Boosting the role of civilians in defence and security

09 Mar. 2011 NATO News

Professional development programmes in Ukraine and Georgia strengthen civilian management and oversight

NATO supports the wide-ranging democratic and institutional reform processes underway in Ukraine and Georgia. Strengthening civilian control over security and defence structures, and improving the capacity of these structures is of fundamental importance to these countries’ democratic development.

As part of wider cooperation, NATO-sponsored professional development programmes are ongoing in both countries.

“NATO and individual Allies have considerable expertise upon which Partner countries can draw, particularly in the area of defence and security sector reform,” says Dave Johnson, who oversees the professional development programmes within NATO’s Defence Policy and Planning Division. “The professional development programmes help boost the role of civilians and also develop the personnel needed to improve the ability of government to introduce systemic changes in these institutions.”

Professional Development Programme: Ukraine

“Typical former Soviet officer” is how Col. Sergii Mukosii describes himself. More than twenty years ago, Col. Mukosii was stationed in East Germany, just 60 kilometres outside of the city when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. Today, he works with a major player in the Cold War: NATO. “Sometimes I meet NATO officers, and we say, oh yes, we were in the same area, but on opposite sides.”

Col. Mukosii, the second officer sent from Ukraine, started working at NATO in 2002. After completing a 2003 internship in the Force Planning Department of the Defence Policy and Planning Division, he later participated in some of the courses which were the precursor to the Ukrainian Professional Development Programme (PDP). Now the First Secretary in the Defence Section of the Ukraine Mission, Col. Mukosii helps train Ukrainians working in the defence field.

The Professional Development Programme in Ukraine was set up in 2005 under the auspices of the NATO-Ukraine Joint Working Group on Defence Reform (JWGDR). Col. Mukosii helped to build the programme into its current format by bringing together the training initiatives created by several bilateral agreements established over the years under an umbrella programme. There was one major difference between the new programme and the old courses: whereas previously the military was the primary recipient of training, now the programme focused more on training civilians.

The programme trains both Ukrainian officers and civilians in NATO and Euro-Atlantic defence policies, with the primary aim of improving their capability to work within the military and defence fields. The programme focuses on six key areas of defence planning: inter-agency cooperation, crisis response, policy planning, defence planning, combating corruption and supporting the Building Integrity Initiative.

With this training, Ukraine gets more people who can manage defence planning and resources management, and deal with developments regarding defence and security policy. According to Col. Mukosii, the programme provides the “opportunity to meet with people through NATO countries who have experience.”

The programme has been focusing on training civilians to take over leadership roles in the defence field, not only in the Ministry of Defence but also in the Ministries of Emergency and the Interior, the border services and the former security service of Ukraine.

Anatoliy Yurchenko – a graduate of the PDP, who previously worked in personnel policy in Ukraine – says the programme “gave me a broad view on security challenges and personnel management in democracy”. He also credits the programme with helping him obtain his current job. After taking a seven-week course entitled, “Management Defence in Democracy in 2007”, Yurchenko was later assigned to the Ukraine Mission at NATO Headquarters.

More than 20 Allied and Partner countries provide the programme with money, facilities, courses, seminars and internships. The United Kingdom fills the role of Lead Nation, partnering with NATO in advocating the programme and seeking material support. During 2010, 650 Ukrainian personnel received training through the PDP.

Professional Development Programme: Georgia

Building on the success of the programme in Ukraine, a Georgian version of the PDP was launched in May 2009, following a request from the Georgian Ministry of Defence for help to develop the professional skills of civilians working in the Georgian defence and security sectors.

“Georgia as a whole and its security structures are going through a wide range of reforms,” explains Elina Lange, manager of the NATO-Georgia PDP. “In the current security environment and in line with Georgia’s strong determination to integrate into NATO, the PDP has a unique chance to be involved at the start of new reform initiatives and provide first-hand advice and assistance.”

Though modelled on the Ukrainian PDP, the Georgian programme is tailored to the unique needs and circumstances of the country. The Georgian PDP provides four types of training: educational opportunities abroad (provided by participating nations), such as language courses; internships, ranging from a week to several months, either at NATO headquarters in Brussels or in the capitals of countries contributing to the programme; mobile training teams that provide courses in specific functional areas; and locally organised courses designed to provide training in more general fields.

Ilya Koberidze, a member of the National Security Review inter-ministerial working group, attended a UK-sponsored course on Managing Defence in the Wider Security Context. “The knowledge gained in security studies and inter-agency cooperation will help me to intensify cooperation and coordination with the members of the different agencies, working on security and defence issues,” he says. Koberidze also attended a UK-sponsored English-language course in York, which he says improved his ability to use military vocabulary and to conduct effective presentations in English. “Now I can share my knowledge and experience with my team colleagues to aid their understanding through difficult English texts.”

Public relations was the focus of Irakli Gurgenidze’s internship at the Polish defence ministry. “The most important topic for me was the informational approach of the Ministry of Defence about peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan.” He put the experience to good use upon his return to Georgia. “We began to work out an information strategy about the International Security Assistance Force. It is very sensitive case for my organization because Georgia has a military mission in Afghanistan. We realized that without an information policy, we could not overcome potential crises in this tough mission.”

Through these various types of training, the PDP hopes to help Georgia improve its capacity for democratic management and oversight of the security sector. The programme is planned to run at least six years, divided up into two three-year phases. Since its launch, 350 individuals have been trained under the PDP, many of whom attended more than one course. Overall, about half of the trainees have been civilians working in the defence ministry; the remainder have been almost equally divided between military officers and civilians from the wider security sector.