ZIF Services and Special Programmes

ZIF provides support to German civilian personnel before, during and after their field assignments. Services include the following:

1. Application and Pre-deployment

Application Training and Assistance
Individual counseling and group-based training in resume writing, online application and job interviews. These are geared towards the specific requirements of the various recruitment regimes operated by multilateral organizations, including secondement of national experts and direct contracting.

Job Postings
Advertisement of vacancies in civilian peace operations and related conflict recovery and development efforts offered by intergovernmental, non-governmental and governmental agencies.

Recruitment Missions
Promote German candidates through interview days and recommendations.

Pre-departure Information
Prior to departure, individual briefings may be organized. However, in-depth orientation will normally be provided by the local mission. In the case of group recruitment for a particular mission – mainly election observation missions – ZIF may equip newly recruited personnel with a country information package in order to assist them in their own preparations.

Personal Support
Individuals differ widely in their needs for support, depending on a number of factors such as living and working conditions in the area of deployment, and assigned function. In order to ensure a high level of personal care and continuity, staff members of the ZIF Recruitment Unit look after a group of pool members throughout the recruitment and deployment cycle.

Deployments and Logistics
ZIF provides a variety of services on behalf of the German Foreign Office. Services available include issuing of contracts for secondments and election observers and arranging travel and visas for election observers.

2. During Mission Assignment

Registration with the German Diplomatic Representation
Prior to departure, ZIF informs the local German diplomatic representation of the newly arriving mission members; they will be asked to establish contact with the representation immediately upon arrival.

Field Visits
ZIF staff visit field missions to meet with German members and supervisors and discuss personal and mission-related issues as well as challenges facing members either bilaterally or in group meetings.

ZIF Country Networks
In Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Haiti and the DR Congo, ZIF has initiated informal networks and on-site groups of German personnel. Participants meet regularly, share information, facilitate interaction with the German diplomatic representation, and stand by to assist in personal matters. They also keep regular contact with ZIF staff in Berlin. Other networks will be initiated by ZIF depending on the number of German civilian personnel deployed in a specific country.

Reporting
Mission members are requested to submit periodic reports, i.e. half-yearly, written reports and a final (end-of-assignment) report to the Federal Foreign Office and ZIF.

3. Upon Return from Mission

Debriefings
ZIF organizes debriefings for returnees on a regular basis. The central purpose is to give former mission members the opportunity to share their experiences on a personal as well as professional level. Debriefings can be either bilateral or group sessions. Moreover, the Federal Foreign Office, which participates in group debriefings, and ZIF benefit greatly from the comprehensive and up-to-date knowledge of returning mission members for their own analysis, planning, training, and recruitment activities.

Returnee Meetings
The first group debriefing organized by ZIF was held in Berlin in January 2003. More than 80 election observers and supervisors who had been seconded to the autumn 2002 elections in Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Kosovo shared their personal experiences and presented proposals for improving the recruitment process for election observers. Meanwhile there were two returnee meetings in 2004 and 2005. In November 2006 - for the first time - ZIF organised a thematic workshop on local ownership in peacebuilding in a mission country (Kosovo).

Special Programmes
Since 2008 ZIF runs a small young professional programme called ZIF Prospect. For a period of 6 to 12 months, junior professionals with one or two year of post-qualification work experience are funded to serve with multilateral conflict prevention and recovery missions and projects.

Candidate Sourcing
ZIF responds to request for special experts from the German Foreign Office, development agencies etc. on a case-by-case basis.

updated September 2009