7th Annual Discipline Conference held in Den Haag together with CIMIC COE

The first ever co-located Annual Discipline Conference was held in Den Haag on 7–9 June with both FINCENT and CCOE organising the conference for the DH positions in NATO Military Contribution to Peace Support (MC2PS) and Civil-Military Cooperation (CIMIC), respectively. Together with collaborators and partners, the two centres came together to go over any updates regarding training solutions that the disciplines offer.

The Finnish Defence Forces International Centre (FINCENT) has held the Department Head position for the discipline of MC2PS since 2015 and has since been coordinating training and quality requirements thereof at multiple centres and training facilities. The conference, a requirement of the DH position, was divided into two parts. The first day was dedicated to discipline-specific updates regarding last year’s work programme. The second day consisted of lively interactive discussions regarding the future of development, training, and practice. Because the annual work calendar that dictates DH actions has changed starting this year, there was only a short turnaround between this ADC and the previous one held in November 2021 in Rome. 

Despite that and Covid-19 restrictions hindering work somewhat, noteworthy developments occurred within MC2PS. The Comprehensive Approach (CA) cluster has worked together with the Italian Army Post Conflict Operation Study Centre to develop a new course, the Stabilization and Reconstruction Orientation Course, and it was certified as NATO Selected shortly after the 2022 ADC. Additionally, the Senior Leaders CA Seminar alongside the Senior Leaders Protection of Civilians Seminar for the Human Security (HS) cluster have been developed further. HS has also successfully advanced its documentation for the Approaches to Protection of Civilians in NATO and UN Peace Operations Course. Furthermore, large strides were taken within the Partnerships (PART) cluster towards finalising the Partnerships and OCC ADL solution, which will be ready to be piloted towards the end of this year. Lastly, the Security Force Assistance (SFA) cluster has identified the Institutional Advisor Seminar as a possible training and education solution, and the evaluation phase for the Institutional Advisor Course has been conducted. In general, the discipline has made good work of identifying and working on new training solutions for existing gaps in the past years, which means that more training gaps are being filled. 

The conference attracted a wide spectrum of attendees with almost 40 different actors, organisations, or Education and Training Facilities present. Some facilities also gave presentations showcasing their training opportunities that aligned with the two disciplines. Working together with these different organisations is the back bone of any DH activity, and the programme of work for the upcoming year that results from this conference is a direct result of the fruitful interactions and discussions in the auditorium and during coffee breaks. xxx