Four European secondment organizations meet in Berlin

Seconding civilian experts to international crisis missions holds many challenges. All the more important to exchange ideas between partners and learn from each other!

With this goal in mind, ZIF invited the directors of partner organizations to Berlin on January 19-20. Per Olsson-Fridh from Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA), Kirsi Henriksson from Crisis Management Centre Finland (CMC), and Sarah Taylor from the Office for Conflict, Stabilization and Mediation (OCSM) at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office participated in the exchange. Prior to the outbreak of the Corona pandemic, the meeting of the four directors had been established as an annual format under the name "Directors' Quad." This year was the first meeting in person since 2019.

After a welcome by the Federal Foreign Office, the directors and their delegations exchanged views on the challenges and perspectives for international peace operations in an increasingly multipolar world order and on current security challenges in the deployment of personnel to Ukraine, a country at war. Furthermore, the delegations discussed their organizations' respective priorities for 2023 and identified opportunities for deepened cooperation.