Center for International Peace Operations

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Logo of the ZIF

The Berlin Center for International Peace Operations (ZIF) is a non-profit GmbH and was founded in 2002 by the Federal Government and the Bundestag . The Federal Government thus has an implementation organization for the recruitment, preparation and placement of personnel for international civil peace operations and election observation missions . The ZIF is currently in a process of transformation towards a fully-fledged sending organization for German experts in civil peace operations and election observation missions. The Federal Republic of Germany, represented by the Foreign Office (AA), is the partner of the ZIF . State ministers or state secretaries from the Foreign Office, the Federal Ministry of Defense , the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Federal Ministry of the Interior as well as members of all parliamentary groups are represented on the Supervisory Board . An international advisory board supports the work of the ZIF. The director and managing director of the ZIF has been Almut Wieland-Karimi since 2009 , the company is based in Berlin-Wilmersdorf .

General

The reason for the founding of the ZIF was the developments in the Balkans from the mid-1990s and the resulting surge in the need for civilian experts in peace operations. In order to meet this demand, the German government initiated the development and realization of a competence center under the leadership of the founding director Winrich Kühne.

Since its foundation, the ZIF has offered services and expertise on all aspects of peacekeeping "from a single source". This integrated approach, which combines training, human resources, international capacity development and analysis under one roof, is now recognized as a leading model worldwide. The Swedish and Finnish governments have set up similar centers with the Folke Bernadotte Academy and the Crisis Management Center.

The ZIF currently (2016) focuses on the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) of the OSCE in Ukraine, the coordination of European training institutions (ENTRi), the promotion of the rule of law in post-war societies and crisis areas, elections and election observation, the promotion of a "networked approach" between military, police and civil actors in peace operations, deployment knowledge and evaluation, questions of care for civil experts as well as peace mediation and mediation support .

tasks

The task of the ZIF is to make a German contribution to strengthening international civilian capacities for crisis prevention , conflict resolution and peacebuilding. The core mandate of the ZIF is therefore

  • the qualification and provision of civilian personnel for peacekeeping and election observation missions and
  • the development of independent analyzes and concepts for peacekeeping and peacebuilding.

ZIF pool of experts

The ZIF is the central German point of contact for civilian experts in international peace operations and election observation missions - before, during and after the operation. As an organization of the federal government, the ZIF supports the Federal Foreign Office in finding qualified personnel for peacekeeping operations etc. a. the European Union (EU), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the United Nations (UN) as well as for election observation missions of the EU and the OSCE to select, mediate, prepare and accompany .

The ZIF pool of experts currently comprises around 1,400 profiles of specialists and executives from different areas. We are looking for experts with increasingly specialized work experience and language skills. Without membership in the pool of experts, mediation and deployment in the missions as well as the activity as election observer for the OSCE and the EU are fundamentally not possible. The suitability for this is u. a. determined through competency based interviews (CBIs) and successful participation in the ZIF basic course.

Training and international capacity development

The ZIF offers training courses for civilian specialists and managers for international peacekeeping and observation missions. Here u. a. Two-week basic courses, election observation courses and various specialization courses are offered. The "networked approach" is the focus of all training courses and also in the cooperation. The ZIF, together with the Bundeswehr training facilities and development cooperation, forms the national training partner platform. Since 2017, the ZIF has also been participating in the military exercise Blue Flag - Fo (u) r Peace Central Europe with election observers.

The ZIF also advises other institutions such as the African Union on the training of civilian personnel or the development of training courses within the framework of numerous cooperation projects. The ZIF also coordinates Europe's New Training Initiative for Civilian Crisis Management (ENTRi) and also offers advice and the implementation of tailor-made training courses for other clients.

analysis

The ZIF offers advice and analyzes with operational backgrounds and information as well as workshops and conferences in order to offer a platform for dialogue, strengthen civilian crisis prevention, advance lessons learned processes and promote the exchange between political decision-makers and practitioners "from the field". This not only strengthens the national and international dialogue between politics and practice, but also contributes to the public debate on civilian crisis prevention and international peace operations.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c About the ZIF. Center for International Peace Operations, accessed January 3, 2017 .
  2. ↑ ZIF pool of experts. Center for International Peace Operations, accessed January 3, 2017 .
  3. ↑ training. Center for International Peace Operations, accessed January 3, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Partners and cooperations. Center for International Peace Operations, accessed January 3, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Analysis. Center for International Peace Operations, accessed January 3, 2017 .

Coordinates: 52 ° 29 ′ 53.1 ″  N , 13 ° 19 ′ 17.7 ″  E