Building African capacities for peacekeeping

This seminar report describes the activities and contributions of the Training for Peace in Africa Programme (TfP), an initiative of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The document outlines TfP's efforts to build African civilian and police capacities for peace support operations (PSOs) through training, policy facilitation, and applied research, specifically supporting the African Union (AU) and various regional bodies.

• The Training for Peace in Africa Programme (TfP), funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, focuses on enhancing African civilian and police capacities for peace support operations to strengthen the African security architecture. Its primary methods include training, policy facilitation, and applied research.
• TfP has provided significant policy development support to the African Union (AU), regional economic communities (RECs), and regional mechanisms. Key contributions include the 2003 ASF policy framework, the 2008 AU strategic maritime policy, and the 2010 AUPOL rapid deployment capability concept.
• Between 1996 and 2008, the ISS/TfP trained 3,833 UN Police Officers Course (UNPOC) personnel. Training focuses on policing violence against women and children, as well as HIV/AIDS, utilizing formats such as regional police seminars, trainers clinics, and pre-mission training.
• TfP/ACCORD focuses on building civilian capacity for AU and UN peace operations. Between 2006 and 2010, its engagements included developing a protection of civilians (PoC) strategic framework and conducting in-mission conflict management training.
• The Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) supports the AU's peace and security architecture and the civilian component of the ECOWAS Standby Force (ESF). However, the ESF is not yet operational because its civilian component is still under development, as early focus was primarily on the military component.
• The report identifies several challenges to implementing TfP activities, including the changing dynamics of AU ownership and UN support, as well as competition between different external stakeholder models (Canadian, British, German-Canadian, and the TfP hybrid model).
• Seminar participants expressed concern that African capacity-building is sometimes undermined by external interventions that ignore local contexts, citing Exercise Amani as a module developed outside Africa that is used in PSO training despite existing African expertise.

APA

Walker, T., & Lisa, P. (2011). Building African capacities for peacekeeping. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/March2011PeacekeepingAfrica.pdf

Chicago

Walker, Timothy, and Phakamani Lisa. Building African capacities for peacekeeping. Institute for Security Studies, 2011. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/March2011PeacekeepingAfrica.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Walker |first1=Timothy |last2=Lisa |first2=Phakamani |title=Building African capacities for peacekeeping |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=3 March 2011 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/March2011PeacekeepingAfrica.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{walker2011building, author = {Walker, Timothy and Lisa, Phakamani}, title = {{Building African capacities for peacekeeping}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2011}, month = mar, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/March2011PeacekeepingAfrica.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }