Date: May 14th 2009

Peace Operations Training Institute News

New Spanish courses available

We are pleased to announce that we have released two new Spanish translations of our courses. The following courses are now available in Spanish:

• Civil-Military Coordination (CIMIC)
• Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR)

These new Spanish courses, along with all our other courses, are available to you now. Click here to find the best training programme for you and sign up for a course today.

The table below lists all of our current English-language courses, along with the additional languages available for each.

New language for the newsletter?

Currently, this newsletter is distributed in English only. Do you have friends and colleagues in the peacekeeping or humanitarian community who would benefit from receiving this newsletter in some other language? What new language could we offer that would help us reach the greatest number of current or potential students?

Click here to tell us what you think.

Spotlight on UNAMA

We extend a heartfelt “thank you” to Maria Borges, the Training Focal Point (TFP) at the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). She wrote to tell us that her students were hard at work and doing well with their training courses. She also specially recognized the efforts of two students: Security Officer Philbert Rwigamba and Fuel Manager Svjezdana Stefanovic.

Officer Rwigamba has completed six courses and writes that he thinks Introduction to the UN System was the least difficult course to complete while Global Terrorism was the most difficult. Do you agree or disagree with Officer Rwigamba? We would like to know what you think, so please fill out the course feedback after taking the examinations for these or any other courses.

Fuel Manager Stefanovic has been with the UN for eleven years and has also completed six courses. She writes that she has found all the courses interesting; they contain useful details related to UN operations as well as in-depth analysis which help her understand the UN system better. We are flattered that an eleven-year veteran of the UN is still engaged in learning more about peacekeeping and humanitarian relief!

We know all TFPs work hard and we appreciate their efforts to assist all students. If any of the Mission Training Staff or TFPs have students they would like to recognize for extra effort or excellence please let us know; we would be happy to read their stories.

Student spotlight: Major Carlos Vargas Suarez

ELPLAC student Major (Special Forces) Carlos Vargas Suarez of Mexico has been a student of ours for many years. He writes that his studies have helped him in his military career and in his outlook about what happens in the world. He has found that through completing courses such as Commanding UN Peacekeeping Operations, The Conduct of Humanitarian Relief Operations, and all three Logistics courses, he is better able to discuss and debate the finer points of peacekeeping. He also writes the following:

“For us, as members of the Mexican Armed Forces it is not always easy to train overseas. With the help of the staff and courses from the Institute each day we have the opportunity to improve our level of professional knowledge to serve our country and to be ready in case we are called to serve abroad. Between the daily activities at work and the family there is always time to continue studying and this is precisely what I like the most about the self-paced system from Peace Operations Training Institute.”

Thank you, Major Vargas, for your kind words and your pursuit of peace!

Student feedback: some of our most useful tools

The student-submitted course feedback form is our most useful tool for updating our courses. We tell everyone that our students are our most helpful critics. However, we have been receiving fewer and fewer feedback forms.

When you finish a course, please take the time to fill out the feedback form; look for a link to the form on the “examination complete” Web page or in your exam confirmation e-mail. We really do want to hear from you!