ACCORD attended the International Association of Peacekeeping Training Centres (IAPTC) 27th Annual Conference that was organized by the IAPTC Executive Committee and hosted by the International Peace Support Training Centre (IPSTC), in collaboration with the Kenya Ministry of Defence (KDF) in Nairobi, Kenya from the 6th to 10th November 2023.
The IAPTC Annual Conference is the largest and most representative international peace operations platform for cooperation, key updates and briefings, knowledge-building, in-person meetings and mutual inspiration. The conference offered stakeholders involved in training for peacekeeping operations an opportunity to broaden their contact and discussions, to share ideas and experiences, good practices and lessons learned, with the view of harmonizing training programmes in alignment with evolving contemporary trends and threats.
The IAPTC Annual Conference shared insight on numerous focused thematic areas, which included Gender in Peace Operations, Climate Security in Conflicting Areas, the Future of Peace Operations and the New Agenda for Peace. With each thematic area offering different discussion points on Peace Operations; the sessions were further divided into three working group sessions mostly made-up of the components of Peace Operations: Civilians, Military and the Police. The working group sessions held several complementary discussions, which included the experiences of the military, police and civilian officers, as well as partner institutes and field missions.
The theme for the 27th IAPTC Annual Conference: “Leveraging Partnerships in Training for Complex Peace Operation Environments”, was generated by the need to navigate the changing nature of conflict, and its impact on Peace Operations, multilateralism and global peace and security.
Overall the contributions that were made by experts and practitioners in the IAPTC 27th Annual Conference, aimed to ensure that Peace Operations are more effective in their efforts of understanding peacekeeping and its goals; and that the exchange of information and best practices are available to those involved in training for peacekeeping operations.The IAPTC 27th Annual Conference provided ACCORD with the opportunity to engage and share lessons in an effort to enhance and develop Peace Support Operations in Africa. ACCORD remains committed to supporting the African Union’s concerted efforts towards peace and security. The TfP Programme at ACCORD is an initiative funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
