L3 Joint Operations Staff Officers Training Course in English: Issues of Civil-Military Cooperation According to NATO Standards

From April 27 to May 5, 2021, within the framework of the “Modern Information Environment” module, the military students of L-3 Joint Operations Staff Officers Training Course of the National Defence University of Ukraine named after Ivan Cherniakhovskyi mastered the basic principles of civil-military coordination in NATO and in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Lt. Col. (Ret.) Jens Jakobsen from the Armed Forces of the Kingdom of Denmark, Military Adviser on Education from the Hetman Petro Sahaidachnyi National Army Academy, representatives from the Foreign Languages Education and Research  Centre of NDUU, and from the Main Scientific and Research Institute of the Armed Forces of Ukraine shared their significant experience, which they gained in the course of conduct of CIMIC activities while participating in the Joint Forces Operation, Anti-Terrorist Operation as well as in the international peacekeeping operations in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Republic of Iraq and other countries.

Lt. Colonel Jens Jakobsen together with Colonel Oleh Mylchenko, Deputy Chief of the Foreign Languages Education and Research Centre, Colonel Oleksey Nozdrachov Senior Researcher and Major Viktoriia Krykun, Senior Researcher, gave a lecture and practical classes on “Cooperation with Representatives of International and Nongovernmental Organizations” and “Fundamentals of the Operational Planning Process of CIMIC Activities according to NATO Standards”. Students gained theoretical knowledge on the methods of organizing cooperation with non-governmental organizations, international organizations in the area of the operation and on the specifics of the tasks fulfillment during the interaction with them etc.

Training of operational staff officers on this topic allows understanding the place and role of the CIMIC officer during the operational planning process at all stages of the operation, the importance of the so-called "soft power" to achieve the goals of the operation, as well as effectively cooperation with representatives of international organizations, governmental and non-governmental organizations, promote humanitarian aid to the long-suffering Ukrainian population in the area of operation, together with representatives of other security and defence sectors of Ukraine.