As part of its Annual Work Plans for 2014, the APSTA proposed to undertake the harmonisation of ASF and other African-led Peace Support Operations (PSO) training. This workshop built on the Civilian Peacekeepers Foundation course developed in Nairobi, Kenya, from 2 – 5 December 2013, and the Police Pre-Deployment training harmonisation workshop in Accra, Ghana from 6 – 9 May 2014. The objectives of this development process have been to identify and develop an updated Training Harmonisation and Standardisation curriculum outline on the various thematic areas.

The Workshop also provided an opportunity for the Association to contribute towards the efforts of the AU Commission, in particular the Peace Support Operations Division (PSOD) and the Regional Economic Communities/Mechanisms (RECs/RMs), in harmonising and standardising ASF and regional standby forces training. Like the Civilian and Police Peacekeepers Harmonisation Workshops, and as its name suggests, the main objective of the IMP & MS Workshop was to address the gap identified in the African Standby Force (ASF) architecture, which is achieving Full Operational Capability (FOC), by harmonising and standardising multidimensional training delivered by member institutions of the Association or those that intend to establish and deliver Mission Planning and Mission Support training for AU/UN and RECs/RMs missions, including the ASF and other African-led PSOs. The workshop managed to achieve the draft design of a curriculum outline for the AU Mission Planning course. Development of the Mission Support course will take place in early 2015. Read more: APSTA Curriculum Development Workshop Outline