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no Dragani (Carabinieri, Strategic an Union civilian mission based mission, in fact it was thought and
Advisor for Rwanda and Uganda). in Bamako, Mali. It was launched adopted in the operational plan
In addition to that several orga- on 15 January 2015 , following an and in the concept of operation.
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nizations and academic institu- official invitation made by the Ma- The first question to be answered is:
tions were involved too, such as: lian government to assist the inter- who is the Strategic Advisor (SA)?
United Nations, European Union, nal security forces in restoring the The answer is not simple but I
European Gendarmerie Force, government’s authority over the could explain it in this way, trying
Nato Stability Policing Center Of country, above all in the northern to make the concept exhaustive by
Excellence, The “Peacekeeping territories where the crisis left lar- anchoring it to a pragmatism, typi-
& Stability Operations Institute”, ge parts of the country under the cal of a mission guy. Moreover in
The “Standing Police Capacity”, control of various factions. Being this preamble I have to specify that
The “Geneva Centre For Securi- a civilian mission with no executive the tentative definition of the SA
ty Sector Governance”, The Uni- mandate, EUCAP Sahel Mali is very and the subsequent tasks will sort
versity of Padua, The “Catholic” flexible, light and versatile. Due to out from what I have observed in
University together with other aca- that the legal cover changed over a European Union civilian mission
demic and training institutes, like the years by emending its first ver- currently ongoing in Mali, also be-
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the Carabinieri Officers School. sion starting from 2015 and for cause we don’t have many offi-
The enthusiasm cial documents
and experien- issued by Eu-
ce gathered in THE SA IS A PERSON WHO PERFORMS THE FUN- ropean Insti-
the conferen- CTION OF COORDINATOR AND COLLECTOR tutions which
ce room of the touch and go
Chinotto Com- OF IDEAS, PROJECTS, ACTIONS AND ACTIVI- deeper, doctri-
pound - site of TIES, ALL COMBINED AND IN THE DIRECTION nally detailing
CoESPU, EU- role and fun-
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ROGENDFOR OF ONE OR MORE OF THE OBJECTIVES SET ctions of a SA .
PHQ, and OUT IN THE MANDATE As described in
NATO SPCoE her book “Stra-
- was the most tegic Advising
diversified and qualified. Very im- the duration of 24 months. At this in foreign assistance - a practical
portant, I think, was also the con- stage, article 2 listed the “Objecti- guide”, Nadia Gerspacher, in-
tribution of those who, like me, ve and tasks” of the mission talking troduced the concept of SA, sta-
came to bring the contribution of about the strategic lines of opera- ting that (the Strategic Advisor)
their experience from the ground tion to be implemented as defi- is a person sent by the interna-
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and in particular from a civilian ned in the CONOPS and OPLAN . tional community to work alon-
mission of the European Union In particular 3 are the lines gside a high-ranking official in a
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in Africa: EUCAP SAHEL MALI . of operations of the mission : transitional or post conflict state
Personally, I was able to combine 1. strategic advising, and offer guidance that can con-
the academic aspects of the con- 2. training, tribute to the development of ef-
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ference with their practical side, 3. coordination and cooperation. fective policies and procedures.
having had, fortunately for me, a The above lines have operated over Where envisaged, the Head of
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privileged vision of the Strategic the years until the present day . the Strategic Advising office , is
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Advisor on mission, in the field. Strategic advising is the first line of a person who performs the fun-
Before reporting my view and what operation not by chance but be- ction of coordinator and collec-
I have got from this strong and uni- cause it is the first approach to be tor of ideas, projects, actions and
que experience such as the Malian taken to set out the Human Factor activities, all combined and in the
one, I cannot skip to present what in a State institutions affected by a direction of one or more of the
are the fundamental legal pillars crisis (HR management, decision objectives set out in the mandate.
of EUCAP SAHEL MALI mission. making process, etc). The role of Reporting to the Head of Opera-
EUCAP Sahel Mali is an Europe- the strategic advisor is crucial in the tions, the Strategic Advisor is the re-

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