A specialized coordination course on humanitarian civil-military coordination for OCHA and operational partners.

By the end of the training event, civil-military practitioners will perform their tasks more confidently through:

• Taking an active part in supporting the dialogue with military and armed actors in their respective duty station.
• Assuming responsibilities in UN-CMCoord, in particular by actively participating in mechanisms promoting humanitarian-military information exchange and interactions.
• Joining a network of UN-CMCoord expert personnel.

Reaction and Planned Action

After participating in the UN-CMCoord Skills Training, civil-military practitioners will:

• React positively to the overall training and share the philosophy of UN-CMCoord in humanitarian response.
• Join a robust pool of UN-CMCoord experts willing to keep abreast of latest developments to self-develop and contribute to a supportive civil-military environment in their respective duty station.
• Score an 80 percent relevance rate of each individual session/topic of the course.

Learning and Confidence

After completing the UN-CMCoord Skills Training, civil-military practitioners will:

• Draw the main steps of a UN-CMCoord operation and highlight key differences based on the context (i.e. sudden onset, escalating and protracted humanitarian crises)
• Identify key civil-military coordination tools and explain how to maximize their impact in operational contexts.
• Challenge UN-CMCoord standards and principles with operational realities.
• Utilize confidently crucial information management tools to boost interoperability in UN-CMCoord operations.
• Apply influential communication skills to foster the civil-military dialogue in UN-CMCoord preparedness and response.
• Design and maintain coherent civil-military platforms for information sharing and interactions in emergencies.
• Optimize the use of civil-military collaborative working tools for preparedness and response effectiveness.

Application and Implementation

When trained civil-military practitioners assume their functions they will:

• Exercise a key role in support of the civil-military coordination dialogue in their respective duty station
• Take an active part in establishing and maintaining platforms for interaction and information exchange at their respective duty station
• Gain trust and confidence from all actors of civil-military coordination through demonstration of professionalism, dedication and organizational integrity.

24 participants will be selected on the following criteria:

OCHA will identify candidates who meet pre-determined criteria and are currently or will be most likely involved in emergency response.

• Graduate of UN-CMCoord Course /or/ graduate of Preparedness and Response Effectiveness Programme (PREP) Course and UN-CMCoord eCourse
• Experience working in emergency relief and response, coordination, operational support in complex emergencies or natural disaster, either with humanitarian agencies, military or both.
• Current member of a formal OCHA Surge Mechanism (i.e. ASP, SBPP, ERR).
• For active military personnel, current or recent operational deployment (e.g. PKO, CIMIC, civil-military personnel)
• Excellent oral and written English is essential.

• Preparatory phase:
  • Distance learning
  • Collaborative working week (i.e. webinar using WebEx)
  • Web-based preparatory sessions (i.e. webinar using WebEx)
• Participatory approaches using facilitated discussions
• Group and individual work, including analysis and role plays on real case studies to allow for practical application of information and concepts presented
• Presentations in plenary
• Written assignments (i.e. preparatory phase and evaluation)

• Residential with a duration of 5.5 days
• Two events per year in Switzerland
• No course fee
• Accommodation and meals covered by organizers
• Sending organizations/office responsible for travel costs and applicable allowances

• Course coordinator/Lead Facilitator (OCHA)
• Three Co-facilitators/Technical Subject-Matter Experts on civil-military coordination (i.e. inter-agency representatives)
• E-learning coordination (OCHA)

Personal invitation letters are issued three months before the course.