Peace Operations Training Institute News

Peace Operations Training Institute News: No. 6

2009-05-14T12:11:01Z

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Peace Operations Training Institute News

No. 6, May 2009

In this mailing:

New Spanish courses available
New language for the newsletter?
Spotlight on UNAMA
Student spotlight: Major Carlos Vargas Suarez
Student feedback: some of our most useful tools

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.

English course title	French	Spanish	Portuguese
An Introduction to the UN System	√	√
Civil-Military Coordination (CIMIC)	√	√
Commanding UN Peacekeeping Operations	√	√	√
The Conduct of Humanitarian Relief Operations	√	√
Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR)		√
Ethics in Peacekeeping	√	√
Gender Perspectives in UN Peacekeeping Operations	√	√
Global Terrorism	√
History of UN Peacekeeping 1945–1987	√	√
History of UN Peacekeeping 1988–1996	√	√
History of UN Peacekeeping 1997–2006	√	√
International Humanitarian Law	√	√
Logistical Support to UN Peacekeeping Operations	√	√
Operational Logistical Support	√	√
Advanced Topics in United Nations Logistics	√	√
Mine Action	√	√
Peacekeeping and International Conflict Resolution	√	√
Peacekeeping in Yugoslavia: Dayton-Kosovo
Principles of Peace Support Operations
Security Measures for United Nations Peacekeepers	√	√
United Nations Military Observers	√	√	√
United Nations Police	√	√

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!

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Peace Operations Training Institute News: No. 5, February/March 2009

2009-03-03T15:57:37Z

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Peace Operations Training Institute News

No. 5, February/March 2009

In this mailing:

Report of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping (C-34)
A big “thank you” to Training Focal Points
Support from the OIF

Report of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping (C-34)

Solving conflicts around the world requires help from well trained, professional peacekeepers and humanitarian workers. Because Peace Operations Training Institute courses can be taken by any one—anywhere in the world, at any time—we have the potential to train more peacekeepers than any other organization. In fact, the United Nations Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations (C-34) called for continued emphasis on electronic distance learning in its July 2008 report (A/62/19). We are proud to note that the C-34 explicitly recognized two of the Institute’s training programmes:

“The Special Committee welcomes...E-Learning for African Peacekeepers (ELAP), and the recent implementation of...E-Learning for Peacekeepers for Latin America and the Caribbean (ELPLAC). The Special Committee appreciates the voluntary contributions that made it possible to offer courses in English, French and Spanish at no tuition cost...” [Report paragraph 179]

You can read the full report at our Web site.

A big “thank you” to Training Focal Points

Training is an ongoing concern for those serving on mission. We offer our special thanks to the Training Focal Points (TFPs) who serve at each peacekeeping mission.�In our efforts to provide training to students serving on mission, TFPs are often our first points of contact. Without their dedication to peacekeeper training, we would not be so successful. �

We particularly appreciate the effort TFPs give to publicizing our courses far and wide within their missions. We recognize that TFPs are the people who fight to include funds in mission training budgets to pay for the Integrated Distance Learning Programme (IDLP) so that thousands of students can study our courses. We also acknowledge TFPs for their assistance in promoting the low-cost MCEL, ISEL, and UNVEL programmes.

Congratulations on a job well done, TFPs.�Keep it up!

Support from the OIF

We are pleased to note that the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) has decided to support the development of Peace Operations Training Institute courses. The OIF financed the translation into French of two key courses in 2008: Global Terrorism and Logistics.

In 2005, we had only two courses in French. With the OIF’s support for these latest two translations, the Institute’s French curriculum is nearly complete: nineteen courses are now available for Francophone students.

More courses in French will become available in 2009. As always, you can find complete details on all our courses and training programmes at our Web site.

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Peace Operations Training Institute News Message

2009-01-06T10:51:41Z

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Peace Operations Training Institute News

No. 4, January 2009

In this mailing:

About our new name
Join us on Facebook
A message from the Executive Director
New courses available
From the Registrar’s office
A record year for enrolments

About our new name

For years, you have known us as the United Nations Institute for Training and Research Programme of Correspondence Instruction (UNITAR POCI). We operated under the name “UNITAR POCI” in partnership with UNITAR Geneva. Our partnership with UNITAR ended in June 2008, and we now operate as the Peace Operations Training Institute.

We continue to provide all the same training programmes for students around the world—the same programmes that were welcomed by the United Nations Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations (C-34) in their 2008 report to the United Nations General Assembly. We remain dedicated to providing training on United Nations peacekeeping through quality e-learning courses just as we have done for the past fifteen years.

Current students can continue their studies without interruption. Prospective students can continue to sign up for all of our courses—22 in English, 18 in French, 16 in Spanish, and 2 in Portuguese—through our Web site.

We thank you for your support and your continued interest in United Nations peacekeeping training.

Join us on Facebook

The Peace Operations Training Institute now has a Facebook group. If you have a Facebook account, please join us! It’s yet another way for our students to connect with one another.

A message from the Executive Director

Here is a message from Dr. Harvey Langholtz, Executive Director of the Peace Operations Training Institute:

“ There are few experiences I appreciate as much as the opportunity to meet our students serving on UN Peacekeeping Missions. It is always possible for an administrator in the field of distance learning to become caught up in the numbers and the details of our work. With over 10 000 enrolments each month; 22 courses in English, 18 in French, 16 in Spanish, 2 in Portuguese; on-line videos; and an online message board, I could easily become distracted and overwhelmed.

“But one of the hallmarks of our Institute has always been the respect and appreciation we have for each of our students. Almost every day I view our Honour Roll and I see the list of students who have completed their courses and passed their End-of-Course Examinations that day. We graduate roughly 175 per day, and I visualize each one of them. They are in Internet cafés from Abuja to Dhaka, on Mission in UNAMID and UNMIK, at a national peacekeeping training centre in Williamtown, Australia or Santiago, Chile, at UNHQ in New York, or one of thousands of other locations world-wide where our students live and work. They studied each lesson of their courses, and within the past few hours they sat down to their computers and passed their End-of-Course Examinations. They have completed their courses on United Nations Peacekeeping, and they have downloaded their Certificates of Completion.

“It is my pleasure to meet these dedicated students when I visit UN Peacekeeping Missions. These students are universally thankful for the courses we provide, and they ask me to pass their thanks to the individual staff members at the Institute with whom they have dealt and whom they have come to know, and they also ask that I thank the authors of their courses. I find the students simultaneously upbeat and serious, curious and focused. They range from SRSG to cleaner and from General to Private. No matter what their rank or nation, they all share an earnest wish to serve in the interest of peace. My staff and I here at the Peace Operations Training Institute are honoured to work with each one of our students, and we never forget that each name on a long list represents an individual who deserves our respect and individual attention.”

New courses available

We work constantly to expand our list of courses, as well as to make our courses available world-wide to as many peacekeepers as possible. We are pleased to announce that we have released several new translations of our courses into French, Spanish, and Portuguese. We have also begun work on some Arabic translations which should be available this year.

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

English course title	French	Spanish	Portuguese
An Introduction to the UN System	√	√
Civil-Military Coordination (CIMIC)	√
Commanding UN Peacekeeping Operations	√	√	√
The Conduct of Humanitarian Relief Operations	√	√
Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR)
Ethics in Peacekeeping	√	√
Gender Perspectives in UN Peacekeeping Operations	√	√
Global Terrorism	√
History of UN Peacekeeping 1945–1987	√	√
History of UN Peacekeeping 1988–1996	√	√
History of UN Peacekeeping 1997–2006	√
International Humanitarian Law	√	√
Logistical Support to UN Peacekeeping Operations		√
Operational Logistical Support	√	√
Advanced Topics in United Nations Logistics	√	√
Mine Action	√	√
Peacekeeping and International Conflict Resolution	√	√
Peacekeeping in Yugoslavia: Dayton-Kosovo
Principles of Peace Support Operations
Security Measures for United Nations Peacekeepers	√	√
United Nations Military Observers	√	√	√
United Nations Police	√	√

We are proud of our curriculum, and hope that the new translations make it even easier for you to get the training you want and promote peace across the globe. Click here to find the best training programme for you, and sign up for a course today.

From the Registrar’s office

We do our best to provide prompt, helpful service to all our students. Our student support team are constantly working with students via e-mail, telephone, and facsimile. In this section, we introduce one of our student support staff, so you can learn more about the human being on the other side of the computer screen:

“ My name is Vanessa Trochez, and I am the Assistant to the Registrar. I work to serve the student community at the Peace Operations Training Institute, and I speak, read, and write fluently in English and Spanish to better assist our international students. I will most likely be the first person a student will speak with on the phone or correspond with by e-mail when they inquire about the Institute’s programmes, courses, and enrolment and payment processes. I also advise students if they have questions or concerns with their course enrolments, and assist students in accessing their End-of-Course Examinations or their Certificates of Completion should they need help. In addition, I create transcripts and letters of verification of successful completion and/or enrolment.

“It is my pleasure to work with and support our thousands of students and represent the Peace Operations Training Institute on a daily basis.”

A record year for enrolments

The past year set a new record for enrolments. Overall enrolment rose by 28% over 2007, making for a total of nearly 128 000 enrolments, including over 79 000 enrolments from students in Africa! More and more peacekeepers and humanitarian workers are choosing Peace Operations Training Institute distance training as a way to enhance their skills and promote peace world-wide. We are grateful for all our students’ efforts, and we wish you success and good fortune in the coming year.

We are also grateful for the feedback we receive from students. Upon completion of an End-of-Course Examination, every student is invited to submit his or her opinions about the course he or she has just finished. We take your opinions very seriously, and they help our course authors improve future editions of the courses. Submitting feedback is simple: just click the link provided after you submit your End-of-Course Examination. The link also appears in your End-of-Course Examination confirmation e-mail.

As always, you can learn about all our courses and training programmes at our Web site. Look for the next issue of our student newsletter in your inbox in February.

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UNITAR POCI News: No. 3, May 2008

2008-05-12T11:55:02Z

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UNITAR POCI News

No. 3, May 2008

In this mailing:

Message from the Director of UNITAR POCI
New course: Civil-Military Coordination (CIMIC)
New course: Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR)
New translations of Gender Perspectives
Free courses for Latin American and Caribbean peacekeepers

Message from the Director of UNITAR POCI

Greetings, and welcome again to the UNITAR POCI newsletter, in which we announce new courses, new programmes, and other developments at UNITAR POCI.

I am pleased to report that we now offer 22 courses in English, 15 in French, and 14 in Spanish. Our curriculum now includes two new courses: Civil-Military Coordination, co-authored by Mr. Cedric de Coning, of ACCORD and NUPI, and Mr. Stephen Henthorne, Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies; and Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration by Mr. Yvan Conoir, an existing UNITAR POCI course author with twenty years of experience in DDR, reconstruction, and capacity building with UNHCR, CARE, and PPC in Africa, Asia, and Central America.

I am also very pleased to announce that during 2007 UNITAR POCI supported 98,000 enrolments world-wide, many of them through E-Learning for African Peacekeepers (ELAP) and our recently established E-Learning for Peacekeepers from Latin America and the Caribbean (ELPLAC). During 2008 we will continue to try to expand both our courses and the programmes to provide them to our students world-wide.

It is, however, with great sadness that I repeat what you may have already heard. UNITAR POCI extends sincere condolences to the family of slain Corporal Nagya Aminu of Nigeria, and to the people of Nigeria. This thirty-six-year-old father was serving at MINUSTAH when, on 12 April, he and three other members of his formed police unit were in their clearly marked UN vehicle in the Bel-Air district of the capital, Port-au-Prince. He was dragged from the vehicle and fatally shot.

While serving at MINUSTAH, Corporal Aminu completed four UNITAR POCI courses: Peacekeeping and International Conflict Resolution, The Conduct of Humanitarian Relief Operations, Global Terrorism, and Operational Logistical Support.

Corporal Aminu‘s death provides a painful reminder of the difficult conditions under which UN peacekeepers serve, and the selfless sense of service to peace that they exhibit on mission. Our prayers are with you, Corporal Aminu, in life and in death.

Here at UNITAR POCI we recognize the dedication and sense of service and sacrifice that our peacekeeping students bring to their missions, and we welcome e-mails and other communications from our students who serve in the interest of peace world-wide. If there is anything we can do for you, please let us know.

In peace,
Harvey Langholtz
Director, UNITAR POCI

New course: Civil-Military Coordination (CIMIC)

Civil-military coordination (CIMIC) provides the interface between the military component of a UN peace operation and the political, humanitarian, developmental, human rights, and rule of law components of the mission, as well as others in the larger peacebuilding system. CIMIC is a crucial function in any complex peace operation because it is a “force-multiplier” that contributes to the mission achieving a system-wide impact on the conflict system it is attempting to transform.

Our new course in CIMIC was written for United Nations CIMIC officers, but all military and civilian students will find this course useful as it will improve their understanding of the institutional cooperation that needs to occur between mission components. The focus of the course is on principles, policies, and broad approaches and provides examples of CIMIC structures and operations from a number of UN and African missions.

To learn more about this or any other UNITAR POCI course, please visit our Web site.

New course: Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR)

The aim of the Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) process is to contribute to security and stability in post-conflict situations so that recovery and development can begin. The DDR of ex-combatants is a complex process, with political, military, security, humanitarian, and socioeconomic dimensions. It aims to deal with the post-conflict security problem that results from ex-combatants being left without livelihoods or support networks during the critical transition period from conflict to peace and development.

Our new course in DDR will help UN and national decision makers, as well as UN, national, and NGO practitioners, to understand the aims, objectives and practical issues related to a DDR process. The course presents different policies and strategies for the development, management, and evaluation of a DDR programme based on the International DDR Standards (IDDRS), which consolidate over fifteen years of UN lessons and good practises on DDR issues.

To learn more about this or any other UNITAR POCI course, please visit our Web site.

New translations of Gender Perspectives

Our Gender Perspectives course is now available in English, French, and Spanish. To read more about the course or enrol, please visit our Web site:

Free courses for Latin American and Caribbean peacekeepers

Through generous grants from the peoples of Argentina and Canada, UNITAR POCI can now offer courses free of charge for peacekeepers from Latin America and the Caribbean. E-Learning for Peacekeepers from Latin America and the Caribbean (ELPLAC) provides UNITAR POCI distance courses in peacekeeping free of charge to any person who:

is a citizen of a Latin American or Caribbean Nation, and
is a member of the military, the police, or the gendarmerie.

To learn more about the programme or sign up for a course, visit the ELPLAC Web site.

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