From the 13th to the 15th of December 2022, the NATO Security Force Assistance Centre of Excellence (NATO SFA COE) hosted the NATO Advisory pilot course, in close collaboration with the Building Integrity Department of NATO HQ.
The purpose of the course is to enhance the individual skills and competences of NATO civilian and military personnel called to carry out Advising activities in support of Hosting Nations in their reform and modernization programmes.
The teaching modules aim to perfect the ability to identify and evaluate the needs of the country to be assisted, to assign the right priorities to fill the identified deficiencies and finally to acquire the methodologies for monitoring the effectiveness of the advising activities.
Among the main topics covered in this new training course, particular emphasis was placed on:
– examining the guidelines for the use of NATO Advisors, their legal framework of reference in relation to Cooperative Security, partnership and Defence Capacity Building programmes;
– enhancing the local culture through knowledge of historical traditions, the social and institutional context and intercultural communication;
– using adequate tools to establish effective relationships with the counterpart, applying mentoring, consultancy and conflict resolution techniques also through the use of remote methods;
– maintaining NATO’s high ethical and professional standards in close coordination with all international actors.
The speakers from NATO Headquarters were joined by the Director of the Ministerial Advisory Division of the NATO Mission Iraq (NMI) and by additional experts in service at the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Geneva Center for Security Sector Governance (DCAF).
At the conclusion of the course, the Director of the NATO SFA COE, Col Massimo Di Pietro, whilst thanking the organizers of the NATO HQ for having requested the collaboration of the COE, reiterated the important contribution that the Center provides to the Alliance in supporting activities for Stabilization and Defense Capacity Building and integrating the main skills in training and research in the Advising sector.
