A series of related activities represent the core of MAPSOP. Together they enhance Australia’s understanding of the modern policy and operational environment for peace and stabilisation operations and build Australia’s national civil-military capabilities to operate as an effective multiagency and multinational actor. These activities are designed to focus primarily on national or international outcomes (acknowledging that they are complementary and mutually reinforcing).
The national activities bring together a group of mid-level Australian Government civil-military policy makers and practitioners to build a local community of practice for peace and stabilisation operations, leading to improved civil-military capability across the full spectrum of activities required for effective peace and stabilisation operations (analysis, assessment, planning, implementation (and management), monitoring and evaluation, lessons learned). The international activities engage a broader audience of international actors (including international government personnel, the UN, international organisations and non-government actors) to ensure the work we are doing in Australia to develop our civil-military capabilities reflects emerging best practice and that we remain attuned to important developments in the approaches of partners and allies.
MAPSOP is being progressed on three levels:
- continuous learning through workshops, seminars, and by contributing to the international community of practice in peace and stabilisation operations;
- hosting of national and international events; and
- hosting of relevant exercises and lessons learned activities.
MAPSOP events are typically be short-duration, intensive activities providing a comprehensive program of education, engagement, networking, workshopping and exercises. Periodic reports will be circulated to senior departmental and agency officials to record progress and to inform policy, training and doctrine considerations. The Centre’s international Civil Military Affairs Conference (CMAC) in April 2012 will focus on peace and stabilisation operations, contributing to MAPSOP’s major findings. MAPSOP will culminate in an overarching report that outlines the full project and its outcomes, summarises the key lessons learned, and makes recommendations for policy consideration.
Opportunities to draw on the work of the United Nations, US, UK, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Norway and other key international peace and stabilisation actors will be taken throughout the MAPSOP in the form of international facilitators, seminar speakers and participants at MAPSOP activities. Linkages with international peace and stabilisation networks, working groups and their output, and the use of assessment and planning tools developed in the international community will also serve to connect MAPSOP to international actors and development.
National activities
MAPSOP national activities bring together a group of mid-level Australian Government civil-military policy makers and practitioners to build a local community of practice for peace and stabilisation operations, leading to improved civil-military capability across the full spectrum of activities required for effective peace and stabilisation operations (analysis, assessment, planning, implementation (and management), monitoring and evaluation, lessons learned).
| Date | Activity |
|---|---|
| December 2010 | International Peace and Stabilisation Operations Case-Study Roundtable
The Centre hosted a high-level international peace and stabilisation operations roundtable in Canberra addressing lessons learned from Haiti (Canada), Solomon Islands (Australia) and Afghanistan (UK). Commentaries were provided by the US and Sweden, as well as from Dr David Kilcullen and senior Australian Government officials. The discussion, issues and observations from the roundtable will inform subsequent MAPSOP activities (report to be promulgated March 2011). |
| April 2011 | Multiagency Peace and Stabilisation Operations Roles and Responsibilities Roundtable
This roundtable will initiate the national activities and will explore the high level objectives of peace and stabilisation interventions and the roles and responsibilities of individual Australian Government departments and agencies in a peace and stabilisation operations context. The outcomes of this roundtable will provide important parameters for the following MAPSOP activities, and contribute to a larger body of work focused on understanding boundaries and overlaps between agency roles and responsibilities in conflict and disaster generally. |
| May 2011 | Multiagency Conflict Assessment Workshop – 1-2 days
This workshop will be the first of a series focused on developing Australian civil-military capabilities. This activity will use a scenario-based approach to develop the capacity of participants to apply a multidisciplinary approach to conflict assessment. Facilitators will work with participants to develop a multiagency assessment of a complex peace and stabilisation scenario. A focus of the workshop will be on accurately understanding the root causes and drivers of conflict and the interdependence of various conflict dynamics. The workshop will identify priority issues and tasks to inform the development of comprehensive response options. |
| July 2011 | Tools for Conflict Assessment Workshop 1 Day
The Tools for Conflict Assessment Workshop will enhance the agencies’ capabilities to effectively achieve a comprehensive and complementary conflict assessment, thereby creating a shared diagnosis of the specific conflict problem of the fictitious MAPSOP scenario of Garlay. This activity will help determine the best way for Australian government agencies to approach conflict assessment: a) through the use of an established tool or b) using each agencies skills and expertise to complete an assessment within a framework, without the use of an established tool. This activity will continue to utilise and build upon the priorities, key sectors of activity, and the interdependencies identified in the previous MAPSOP activities. |
| August 2011 | Developing Multiagency Response Options (Pre-Planning) Activity – 1 day
In the context of the scenario used for the conflict assessment workshop, participants will consider different agency planning processes and work together to develop a multiagency planning framework. The objective of this workshop is to create a framework for individual agencies to effectively contribute to the development of an integrated politico-military strategy. This workshop will focus on the appropriate and effective use of individual agency capabilities to plan for a comprehensive, integrated operational effect. |
| October 2011 | Multiagency Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation and Measures of Effectiveness Activity – 2 days
Using the scenario and the outputs of the conflict assessment and pre-planning workshops, participants will work together with facilitators to develop an integrated whole-of government strategic planfor an intervention, including identification of appropriate strategic and operational MoEs. The plan will clearly articulate the overarching political goal of the intervention and agency roles, responsibilities and capabilities that will contribute to achieving the desired strategic effect. |
| November 2011 | Desktop Peace and Stabilisation Exercise – 3 days
Using the integrated whole-of-government plan developed in the planning and MoE workshop and the same scenario used for the previous workshops participants will undertake a desktop exercise designed to test the integrated plan and practice participants in a multiagency conflict management environment. The exercise will test and validate the MoEs developed in the planning workshop. |
| December 2011 | Multiagency lessons-learned workshop – 2 days
Focusing on the outcomes and proceedings of the multiagency desktop exercise, this lessons-learned workshop will seek to identify the strengths and weaknesses of Australia’s multiagency capabilities at the strategic level. This activity will assist in developing a process for multiagency lessons-learned capture and implementation. |
International events
MAPSOP international activities engage a broader audience of international actors (including international government personnel, the UN, international organisations and non-government actors) to ensure the work we are doing in Australia to develop our civil-military capabilities reflects emerging best practice and that we remain attuned to important developments in the approaches of partners and allies.
| Date | Activity |
|---|---|
| July 2011 | Advanced Course on Conflict, Crisis and Transitions, York University, UK
The Executive Director of the Centre was invited (and funded) by the Humanitarian Policy Group of the UK Overseas Development Institute to teach a one day module at York University on the Advanced Course of the Post-War Reconstruction & Development Unit, on the topic of “Stabilising Fragile States: The Role of the Military”. The background paper for the module will be developed as a Centre Occasional Paper and published as one of MAPSOP’s deliverables. |
| July 2011 | Stabilisation and Lessons Learned Workshop, co-sponsored with the United Kingdom Stabilisation Unit (UKSU) –and the Stabilisation and Reconstruction Taskforce (START) – Canada. London, UK – 1 day
The Centre has been tasked to establish close relations with UKSU. This Workshop will build on the December 2010 Roundtable and is likely to focus on Measures of Effectiveness (MoE) for stabilisation operations based on lessons learned from Afghanistan. The workshop will discuss developing frameworks and mechanisms for strategic and operational evaluation, including the development of appropriate metrics for peace and stabilisation contexts. |
| September 2011 | Peace and Stabilisation Workshop, co-sponsored with the Center for Complex Operations (CCO) – Washington – 2 days
The Centre will work with the CCO to host an international workshop in Washington involving key international peace and stabilisation actors, including from the UK, Canada, Germany, Sweden and the UN. The seminar will likely focus on the civil-military responsibilities and capabilities required for successful Disarmament, Demobilisation, Reintegration (DDR) outcomes and for mentoring police and military forces in stabilisation and peacebuilding contexts. |
| October 2011 | Multi-dimensional Peace OperationsWorkshop, in conjunction with Australia’s Mission to the United Nations [and possibly co-sponsored with the Stimson Center and the International Peace Institute] – in New York (tbc) – 1 day
The Centre will work primarily with the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), the UN Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) and the UN Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO) to develop a workshop on an agreed stabilisation issue. This workshop will draw on case studies and contribute to enhancing senior mission leadership capacity. |
| December 2011 | 3rd International Civil-Military Interaction Seminar (CMIS)
A presentation and plenary discussion on MAPSOP will be included in the CMIS program. (This activity is funded separately from the Centre’s core budget.) Peace and Stabilisation Operations Roundtable – Canberra Following on from CMIS and the successful high-level international peace and stabilisation operations roundtable held in Canberra in December 2010, the Centre will host another roundtable in Canberra. This seminar will discuss the progress of MAPSOP, discuss international developments in the various regional peace and stabilisation operations fora and identify future priorities for international collaboration. |
| April 2012 | Civil-Military Affairs Conference (CMAC)
MAPSOP will culminate at the Centre’s hosting of its annual two-day CMAC in Queanbeyan in April 2012. The theme for CMAC 2012 will be ‘peace and stabilisation operations’ and the event is intended to attract around 150 Australian and international experts, policy makers and practitioners. This event will be shaped by the outcomes of the preceding activities. (This activity is funded separately from the Centre’s core budget.) |
| May/June2012 | MAPSOP Report Issued |
