Page 33 - Coespu 2019-1

the international personnel in the acebuilding and crisis manage- continuous assessment of perfor-
field: from a leadership deficit and ment, among others. In the spirit mance and the identification of
inadequate or missing equipment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustai- the lessons learnt helped UNITAR
to the multiple interpretations of nable Development, UNITAR’s way formulate below some important
the basic principles of peacekee- of ensuring the sustainability and takeaways meant to further enhan-
ping and deficient pre-deployment relevance of its training consists in ce the impact the training has on
training. creating resilient partnerships with the effectiveness of individual pe-
While the UN Department of Pe- international and, most important- acekeepers and peace operations
ace Operations (UNDPO – for- ly, local actors, such as training as a whole.
merly known as UN Department centres and individual trainers. 1. Training as part of a broader
of Peacekeeping Operations or To achieve a profound change strategy
UNDPKO) is responsible for the in the attitudes and behaviour of Training is too often designed
development of the common Core peacekeepers, UNITAR uses an without a clear vision of the
Pre-Deployment Training Materials experiential and collaborative trai- “broader picture”. What are
(CPTM), the preparation of military ning approach, which allows par- the gaps at different levels?
and police personnel remains the ticipants to apply their knowledge Is training the right answer to
responsibility of troop- and poli- during the training, as well as to address these gaps? How does
ce-contributing countries (TCCs engage and participate actively. training complement other ini-
and PCCs). Oftentimes, this comes Each training session is delivered tiatives aimed at reaching the
across as yet another challenge for by a mixed team of local and inter- desired result? These are just
effective peace operations by cau- national trainers with a longstan- some of the questions that
sing incoherence in the quality and ding hands-on expertise obtained too often remain unanswered.
the content of training across the within different UN missions, and Training shall be conceived as
deployed units. with a good understanding of the part of a broader strategy, whi-
Taken together, this broad array of operation’s environment and chal- ch aims at strengthening the
factors – the burning need for hi- lenges on the ground. overall impact of peace opera-
gher effectiveness and security, the To date, tens of thousands of mi- tions, and links training to the
enhanced complexity of mandates, litary and police personnel – in- performance expected by mili-
and the lack of capacities for and cluding several thousand officers tary and police personnel while
consistency in training – call for a – have benefited from the UNITAR in the mission theatre. Viewed
continuous support of the relevant training prior to their deployment as such, training shall not end
international and regional actors to UN and AU peace operations. at training facilities, but shall
when it comes to the provision of This vast experience backed by the involve expanded support to
the standards-compliant yet con-
text-adjusted pre-deployment trai-
ning.
One of these relevant and capable
actors on the international arena is
the United Nations Institute for Trai-
ning and Research (UNITAR) – the
training arm of the United Nations
system, mandated to develop indi-
vidual and institutional capacities
to enhance global decision-ma-
king and to support country-level
action for shaping a better future.
Within the framework of the Insti-
tute, the Division for Peace designs
and implements a comprehensive
set of capacity-building activities
in the areas of peacekeeping, pe-

33