With the support of subject-matter experts, we look at civil-military coordination from a humanitarian and peace & security perspective. We expect the training audience to relate policy and guidance to practical field experience. Front-line coordinators bring their testimonies to the debate.

OCHA’s Geneva-based Civil-Military Coordination Service (CMCS) has been designated the focal point in the UN system for the development of global UN-CMCoord guidance. It supports relevant field and headquarter-level activities through the development of institutional strategies to enhance the capacity and preparedness of national and international partners.

Compare the concepts of UN-CIMIC, African CIMIC and NATO CIMIC and discover NATO CIMIC Preparedness.

Take a look at our resource library on Humanitarian//Military Dialogue Website! You will find there all our UN-CMCoord guidance documents, including country/context specific guidance.

We have also created a few infographics, in the various UN languages, to summarize the key messages of the guidelines.

Here are a few quotes from our graduates.

This week was very informative so thanks to all for that! I learned a lot about structures and processes (eg better understand the core tasks and key elements, liaison options, CMCoord Cell, how different guidance help in different ways and more). I also liked the emphasis on the relationship aspect of CMCoord, including through the comms learning, and the importance of dialogue and trust, which reminded me of the importance of the human aspect of our work and that we shouldn't lose that perspective when engaging in critical complex emergencies with parties to the conflict.

Particularly the session on liaison arrangements was very useful to me to refresh my memory on the different options - the jamboard session was great to exchange ideas and see points I had not thought about.

Regarding communication, I recognized many of the principles from my negotiation trainings - I wonder whether CMCoord officers are given the possibility to receive such training. It would certainly be useful in a systematic manner.

A very good week overall re-learning or assessing my own communication techniques, knowledge and abilities. The most eye-opening learning for me was the concept of the spectrum of cooperation to coexistence. I have never had this concept explained in such a clear, cognizant manner. I was particularly shocked to learn that the interlocutor approach, which I have seen as a great example of communication and coordination after practicing it for almost 15 years, is actually among the least effective means. This will be a great lesson I will put to future planning.

Week 2 provided an opportunity to reflect on how CMCoord activities, frameworks and liaison arrangements can vary from one context to another. It was quite an open minder especially for me working in a complex emergency and having no experience in CMCoord in natural disasters settings. I have really appreciated how colleagues showcased their scenarios! Week 2 was also about effective communication which is key for CMCoord Officers who have a wide range of interlocutors (of different cultures and backgrounds too) to interact with.

For my part, this week's session gave me the opportunity to particularly reflect on the diversity of tools relevant to the more general topic/subject of communication. One way of thinking about models of liaison and language are as tools for communication. One thing that particularly struck me, hearing my fellow participants discuss their approach to the various tools (and this came up most notably in our discussion on the various models of liaison), were the various strengths and weaknesses identified in respect of each tool. It's interesting to think about, what might not just be a "better" or "worse" approach, but in respect to the kind of language or liaison tools might be suitable for each situation. While we all aspire to be diplomatic, of course, sometimes "firmer" approaches can be effective. Similarly, one can easily see that a variety of different approaches to liaison might also be effective in different situations, depending on the nature of the partners, and their relationship.

I gained a lot from the topics in week 2 as well. I found the four CMCoord strategies as the basis for effective CMCoord.It starts from evaluating the context on the ground and choose the appropriate strategy to be placed in a better position without compromising the humanitarian principles. Here comes also the criticality of effective communication which is also crucial to building a trusted relationship. The UNCMCoord tasks are also the building blocks for a CMCoord officer to be effective. Finally, we made an interesting peer discussion with G. and S. in evaluating the six statements. We agreed to look into areas of improvement in line with effective communication and tried to rephrase the statements. We agreed that communication matters! Knowledge of the context on the ground, culture, religion, politics, composition of actors, mandates, etc is very useful to craft our communication strategies. Communication skill is very useful for effective communication thus recommended to be considered/included in detail.