
rehearse and practice safety and security procedures accordingly with a specific threat;
strengthen individual skills in dealing with different stressful situations;
and strengthen group dynamics while dealing with multiple stressful situations.

The courses culminated in a complex multi-stage one-day simulation where the participants put their acquired knowledge and newfound skills to the test. The simulation even included some unforeseen events that surprised the participants and gave them an invaluable learning experience in a high-pressure environment.

This year’s HEAT included participants from diverse governmental institutions from 10 European countries: Cyprus, Estonia, France, Hungary, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Activities, sharing of best practices, workshops and practical exercises facilitated by experts from the Slovenian Police, Slovenian Armed Forces, a psychologist and other experts contributed to a multidisciplinary approach to the challenges that individuals and institutions might face when deployed in a potentially hostile environment. The participants all successfully and enthusiastically finished the course, expressing their satisfaction over the new knowledge, techniques and experience that will, if needed, prove to be beneficial to their current or future work postings.

ANNOUNCEMENT – CEP to implement Hostile Environment Awareness Training

12. 9. 2022 | EUPCST, POTC, PR

The Centre for European Perspective and the Slovenian Peace Operations Training Centre (POTC) are with the support of the European Police and Civilian Services Training organizing a Hostile Environment Awareness Training (HEAT). The course will take place at Gotenica Police Training Centre in Slovenia from Sunday 18th to Friday 23rd September 2022.

The objective of the Hostile Environment Awareness Training is to train professionals to deal effectively with risk-associated and emergency/critical situations while deployed in hostile environments abroad.

TARGET GROUP

Up to 20 professionals with different backgrounds, working or aiming to work with national or international (non)governmental organizations, academic or private sector will join an experienced group of Slovenian and foreign trainers for this five-day intensive course in the southwestern part of Slovenia. The training is expected to align participants’ understanding of the minimum required behavioral field requirements when confronted as an individual or a team member staff of an international field operation whatever his/her professional background could be.

The course is designed to:

improve participants’ knowledge about multiple threats present in hostile field environments and learn how to deal with them in an effective manner
rehearse and practice safety and security procedures accordingly to the specific threat
develop skills and behaviors to deal with different stressful situations
trigger group dynamics when dealing with multiple stressful situations

TRAINING METHODOLOGY

Training is composed of five modules, each focusing on an important aspect of mission life in a hostile environment. Activities include lectures, guided discussions, role plays, simulations, and a complex field training exercise. Trainees will be talking about the deployment in hostile environments (threat awareness, management of various threats, etc.), medical help, orientation, communications, and off-road vehicle driving. Additionally, two modules will be dedicated to practicing newly gained skills.

EUCPST Evaluation Committee Members Gathered in Lisbon, Portugal

17. 3. 2022 | EUPCST, PR

Between 14 and 16 March, the members of the EUPCST Evaluation Committee, chaired by the Centre for European Perspective (CEP), met in Lisbon, Portugal. Meeting was held at the premises of the National Republican Guard (GNR), national gendarmerie of Portugal.

The main goal of the Evaluation Committee was to gather abundant experience of the GNR in evaluating Comprehensive Live Exercises (CLEs). These exercises intend to build the capacity of police and gendarmerie officers and units who will be fulfilling their roles in international missions. As EUPCST includes the civilian perspective as well, one of the open questions of the meeting was also to find ways to incorporate and integrate civilian and police aspects into one exercise.

Conducting and evaluating such complex exercises that include a big number of participants is both rewarding and challenging. Organizers have an important job of creating intense, realistic and inclusive exercise scenarios, evaluators on the other hand need to be always omnipresent. But the gained knowledge and broad implications for other projects in the fields of peacebuilding, capacity building and civilian crisis management are invaluable.

Covid-19 restrictions limited the scope of EUPCST activities in the previous two years, but the partners are picking up the pace and finishing strong. As the project is nearing its end, there are 26 activities still planned for 2022.

CEP will among other activities continue its important work chairing the Evaluation Committee and will organize a Hostile Environment Awareness Training (HEAT) in September. We are already looking forward to learning new skills, broaden our network even more and share our knowledge.

Third EUPCST Steering Committee Meeting is Concluded

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.