Extensive Training Prepares World-Class Peacekeepers
"I felt totally engaged all the time" - Isabel Phillips, participant, NP training.
Nonviolent Peaceforce's intense and substance-packed 10-day Core Mission Preparedness Training (CMPT) concluded successfully on 27th February, 2010.
The training culminated with a complex 13-hour all-night simulation. This had participants getting little or no rest and forced them to use and bring to the fore most of the principles and practices they had learned over the previous training sessions. These included - among others - representational skills, security protocols, dealing with trauma, team decision-making under pressure, dealing unexpectedly with a variety of local actors (military, armed non-state actors, local partners and internally displaced persons [IDPs]), carrying out presence and accompaniment activities, and using communications skills such as report and incident writing and effective communications under pressure.
Under the intense pressure produced by the final simulation - as well as other role plays throughout the training - mistakes were made and lessons for the field were learned and affirmed.
"The training put NP's principles and values together with simulations and really gave deep insights to prepare myself to work in conflict contexts around the world" [Padam Bhusal, Nepal]
"It was really helpful to work on real examples from the field and properly understand the mission and principles behind NP." [Isabel Phillips, UK]
"Very well planned and balanced training. I could learn as well as feel the importance of the work NP does." (Priti Vaishnav, India)
This training took place in a small village 30 minutes drive from Chiangmai in northern Thailand. The IWP (International Women's Partnership for Peace and Justice) training centre provided an excellent choice as it provided peace and quiet, focused relaxation, modest yet very fine Thai vegetarian cuisine, and a training site that was spread out, allowing for ease in conducting role plays and simulations.
The 23 trainees coming from 14 countries expressed overwhelming enthusiasm for both the training content and the site.
"Fantastic! A good training by excellent trainers with emphasis on team building, group dynamics and role playing. I believe training cannot be achieved without building a team first. This is why all tasks and presentations were excellently done, imparting useful knowledge for the field. I believe this will help take NP to greater heights." [Marinito Cabuenas, retired Major, Philippines Marines]
"I can honestly say that this training has positively impacted and improved both my practical skills and my character. The knowledge and confidence I gained will be assets not only to my work with NP but in all realms of life. It was an impressive training with well planned activities which were both fun and thought-provoking. I feel extremely well prepared and excited to enter the field." [Andrea Wright, USA]
"The openness of the trainers towards the participants was incredible. It has been a privilege to meet highly professional persons like this, yet very humble in attitude. The careful choice of the location for the training made me feel a great culture of peace." [Jimmy Okumu, Uganda]
Most of these trainees will now go forward to deployments in NP projects in the Philippines, Sudan and possibly Sri Lanka.
This was Nonviolent Peaceforce's first training of 10-days, and it meant that trainees had to undergo a more intense and more finely planned and focused curriculum than the previous 21-day mission preparedness training (which took place in Mindanao in 2009). This current training was shortened and aimed at candidates with more international field and conflict experience. Most trainees - though becoming progressively tired as the training continued - were able to keep up with the full and active pace, as well as the combination of intellectual, physical and emotional challenges provided by the training.
"Amazing training. The content and mode of delivery imbedded the key learning points cognitively, emotionally and psychologically. I will perceive and behave towards conflict differently as a result of this training." [Rosemary Kabaki, Kenya]
"Peace and peacekeeping is often a conceptual issue. However, this training offered an excellent balance between conceptual and on-the-ground practical application." [Chelsea Moore, Canada]
"Carefully thought, well planned and effectively executed training. It was one of the best training programmes of my life. A wonderful experience." [Shadab Mansoori, India]
Robert Rivers, NP's lead trainer, did an outstanding job in preparing the new curriculum for the training He was joined by Fatima Swartz, and both delivered the training energetically. Both had also been trainers for the Mindanao 2009 training, and their coordination and ease of working together, along with their professionalism, added tremendously to the smooth flow of the training momentum.
Bernard O'Sullivan, NP global security advisor, and Phil Esmonde, NP capacity building director, also led some sessions as well as being overall resource persons to the training and the trainees. Bernard had just come from 6 weeks in Mindanao and brought that field reality to the training; Fatima had just spent several weeks assisting the Sudan project development phase, and added that experience; and Robert had recently finished one year as an Unarmed Civilian Peacekeeper in Sri Lanka. More than any previous training, this training incorporated more depth of NP field experience, reality and challenges. This is the direction NP training has been moving towards as our field work expands and deepens: drawing out and focusing much, much more on the successes and lessons of NP's own rich experience.
Our next effort in the capacity building department is to develop a 15-day training curriculum for candidates who have less experience of international work and conflict (this 15-day training would replace the 21-day training). If resources are raised we would like to undertake this 15-day training in the second-half of 2010 (possibly in Europe with an NP partner)
What often makes a training appear seamless and run smoothly is the behind-the-scenes work (both before, at, and after the training). This article would be remiss if it didn't mention the dedicated pre-training preparation work carried out by Eva Kodithuwakku of the capacity building department (who assisted participants with the detailed information they required and helped run the whole recruitment process), and the highly responsive logistical support work on the ground provided by Ginger Norwood of the IWP in Thailand.
