Objectives

All courses aim to provide participants with a realistic insight into the daily work in peace operations and prepare them for the numerous challenges they might encounter in the field. Working in crisis environments is very demanding and requires a high level of commitment and stress management skills. ZIF courses seek to make participants aware of these challenges in order to avoid or minimize frustration during their future assignments. Moreover, the training encourages participants to reflect on their personal mission readiness and provides them with a set of general skills required for working in a crisis management environment.

Training of German and International Candidates

To work successfully in international peace operations or election monitoring missions a number of basic skills are required:

• the knowledge of the legal, political and institutional background of such missions
• skills to meet the professional demands in a highly challenging working environment
• the ability to work in a multi-cultural team
• social and inter-cultural competence
• conflict management skills
• language skills

ZIF basic peacekeeping, election observation and specialization courses offer a realistic preparation for deployment, closely tailored to the needs in the field. In close cooperation with international organizations, other international training institutions, and practitioners from the field, ZIF continuously develops its training courses. Course curricula are revised and updated to reflect on-going political developments and the changing mandates of international peace operations.

While the courses target both German and international participants, only German nationals are able to become members of the ZIF expert pool and thus are eligible to be seconded.

Assessment of German Participants

Participation of German nationals in a ZIF course does not automatically result in the admission to the ZIF expert pool. The Core Course Peace Operations and Short-Term Election Observer (STO) trainings provide an excellent opportunity for ZIF staff to assess the participants’ team and communication skills, as well as their motivation. At the end of each course, the ZIF Training and the Human Resources units appraise each participant with regard to their suitability for mission service. A decision is then made on the admission of the person to the ZIF expert pool.

Once admitted to the ZIF expert pool, participants are able to access restricted recruitment information regarding employment in different international organisations.  Additionally, successful admission to the ZIF expert pool allows participants to apply for seconded positions within the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the European Union (EU).

As of December 1, 2010