12. 9. 2025 | POTC, PR
The Comprehensive Protection of Civilians Course was successfully completed today by 28 participants. The 10-day training took place at the Humanitarian Peace Support School in Nairobi, Kenya, and was conducted in cooperation between the International Peace Support Training Centre (IPSTC), the British Peace Support Team Africa (BPST-A), and POTC.
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This year’s course served as a pilot for future cooperation, promoting sustainable training and supporting the principle of African-led solutions to African challenges, fostered through international partnerships.
The aim of the Comprehensive Protection of Civilians Course is to equip participants with the knowledge and skills to effectively assess, plan, and implement Protection of Civilians (POC) activities in United Nations (UN) and African Union (AU) peace operations. This is particularly important in today’s increasingly dynamic and complex Peace Support/Keeping Operation (PSO/PKO) environments, where civilians often bear the greatest burden. The course strengthens participants’ understanding of POC frameworks and intricacies and, in turn, contributes to the operational effectiveness of the African Standby Forces.
The programme applied a range of learning methods, from lectures and group discussions to examples and experience sharing. In the second week, participants took part in practical demonstrations of POC activities, which significantly enriched the overall learning experience.
The course brought together 28 regional and international experts from 18 countries, representing military, police, and civilian backgrounds. This diverse participation reflected the shared objective of empowering regional actors and strengthening peacekeeping capacity within the African Union and beyond.
POTC would like to thank the representative of the Slovenian Armed Forces who contributed to the course as a lecturer. Special thanks also go to the Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia to Ethiopia and Kenya, H.E. Kristina Radej, for visiting the course and engaging with participants. During her visit, the Ambassador reaffirmed Slovenia’s commitment to strengthening cooperation with African partners in the fields of security and capacity building. Her presence underscored Slovenia’s dedication to international collaboration and support for African-led solutions.
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4. 5. 2023 | Bled Strategic Forum, POTC, PR
Last week, from the 24th to the 26 of April, Jable Castle welcomed 33 participants from 25 countries in what was the first training of its kind on the topic of the emerging concept of “climate security”. 20+ participants were previously part of the 12th International Africa Day Conference in a joint venture between the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and POTC/Centre for European Perspective.
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According to the definition of the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union »climate security« refers to the potential impacts of climate change on peace and security across the globe, particularly for the poorest and most vulnerable populations. It encompasses various risk management strategies such as mitigation, adaptation, resilience building, food and nutrition security, disaster risk reduction, conflict prevention and sustainable development. It also includes the integration of a security perspective within these processes and inclusive participation in order to alleviate the destabilising impacts of climate change on achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs).
With this in mind, and the known future impact of climate change on peace operations themselves, POTC set out to develop one of the first trainings of this kind in Europe. This is in order to better prepare decision-makers, experts, and everyone else involved with peace operations for the impending difficulties that peace operations, governments, and international organisations will have to face in the coming decades.
The training was introductory and covered all the basics associated with climate change and peace operations with topics ranging from the 9 Planetary Boundaries, Climate Change, the Environment and Security, the International Legal Framework regarding Climate Change, Water Security as an Integral Part of Climate Security, Climate Mainstreaming in the EU CSDP Context, Energy Security, CC and Human Rights, Climate Justice and Collective vs Individual Action on Climate Change. This was made possible with the help of 9 Slovenian and foreign expert contributors who made sure that the participants received all the relevant knowledge that will help them make the right decisions when it comes to climate security. The training is intended to be developed even further and organised once again in 2024.
The POTC Team would like to thank everyone that attended the training, the expert contributors and the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs with special thanks to State Secretary Samuel Žbogar for presenting the participants with Course Certificates.
Below you can view some of the training highlights:
Flickr Album (Photo: Marko Arandjelović)
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